Rev. Victoria Rebeck joined the Northern Illinois Conference staff as Director of Communications, effective March 15, 2023. She will oversee the communications strategy and execution for the conference.

Victoria was ordained a deacon in the Northern Illinois Conference in 2001. (She is now a member of the Minnesota Conference.)

“I am very pleased to be back in the Northern Illinois Conference and to be able to put my ministry gifts to work for Northern Illinois,” she said. “I share the conference’s priorities and mission. I am grateful to be part of making those a reality."

“The rural, suburban, and urban settings for ministry in the Northern Illinois Conference offer a wonderful diversity of contexts,” she added. “This provides a breadth of opportunities to develop a helpful communications strategy that can solidify our shared identity and ministry as United Methodists. One of my goals for the communications ministry is to support our United Methodist congregations in the ways they share God’s love among their neighbors.”

“We are looking forward to the skills that Rev. Rebeck brings to the Northern Illinois Conference. Not only is she a seasoned journalist, she also brings theological training that will give added depth to our work," stated Rev. Arlene W. Christopherson, Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Connectional Ministries

Before joining the Northern Illinois staff, Victoria offered consulting services in writing, editing, teaching, and clergy coaching. (She is continuing her coaching services). Her areas of expertise include strategy development, journalism, public relations, media relations, and clergy development.

She has a significant amount of connectional experience. From 2019 to 2023, she served as director of connectional ministries for the Susquehanna Conference. She has also worked for the General Board of Higher Education, the United Methodist Publishing House, and the Minnesota Conference. For the Minnesota Conference, where she remains a clergy member, she served as director of communication for 12 years.

Previously, she was an associate editor for the Christian Century magazine for 15 years.

Some of her other ministry experience includes co-chairing the Minnesota Conference Board of Ordained Ministry and serving as a General Conference delegate in 2008. She has been vice-president of Associated Church Press and United Methodist Association of Communicators (not simultaneously).

Practicing her gifts and passions in other areas, she has volunteered for Tennessee Justice For Our Neighbors and the Tennessee Conference Creation Care Ministry. She is a certified Master Naturalist in Minnesota and Tennessee. Before she moved away from Chicago in 1999, she was a docent for Lincoln Park Zoo.

Her education at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary (M.T.S., 1989) and Northwestern University (B.S. Journalism, 1982) sharpened her gifts and leadership skills, she says.

She looks forward to meeting the Northern Illinois lay and clergy people in the coming months.