Rev. Rebecca Mary Mackenzie Voelkel

REV. REBECCA MARY MACKENZIE VOELKEL

United Church of Christ

Minneapolis, MN

In 1972, Bill Johnson was ordained as an openly gay man in the United Church of Christ. I was three.

In 1985, the United Church of Christ General Synod passed the Open and Affirming resolution.  I was sixteen.

In 1989, I came out as a lesbian woman in the context of my family and my church.   I was welcomed and affirmed, continued receiving support for my plans for seminary and ordination, and continued to serve on committees and in worship.

In 1997, I was ordained to ministry in the United Church of Christ.

In many ways, this story evokes yawns for its lack of excitement and drama.  But in a world such as ours, I rejoice every day for the United Church of Christ and its churches that I have called home—St. Paul’s in Cleveland, St. John’s and St. Luke’s in Dayton, The Peoples Church of Chicago, All Pilgrim’s in Seattle, and in Minneapolis, Spirit of the Lakes, and now my current home, Lyndale.

Because of the faithful work of so many over the past forty years—much of it before I was born and before I knew I needed it—my story has been one of justice and celebration, love and rejoicing.  The ministry that I am privileged to share has been ignited, nurtured and prospered because of this denomination.  It is what every person should expect.

In this fiftieth anniversary year of the United Church of Christ, I give thanks that God’s extravagant welcome is practiced in this denomination and has so richly blessed my life!

This stole was given in celebration of the United Church of Christ's 50th Anniversary, and for the refuge that the UCC has offered for so many GLBT clergy.

David Lohman
Faith Work Coordinator
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Institute for Welcoming Resources
Home of the Shower of Stoles Project
2007

Click here to read Rev. Rebecca Mary MacKenzie Voelkel's biographic profile in the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network's Profiles Gallery.