Charles Amstein

Development Associate for Church Relations and Fundraising


Contact

3041 Broadway, Development Office
New York, NY 10027
212-280-1590

caamstein@aol.com

Biography

Charles Amstein, M.Div. ’62, was pleased to return to Union Theological Seminary in the Fall 2000 as part-time Church Relations Advisor to the Institutional Advancement Staff, after retiring from the pastoral staff of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church where he had served for 23 years.

After graduating from Kansas State University, and spending one year in medical school, Rev. Amstein was drafted into the United States Army. While stationed in Germany he served as a Chaplain’s Assistant because he could type and play the organ. Two of the Chaplains with whom he worked encouraged him to consider seminary. Having to that point spent all of his school years in Manhattan, Kansas, seminary in New York City turned out to be an exciting prospect, and turned out to be, as he notes "transforming."

While at Union, Rev. Amstein did two years of field work in the East Harlem Protestant Parish. Having arrived at Union with no sense of call, his vocation began to form and was confirmed during the year he spent as an Intern at the First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne. After graduation and ordination, he returned to the church in Fort Wayne for nine more years, after which he served for five years at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, doing pastoral and educational work and conducting the chancel choir.

Rev. Amstein began his tenure at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City in January 1977, during which time he also spent ten years as a student and small group leader at the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary.

Rev. Amstein is pleased to work on Union’s behalf for financial support from the churches, especially those with Union alumni/ae on their staffs. Please contact Rev. Amstein for more information.