About the Duerr Lecture Series speaker for 2026 | Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield

Speaker for the 29th Annual Duerr Lecture Series will be Rev. Dr. Jill Duffield, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, NC. Born in Nova Scotia, she moved with her family to Mt. Gilead, NC, when she was in fourth grade. Though her family had been in the United Church of Canada, they returned to their Presbyterian roots when they moved to North Carolina. Rev. Duffield holds degrees from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (B.A.) and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia (M.Div.). After receiving the M.Div., she pursued doctoral coursework in Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and later received the D.Min. degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. From 2011 until 2015 Rev. Dr. Duffield served churches in North Carolina and South Carolina. In 2015 she became the Editor/Publisher of The Presbyterian Outlook. As Editor of The Outlook, Duffield received the James Solheim award for Editorial Courage in 2015, 2018, and 2020, the Award of Merit in Bible in 2015, and other Awards of Excellence all given by the Associate Church Press. In 2020 she became pastor of First Presbyterian in Greensboro.

Rev. Dr. Duffield has served church and community in many capacities. She was the preacher at Austin Seminary Mid-Winters in 2017 and a summer preacher at Montreat in 2014, 2018, and 2022. In addition to her many professional publications, she has seven books in publication, the latest of which is Appreciate These Things: 8 Ways of Cultivating Compassion, Westminster John Knox Press, 2025.

In her lectures Rev. Dr. Duffield will discuss how today, as in Jesus’ time, our faith is learned and lived through unique experiences, in specific settings. The particularities of our lives form us into a likeness of Christ. We then shape the created, physical neighborhoods around us. It is in these earthly places that we come to know God's cosmic blessings.