Dorcas is a 1985 graduate of the University of Southern Maine in Elementary Education. She has taught 3rd and 4th grade in public schools, taught Special Education children, coordinated Pioneer Clubs, taught Sunday School classes and participated on the Christian Education Commission. She has presented workshops at the Southern Maine Christian Education Conference.

She was born in Pakistan to missionary  parents,  Dr. Jack and Edna Christensen. Her family moved here in 1975 when her father accepted the call to pastor First Baptist  Church, in Portland.

Dorcas and her husband, Greg, have been members of First Baptist Church for more than 20 years. They live in Falmouth and have two sons, Gregory (April 25, 1988) and Jacob (June 18, 1991); and their adopted Korean daughter, Min Alyson Bartley (March 31, 2002). The family enjoys boating, camping and traveling together.