Lauren Van Ham

Rev. Lauren Van Ham was raised under the big sky of the Midwest prairie, and began her professional life as a performing artist in NYC before pursuing seminary and spiritual direction training at The Chaplaincy Institute (ChI). Lauren has served as an interfaith chaplain in healthcare and corporate settings, as well as at ChI where she was Dean from 2010-2019. In 2007, she renewed her ordination vows and professed herself an “Eco-Chaplain.” Her passion for spirituality, art and Earth’s teachings infuse her focus in grief & loss, creativity & courage, and responding to our human-caused predicament. Her essay, “Way of the Eco-Chaplain,” appears in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha is featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. She is a guest writer for “Progressing Spirit,” an online publication exploring theology, spirituality and public events. Today, Lauren serves as Climate Action Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative, a global interfaith grassroots organization. She is a spiritual director and guest faculty for several schools in the Bay Area.