The Rev. Jeffrey L. Bower serves as the Associate Rector for Stewardship and Community Engagement at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis.  He earned a BA in English from Wabash College, an MA in Church Music and MDiv degrees from Christian Theological Seminary. He earned a Certificate of Anglican Studies from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and is currently completing his doctoral work in congregational development at Bexley-Seabury Theological Seminary.  Prior to coming to St. Paul’s in 2017, Fr. Bower served for a decade as Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Speedway, a multi-ethnic, bilingual parish on the city’s west side. During the 2015-2016 Indiana Legislative Session, he served on the staff of Freedom Indiana as the Interfaith Coordinator, helping to facilitate the collaborative work needed to overturn the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

As a social justice advocate, Fr. Bower has worked to establish programs to address food insecurity, education, women’s rights and immigration, and was recognized in 2017 by IPS Schools in his development of the Sweet Dreams Project, a program that provides beds to children who are without.  To date, the Sweet Dreams Project has provided over 1200 beds to children in both the Speedway and Indianapolis Public Schools. 

In the Diocese of Indianapolis, Fr. Bower serves as the Chair of Global Missions for the Diocese of Indianapolis and on the Board of the Waycross Camp and Conference Center.

Civically, Fr. Bower serves on the Board of Trinity Haven, the Advisory Board for Clinical Pastoral Education at IU Health and as the Board Chair of the Alumni Association at Christian Theological Seminary.  He is married to David Duncan and has two adult children, Blake and Brianna.