Seeds of a New Way: Nurturing Authentic and Diverse Religious Leadership

As congregations strive to live into the potential and joy of Beloved Community, these essays will inspire them to seed and nourish a new way.

What will it take for diverse leadership within Unitarian Universalism to truly thrive and contribute to a radiant and inclusive future? In Seeds of a New Way, editors Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Nancy McDonald Ladd and contributors explore how to foster and nourish diverse and authentic leadership within congregations.

Building on the foundations of the groundbreaking Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, this collection offers a glimpse into the forming edge of the shared journey happening right now to make diverse leadership, both lay and ordained, more survivable and vibrant. Rather than presenting one definitive pathway or roadmap, Seeds of a New Way recognizes that the specific context and relationships within any given setting will shape the journey and so brings together a diverse array of perspectives, experiences, and strategies to illustrate a range of considerations and possibilities.

Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti serves as senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has served extensively in denominational leadership, including as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Association, as well as president of Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM). He is co-editor of Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment and Conversations with the Sacred: A Collection of Prayers.

Nancy McDonald Ladd serves as senior minister of the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a national leader in broad-based community organizing and has served on the adjunct faculty at Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is the author of After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond Optimism.