Rowan Van Ness never would have guessed when growing up in Mukilteo, Wash., that she would become a religious leader.
Now Van Ness, the half-time minister at the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church, will be ordained next month with a celebration at the Washington Street church.
At Smith College in Northampton, Mass., her studies were in economics and environmental science.
But after graduation, a search for housing in the Lawrence, Mass., area ended up setting the path for her future career.
She grew up in the Unitarian Universalist faith, and so, at her mother’s suggestion, she decided to reach out to its congregation in Andover, Mass., to ask for ideas about housing.
“I followed my mom’s advice, kind of reluctantly, and wrote up a blurb and sent it to the church administrator, and she got back to me and put something in their newsletter,” she recalled. “Six different people reached out to me saying that I was welcome and I could stay with them.”
Van Ness ended up finding housing on her own, but was intrigued by the welcoming offers from church members.
“I was curious, who were these people who never met me but were willing to let me stay with them or at least invite me out to dinner and get to know me a little better?” said Van Ness, now 39.
“So I got involved in the congregation there as a member, a participant. My next job was environmental justice and advocacy through a partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Association and an organization called the University Universalist Ministry for Earth.”
She stayed active in the church and as an educator for a decade before enrolling in Harvard Divinity School, where she earned a master’s degree.
Van Ness was the director of youth and emerging adult ministries at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Burlington, Vt., when she took the position as half-time minister in Keene. Her formal ordination is set for May 17.
She lives in South Burlington with her wife, Caitlyn Tengwall, and their 3-year-old daughter, Seneca. Van Ness performs services twice a month in Keene.
A key value of church, Van Ness says, is its ability to connect people in a community so they can help each other and make change together. A church is also one of the few places where people of all ages are brought together, she noted.
“Getting to know and spend time with people alike and different from us is part of the foundation of healthy communities and helps us understand and support people who are different from us.
“And whenever we get together as communities, we have so much more power to make a difference in the world and to be more aligned with our values and how we want to make the world a better place.”
Van Ness started working at the Keene church in September. The 111-member congregation decided last summer that it was not able to continue funding its full-time minister position.
One of the congregation’s major expenses is maintaining its historic structure, which was built in 1894 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Van Ness was initially concerned that congregants would be upset with not being able to have a full-time minister.
“Instead, they were excited about getting to lead some of their own services. They appreciate being able to hear from a diverse group of voices in their worship services and getting to know each other.”
Across the nation, regular church attendance has been in decline.
“A lot of younger parents don’t have as much money or time to volunteer at church as previous generations did,” she said. “A cornerstone of congregational life is supporting one another with time and money, and both resources are scarce.
“Older generations are dying and they used to be big funders of congregations, so congregations are kind of getting squeezed from both ends. That’s true for this congregation and it’s not unique.”
She also said part of the decline in church attendance across the nation is due to harm that’s been done in religious contexts over the years, including inappropriate behavior by clergy and sex abuse scandals.
“There is some disenchantment over the harm that’s been done in the world in the name of religion and I think people push back against that. There’s also been a lot of hurt and harm to queer people and exclusion from religious tradition.
“But for me, while I was less sure about the broader acceptance of my sexual orientation in the broader community, I knew I could find a place in the Unitarian Universalist church. That was a way to access safety in a multigenerational community.”
Van Ness strives to make the church accessible and relevant.
“For me, religion is all about meaning-making. Humans are meaning-making people. How can we use stories to make meaning out of the world around us right now?”
As a religious educator, she also understands that people have different learning styles, so she tries to figure out ways to be more interactive, innovative and engaging.
“Also, I realize there are constraints on Sunday mornings for some people and others can’t go to community worship services at particular times. So what are the ways and opportunities we have to help people connect beyond Sunday mornings?
“Are there small groups, classes, potlucks or outdoor excursions at other times of the week? I don’t think the only way to be involved in a religious community can or should be through worship services.”
Susie Erickson-West, a longtime member of the church, said it’s fortunate that Van Ness came along.
“She is young and energetic and has a wonderful blend of both knowledge and energy,” Erickson-West said. “So that’s what she’s brought to us since she’s been our minister. I’ve talked to folks in our congregation and we’ve had an influx of people returning and new people coming in.
“Overall, everybody has been just delighted to have her working with us.”
Erickson-West said it’s obvious that Van Ness spends a lot of time on her sermons and always finds a way to strike a personal note.
“With the current state of affairs of our political system right now, I have struggled with the way things have been going. But what I have come to find is that every time I am at church, there’s something in the sermon or the service that speaks to me and reminds me not to panic, not to go down that rabbit hole.”
For her part, Van Ness said she sometimes harkens back to the words of Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister, reformer and abolitionist who fought for and predicted the end of slavery:
“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.”
Rick Green can be reached at 603-352-1234, extension 1435, or rgreen@keenesentinel.com.
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