About Our Pastor

The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Motz (Pastor Ben) is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ (UCC), a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, husband, and father of three.  He has been serving our congregation since January 2025 as our Designated-Term Pastor and has been pastoring UCC churches since 1998.

Pastor Ben earned his Master of Divinity (M.Div.) from our UCC Lancaster Theological Seminary, earned his Doctorate of Ministry to Marriages and Families (D.Min.) from Palmer University (Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary), and earned his Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy from Penn Council for Relationships.

He is pictured here with his wife and three children, leading a Christmas Eve worship service virtually from a barn, with a rustic wagon as the altar.

Word of Welcome

I want to welcome you to the First Reformed United Church of Christ's website.  I'm glad that you found us here.  I hope that the information you find is helpful to you wherever you are in your faith journey.

A website can only communicate so much. It is not the programs, the building, the liturgies, or the worship services that make the church; rather it is the people who make the church a church.  I hope that you will join us in person and meet the warm, caring, loving people of First Reformed United Church of Christ in Hamburg, whether it be in worship, a Bible study, a mission project, or a special event.  I hope that you will find, as have I, that “no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here."