Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, is the Executive Director for the Center for Sustainable Justice. She has worked as MountainTop Movement Building Consultant at Auburn Seminary, as Interim Executive Director for PFund Foundation, as Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, Interim National Coordinator for the United Church of Christ Coalition for LGBT Concerns, as pastor of Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ and as Program Staff for the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.
Rev. Dr. Voelkel is the author of Carnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice (Fortress Press, Spring 2017), To Do Justice: A Study of Welcoming Congregations, A Time to Build Up: Analysis of the No on Proposition 8 Campaign and Its Implications for Future Pro-LGBTQQIA Religious Organizing, Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Course of Study for Teenagers (Pilgrim Press, 1996) as well as numerous articles and sermons which have appeared in such journals as Spirit Currents, The Journal of Religion and Abuse, Creating Change and Parenting for Peace and Justice. Many of her publications can be found at her website: www.RevDrRebeccaMMVoelkel.com. She is a faith-based relational organizing trainer as well as workshop presenter on a wide variety of faith-based justice issues. She is a graduate of Earlham College, Yale Divinity School and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.
Rev. Dr. Voelkel is a theologian, pastor and organizer who names herself as a Christian Universalist, by which she means that she was raised and has been shaped by the Christian tradition and it is her home. However, she believes there are many truths about God and the Divine in All Things. She holds a deep reverence for Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and pagan and Wiccan traditions. Particularly as she has worked for sexual and gender justice, she has learned much from her multi-faith colleagues– about love, about life and about the Sacred in our midst.
As a way to balance her spiritual life, Rebecca is also a runner, hiker, biker and avid community-builder, spending time with friends and family as often as she can. In the past few years she has begun to grow organic vegetables and delights in cooking food harvested from her garden for her friends and family. She and her partner, Maggie, are parents of Shannon MacKenzie, their twelve year-old daughter.
Education
D.Min, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
M.Div., Yale University Divinity School
B.A. Peace and Global Studies, Earlham College