Rev. Cheryl L. Burke

REV. CHERYL L. BURKE
United Church of Christ
Eagle, MI

My first sense of call to ordained ministry was when I was 16 years old. At 18, I fell in love with a woman and thought that ministry would never be possible.

God wouldn’t let me go, however, and I was ordained at age 31 in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1988 during their “Don’t ask, don’t tell” period.

After five years of “hiding,” something new began to stir in me. After a year of discernment, First Congregational UCC, Huntington, West Virginia extended a call to me, and my journey as an “out” lesbian in the United Church of Christ began. I received ordained ministerial standing in 1995.

Since the, I have served as interim pastor at First Congregational UCC, Madison, Wisconsin, and as interim Association Minister for the Chicago Metropolitan Association, Illinois Conference. I was then called as the Association Minister in the Fox Valley Association, Illinois Conference. In 2005, I began serving as an Associate Conference Minister in the Michigan Conference UCC.

My partner, the Rev. Dr. Julie J. Kilmer, is also ordained in the UCC. We had our union service in 1998 at the Barrington (Rhode Island) Congregational Church UCC.

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