What is the purpose of ordination? What is the meaning of community ministry? What is the relationship between an ordained community minister and a lay led fellowship of shared values who serve the same community? On the surface, these questions can be answered with covenants and words of mutual support. Deeper down there are undertones reverberating across two centuries. Names like Joseph Tuckerman and Olympia Brown come to the fore. We will explore the roots of community ministry in the Unitarian and Universalist movements and imagine how those roots might flower in 21st century Door County.

Rev. Mark Richards was ordained on November 25, 2018 by the First Parish in Concord, MA. He and his wife Christina moved to Door County in 2016 and became members of UUFDC in July of this year. This summer they learned the joy of gardening after having not so much as mowed a lawn for most of their adult lives. Mark serves as a chaplain for Unity Hospice in Door and Kewaunee Counties. He also has a passion for working with prison inmates, and for expanding awareness of Unitarian Universalism in the wider community.