'The Senior Servant': Grace Chapel Approves Dr. Mateus de Campos as Next Senior Pastor

After living and learning in three continents and hauling 10 suitcases plus one Lego head across the world with his family, Dr. Mateus de Campos is set to become the next senior pastor at Grace Chapel.

Dr. de Campos was overwhelmingly approved through a church vote and will begin as Grace Chapel Senior Pastor on September 8. Prior to accepting his new role at Grace Chapel, Dr. de Campos served at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary as the George F. Bennett Associate Professor of New Testament.

“Over the years, I have witnessed the remarkable impact Grace Chapel has had throughout New England through its people, campuses, and ministries,” Dr. de Campos said. “I am convinced that the same God who has worked powerfully through this community for more than 75 years will continue to lead us as we proclaim and live out the gospel.”

Originally from Brazil, Dr. de Campos has resided in multiple countries with his family and served in a variety of pastoral and academic roles throughout his career.

It was during travel between Canada to England—with a stop in Brazil—that the de Campos family’s five suitcases grew to ten, and their then-7-year-old son accidentally dropped his Lego-head shaped container on an airport terminal floor, sending Lego pieces flying across the tile.

Dr. de Campos described the brick-laden debacle while guest preaching at Grace Chapel earlier this summer as the nominated candidate for the church’s senior pastor role. His often-humorous relatability, life experiences, and wide range of expertise all contributed to him earning the nomination.

Much of his story began, Dr. de Campos said, 27 years ago when he married his wife, Renata, and they went straight into ministry together as youth pastors.

Dr. de Campos later served as a pastor for ten years at the Church of the Nazarene in Americana, Brazil, where he preached, taught, and developed ministries as the church grew from 250 people to over 3,000. He then attended Regent College in Vancouver to earn a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from the University of Cambridge before he and his family settled in New England, and they currently reside in Middleton, MA.

Grace Chapel nominated Dr. de Campos after an extensive senior pastor search process over the past year. Grace sought a senior pastor able to uphold Grace Chapel’s values of embracing people of various backgrounds, while fostering spaces for healthy conversations across faith and culture.

Dr. de Campos’ geographical journey has taught him a thing or two about bringing different perspectives together.

“It's quite something when you are not the dominant culture and you have to make cultural translations and learn how people are seeing life, or try to see through their lives,” Dr. de Campos said. “And I think what [living in different countries] did to us is… we try to bring the best of who we are, but in conversation and dialog with the people we want to serve.”

In addition to international acumen, Dr. de Campos brings intergenerational insight as well. As a youth pastor, Dr. de Campos led a group of 500 students from middle school through college. He is often invited to speak to college students at campus ministry retreats and events throughout the Boston area.

“The younger generation’s search for meaning, purpose, belonging, and spiritual reality should be taken seriously,” Dr. de Campos said.

Having embraced people and places around the world, the de Campos family has now been firmly rooted in New England for nine years. Dr. de Campos pulls for Boston sports teams, his daughter’s love language is Dunkin Refreshers, and he said the family has learned to love this place and call it home.

“I am tremendously excited to serve alongside the people of Grace Chapel and contribute to its mission of making and mobilizing disciples of Jesus Christ in Greater Boston and beyond,” Dr. de Campos said.

How will he do it? He’ll start by simply serving others.

“I would say that leadership in the context of the Christian life is servanthood,” Dr. de Campos said. “So, the senior pastor is the senior servant.”