Meet Our Minister
Interim Minister
Reverend Ed Brock prides himself on being a congregation builder.
“I enjoy coming into a congregation and helping it become the best version of itself,” he says. “This involves being both a regular minister and an organizational consultant, a combination that suits my personality and skills.”
Joining the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County (UUCDC) in August 2023, Rev. Ed is our interim minister and will be with us for up to two years as the Board of Trustees forms a Ministerial Search Committee to find a new settled minister. He is extremely experienced as an interim, having served in that capacity for Unitarian Universalist (UU) congregations in Ontario, Canada; Texas; California; Alabama; and, most recently, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Rev. Ed crafts his sermons and other pastoral work to touch the emotional, intellectual, and moral sensibilities of congregants. He does this using his extensive expertise as an Accredited Interim Minister and Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC).
“I have experience in the kind of community building UUCDC seeks,” he explains. “I believe in collaboration among the minister, staff, and church members. Anything of real significance in the life of a church is done by people sharing power and purpose and moving in the same direction. Together, we will all reexamine and revise such areas as the church’s mission, by-laws, policies and covenants.”
Rev. Ed holds a Master of Divinity from Vanderbilt University and a Doctor of Ministry from Wisdom University. He started his pastoral career in Methodist churches but became uncomfortable with their rigid dogma, so he moved on to a career with UU ones in 1984–1985.
He and his wife, Alphise, a retired librarian, are the proud parents of two daughters they adopted from China. Their eldest, Allie, is studying to be a teacher, while her younger sister, Lily, is going to school to be a physical therapist.
“In my spare time, I love to read, especially biographies and history,” he adds. “I also enjoy books by experts who explain science to nonscientists. I exercise and try to work out at least four times a week. I like to travel and visit museums, especially those of natural history, art, and science. I stay in contact with my extended family and, of course, I love spending time with my wife and children.”
The youngest of four children, Rev. Ed is from Fairfield, Alabama, a small community on the west side of Birmingham. “Growing up there had a big impact on me,” Rev. Ed observes. “During my youth, Birmingham was the center of the civil rights movement. The events I saw, heard about, and read about made a big impression on me and shaped who I am politically and religiously today. This social turmoil was felt most personally by me in the school system I attended, which only integrated when I was in the 11th grade. These experiences sparked a lifelong interest in how civility, peaceful co-existence, and harmonious living with diversity could thrive.”
He concludes, “I am committed to the growth and health of UU congregations. I believe they are vitally important for our society and provide invaluable resources for spiritual and religious nurturing.”
Rev. Ed welcomes feedback from the UUCDC community and invites you to contact him by email.
