"Brick and Mortar Church in the 21st Century?"
Saturday, May 16th, 2:00- 4:30 pm, Phifer Sanctuary
Download the panelists essays-- provocative reading!
View the video of the panel discussion
Panel Moderator
We have gathered a panel of the some of the most innovative people in the Unitarian Universalist Association: people who have moved UU organizations in a new way, people who seen the wide variety of experiments going around the country, people who developed new ways of financing ministry, people who have used new technology like the internet and ancient human arts, like the human voice, to create new forms of ministry, people who have witnessed our struggle to wake up to the multicultural world we have always lived in.
Rev Tom Schade, The Lively Tradition blogger . Tom is now a member of UUAA, having retired to Ann Arbor after 13 years as Associate Minister and Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Worcester, MA.
Panel Participants
Rev. Sue Phillips, Massachusetts Bay/Clara Barton District Executive of the UUA. As the Regional Lead for UUA field staff in New England, Rev. Sue Phillips is responsible for helping congregations grow in health and impact by setting the overall vision for the regional staff team and aligning the team's work with our UUA's strategic vision. She works closely with congregations and their leaders, especially in conflict situations, and coaches ministers and other religious professionals.
Rev. Phillips is a founder of Faithify, a UU crowd funding site.
Dr. Glen Thomas Rideout, Music Director, First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor since August, 2007. His essay Prodigal Songs: Reclaiming Our Voice has been published by the Church of the Larger Fellowship, the Unitarian Universalist Association's largest congregation. His work building musical communities in Unitarian Universalist worship has been featured in the blog of Sue Schade (Chief Information Officer for the University of Michigan Health System).
Rev. Meg A. Riley, Senior Minister of the Church of the Larger Fellowship, a 3500 member Church Without Walls. She has worked in the intersection of religion and culture in a variety of contexts, including serving as Director of the Unitarian Universalist Association's Advocacy and Witness staff group, Office of Lesbian, Bisexual and Gay Concerns, Washington Office for Advocacy, Youth Programs, and as a religious educator in several Unitarian Universalist congregations. Riley was the founding director of Standing on the Side of Love (Harnessing Love's Power to Stop Oppression, Exclusion and Violence). She was founding President of the Board of Faith in Public Life: A Resource Center for Justice and the Common Good, and of Equal Partners in Faith. She has served on the national boards of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Interfaith Alliance, and too many working groups to name.
Rev. Tandi Rogers - Growth Strategist for the entire Unitarian Universalist Association. She claims she has the best job on the planet and still can't believe they let her do what she does. Thinks of herself as the UUA Minister of Abundance & Possibilities. http://blogs.uuworld.org/ga/2011/06/23/why-unitarian-universalism-should-grow/ Resident of Tacoma, WA, and member of the Tahoma Unitarian Universalist Congregation since 1990. Former teacher and ecumenical development officer. Served the Pacific NW District as their Program Specialist for 10 years.
Rev. Don Southworth, Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association. He has served congregations in San Francisco, Atlanta and Durham, NC since his graduation from Starr King School for the Ministry in 2000. He has led workshops on stewardship and growth in the United States and England. Before he entered the ministry he worked in sales, marketing, training and various management positions in the corporate world.
Rev. Leslie Takahashi, co-minister at the Mt. Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church in Walnut Creek, CA. Prior to entering the ministry, she worked professionally in the area of leadership development, sustainable economic development and education policy and was the Assistant Vice President for Policy for the North Carolina Community College System. She is the co-author, with Chip Roush and Leon Spencer, of The Arc of The Universe is Long: Anti-racism and the Unitarian Universalist Association (Skinner House 2008) and a contributor to a number of professional publications and meditation collections.
READ WHAT EACH PANELIST HAS TO SAY ABOUT THE FUTURE...