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Rev. Dr. Nina D. Grey PDF Print E-mail

nina_bio_photo Rev. Dr. Nina D. Grey has been Senior Minister of First Unitarian Church since the fall of 1999. She has primary responsibility for the worship, pastoral care and adult religious education within the congregation, working in close cooperation with the Director of Religious Education, Music Director, other staff and lay leadership.

Rev. Grey received her Masters of Divinity degree at Andover Newton Theological School, in Newton, Massachusetts, May, 1982, and her Doctor of Ministry degree in the pastoral and spiritual care track from McCormick Theological Seminary, in Chicago, Illinois, May, 2007. She served as Parish Minister of the Keene Unitarian Universalist Church (Keene, New Hampshire) from 1982-1991 and as Senior Minister of the Unitarian Society of Germantown, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1991-1999. Rev. Grey received a Pastoral Care Certification from the Pastoral Training Institute, in 1996.

In her previous ministries, Nina served on boards of the Prospect Hill Home and the Unitarian Universalist House, two retirement communities. She also was on the Executive Committee of the Emergency Housing Coalition in Keene, and founder of the Interfaith Peace Coalition there and was a member of and president of the Keene State College Campus Ministry. In Philadelphia, Nina served on the Progressive Clergy Association as well as providing leadership for the Northwest Interfaith Movement Clergy Group. During her ministry in Philadelphia, the congregation became a Welcoming Congregation and a participant in the Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (a program for homeless families).

Since arriving in Chicago, Nina has worked closely with the Unitarian Fellowship at Montgomery Place, which is a retirement community in Hyde Park. She also provides counsel to some students of the Meadville/Lombard Theological School. She is a Past President and continuing Board member of the Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council and is convening their strategic planning process. She is a participant with the new Hyde Park New Sanctuary Coalition, which provides education and opportunities for action regarding immigration justice. Nina also volunteers with the Worker Rights Center of the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues, and she supports the ministries of the Social Justice Council of First Unitarian Church of Chicago and the Charlotte Lackner Anti-Racism Committee.Nina loves the multiracial, multicultural nature of the Hyde Park neighborhood and the church. She enjoys living in the neighborhood and near Lake Michigan where she gets exercise by walking around the Promontory Point and swimming in the lake in the summer. She has a brother who lives in the midwest and a sister in the southeast. Her daughter, Kimberly, and family live in New York City.



 
Rev. David Arksey PDF Print E-mail
david_arkseyThe concept of "Ministry at Large" refers to ministering to people outside the immediate community of a particular church. First Church has a long tradition of Ministry at Large, going back to The Rev. Robert Collyer in 1859.

Rev. Arksey is the third person to occupy this position, after The Rev. Robert Collyer and The Rev. George Sikes. His particular area of focus is pastoral care and counseling with families, couples and individuals in both short and long-term therapy. He is currently on the staff of Counseling Ministries, a group pastoral counseling practice with several offices in the Chicago area. In addition he is an Adjunct Faculty member at Meadville/Lombard Theological School and on the Supervising Faculty of The Family Institute.

Rev. Arksey has a B.A. from Kalamazoo College, a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Meadville/Lombard Theological School, and a Doctor of Ministry (D. Min.) from Chicago Theological Seminary. He is a Clinical Member and Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a Fellow (Certified) of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.

Rev. Arksey was ordained and installed in 1977 and in the fall of 2007 he celebrated his 30th anniversary as Minister at Large at First Church.

He is married to Brenda Chock Arksey, Director of Childrens Education and Developmental Services at the Chinese-American Service League.