First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso

Rev. Dr. Julia Qiuye Zhao, Associate Pastor in Residence

Julia was born in the district of Huaxi, a small urban district in Guizhou province in Southwest China. Her Chinese name means Autumn Leaf and she grew up near rice paddies, farmer's markets that sold live chickens and learned to swim in the Huaxi River. She immigrated to Canada with her family when she was nine years old and grew up in Toronto where she came to faith in Jesus and was baptized in a small Baptist church in Etobicoke, Ontario.  

She felt called to ministry and teaching almost since she was first baptized at the age of eleven. As a teenager, she taught Sunday School at Asbury and West, a congregation of the United Church of Canada, a union of Presbyterians, Methodists and Congregationalists. During her undergraduate years at the University of Toronto, she majored in History with a minor in English and worked actively in ministry with international students at the University of Toronto and various local language schools. She also worked with Gathering Spot, a collaborative ministry between a number of churches in Toronto for those living with physical and financial challenges to share meals and fellowship.  

Her sense of call led her to the doctoral program in Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame. During her PhD studies, she was drawn to the Reformed tradition, where she saw the coming together of spirituality, ministry and the intellect. She joined Sunnyside Presbyterian Church in South Bend, Indiana where she began the process toward ordained ministry. Her preparation for ministry began at the beginning of the global Covid pandemic when she entered seminary in the fall of 2020. While completing her Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary, she served as the Creative and Innovative intern at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville where she helped to lead and support the congregation through a year of transitioning between in-person, hybrid and online worship due to varying rates of infection. She completed Clinical Pastoral Education at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center where she served patients from a variety of faith and cultural backgrounds. She is also a trained spiritual director with Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Before coming to FPCV, she worshiped with Faith Presbyterian Church while living in Indianapolis, where she served in Faith Formation and preaching.  

Julia is delighted to begin her time as Associate Pastor in Residence at First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso. From her first visit, she felt at home in this warm and loving congregation. This represents a homecoming for her as she returns to northern Indiana and to service in Wabash Valley, her presbytery of care. She is grateful for the care, support and assistance that members of the congregation have shown her and looks forward to learning the various aspects of pastoral ministry while bringing her experience and skills to serving this congregation over the next two years. A childhood convert to Christianity, Julia is fascinated by the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of individual Christians and communities. She cannot wait to see and experience the work of the Spirit at FPCV as she gets to know and serves this congregation. When not engaged in ministry, she enjoys long walks, cooking, audiobooks, spending time with friends and family and exploring new places.