Our pastor, Rev. Sarah A. Kneier, is serving in her first call as an ordained pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Mount Joy.  Sarah is a recent graduate of Lancaster Theological Seminary where she earned her Master of Divinity Degree and received the Rural Church Prize for “notable achievement in the field of rural church”. Her internship locations included Kreutz Creek Presbyterian in Hellam, PA and at Chestnut Level Presbyterian in Quarryville, PA.  After completing graduate school, Sarah also worked as a Chaplain Intern in the Clinical Pastoral Education Program at Lancaster General Hospital in Lancaster, PA.  Prior to serving as an ordained covenant pastor, she frequently preached and lead worship as pulpit supply in many of the churches in the Presbytery of Donegal over a period of three years.   

Prior to answering God's call to seminary, Sarah worked as a Middle School and High School teacher with the Elizabethtown Area School District in Elizabethtown, PA teaching German, English and English as a Second Language.  Sarah also served in the music, worship leadership, Christian Formation and children's ministries at Wayside Presbyterian, her home church. 

Sarah was ordained by the Presbytery of Donegal on June 29, 2014 to the ministry of Teaching Elder.  A member of the Presbytery of Donegal, Sarah is active in various activities such as NewLead, a cohort for new ministry, Engaging Our Ministry (EOM) and in 2015 she is serving as an Assistant Stated Clerk. 

Sarah enjoys pastoral ministry and in all things sees ministry as “the philanthropy of hope.”  In the hospital, in visitation, in leading groups and in the pulpit it is “always about the hope that we give to others in ministry by proclaiming God's redemption for us and the world.”  Sarah especially enjoys preaching, leading worship and seeing people through the events of life.

Sarah lives with her husband, David, her sons Ansel and Willem, and their family pets Carlin, Zeus and Othello.  When she has free time, she enjoys needlework crafts, gardening, cooking, reading and enjoying the various parks in the area.