Rev. Timothy C. Ahrens was called to First Church in January of 2000. He is the fifth consecutive senior minister from Yale Divinity School and a lifelong member of the United Church of Christ. Under his leadership, First Church has doubled in membership.  Mission and stewardship have doubled as well.  The average worship attendance is now over 400 each week. With the church adopting an  "Open and Affirming Statement," First  Church's welcome in the heart of Columbus now extends to ALL persons.

In addition, Reverend Ahrens has become a strong and respected voice in the community, building relationships with other city leaders to work for improved education, fair housing, healthcare reform, equal rights, and abolition of the death penalty. He is a recent past, co-President of B.R.E.A.D. (Building Responsibility Equality And Dignity), an interfaith organization working for economic justice and social change, which he helped to found in 1996. He has served the United Church of Christ at the association, conference, and national level and is an adjunct-faculty member and a member of the Visiting Committee of Chicago Theological Seminary. Rev. Ahrens also helped found Sanctorum, an organization in Columbus serving the GLBT community and is often invited to speak on state and local legislation for justice issues. As such, he continues the 155-year legacy of a progressive and courageous church which has long attracted people of conscience.

In March, 2006, Rev. Ahrens was one of the founders of WE BELIEVE OHIO, www.webelievohio.org.  We Believe has united diverse religious voices to achieve social justice. Over 400 religious leaders and hundreds more lay people have joined We Believe Ohio's efforts to strengthen the voice of religiously diverse people in the public square. 
Rev. Ahrens has appeared in The New Yorker Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post,  Christianity Today, The Christian Century, and many Ohio newspapers. Pastor Ahrens writes regularly for The Columbus Dispatch "Faith and Values" section and is the author of Acts Comes Alive, 12 Keys for Reviving the Church.

He has been on Ohio Public Radio, C-Span, CBS Evening News, and was featured on ABC "Nightline" on the evening before the November 7, 2006 election. He wrote several newspaper articles and appeared on all major networks in support of Ohio's Minimum Wage Ballot initiative in 2006.

Reverend Ahrens was ordained into ministry in his home congregation, St. John's United Church of Christ in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. Before coming to First Church, he served as Senior Pastor of North Congregational United Church of Christ in NW Columbus for over 10½ years. Prior to that, he served in four urban settings of ministry, St. Louis, New Haven, Philadelphia, and Cleveland, stimulating growth and revitalization by helping congregations to become more multi-racial, more multi-cultural, and more accepting and tolerant of all believers in Christ. He is a passionate educator, promoting respect for other world religions and stressing similarities rather than differences.

A devoted husband and father, he and his wife Susan have been married since 1985 and are the parents of three children.