The Reverend Jack Johnson, an ordained United Methodist Clergyperson, has served in Church, Civic, and Governmental settings throughout his thirty-eight year career.  In June 2006 he became the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches.  Headquartered in Boston, the 105 year old ecumenical body serves as a state wide partnership of 17 Orthodox and Protestant denominations in the Commonwealth, whose members include over 1700 congregations.  The Board also includes representatives from the four Roman Catholic Dioceses in the Commonwealth.

     Johnson has served United Methodist congregations in Toms River, Princeton, Oakhurst, Hazlet, and Trenton, New Jersey.  His membership in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference included chairing and serving on several Conference Boards and Agencies.  He served for eight years as a District Superintendent, during which time he established a partnership with churches in Liberia and the Capital District in the greater Trenton area.

     Johnson’s ecumenical ministries have included chairing the National Impact Educational Fund, the New Jersey Council of Churches, the Coalition of Religious Leaders of New Jersey, and Chair of Trenton Ecumenical Area Ministries.  He founded Contact Teleministries of Ocean County, Princeton Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament, Interfaith Neighbors of Monmouth County, and has served on advisory boards with Princeton Theological Seminary, National Conference on Christians and Jews, and the Anti-Defamation League.  In 2007 Johnson was the recipient of the Bishop’s Award for Christian Unity.

     Johnson has served in government as Mayor of Toms River, New Jersey, Founder of Community Services of Ocean County, Chairing Legislative Commissions for the State of New Jersey, and served in advisory capacities to Governors Kean, Florio, and Corzine.  Johnson was a member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Commission for the State of New Jersey, as well as serving on Municipal and County advisory boards in Ocean, Monmouth, and Mercer Counties.

     Johnson’s most noted area of service has been an activism of over twenty-five years in addressing gun violence.  Founder of Ceasefire New Jersey, whose organization promoted our nation’s first assault weapon ban, as well as establishing the nation’s first child-proof gun law, Johnson has worked with Governors, victims, legislators, law enforcement, educators, and civic leaders in addressing gun violence.  Ceasefire NJ awarded Johnson their Life Time Achievement Award in 2007.

     Johnson, a native of Lakewood, New Jersey, graduated from Union College (Kentucky) and received his graduate degree in Theology from Boston University.  Married to Coleen for thirty-nine years, they are the parents of three sons and the grandparents of four grandchildren.  Johnson’s passions include his love of Opera, entertaining, movies, reading, and a vacation home on Great Diamond Island in Portland, Maine.

    Since coming to Boston, Johnson has served on the Boston University School of Theology Alumni Association; the Board of Directors of Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries; the Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light; has worked with the Pluralism Project, and educational projects with the Boston Theological Institute and the Harvard Kennedy School.