Our Ministers

Reverend Nate Walker

Minister & Executive Director

(215) 701-9072    revnate@philauu.org

Click here to view his online calendar

          Reverend Nathan C. Walker is honored to serve as the minister of the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, where he is responsible for an $896,000 operating budget. Since his arrival in 2007 the church have ended each fiscal year with a surplus; welcomed over 168 new members; and raised over $240,000 to repoint the masonry to prevent water from entering the historic building.

         During this time, Nate's preaching has gained national attention, including delivering the John Murray Distinguished Lecture; speaking on church/state relations at the National Constitution Center; and recently giving the installation sermon for Rev. Meg Riley and the Church of the Larger Fellowship. This year, Nate will join former UUA President John Buehrens to participate in the Minns Lectures.

          Last fall UU World magazine featured his proposal to create a code of ethics for Monsanto, the world’s largest producer of genetically modified seeds. Reverend Nate’s national activism on issues of gay rights, ethical eating, and finance reform has been featured by the New York Times, Mother Jones, AirAmerica, and other national media venues.

          As a scholar in church/state relations, he is currently completing an interdisciplinary doctorate in Law, Education and Religion at Columbia University. His dissertation is about whether it is constitutional for teachers to exercise their religious freedom by wearing religious garb in the public classroom, or whether as public officials they give up those constitutional rights so as not to portray the school as establishing a state religion.

          Nate explores similar themes as co-editor of the forthcoming book, “Whose God Rules?” with the foreword by former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Additional contributors include Alan Dershowitz, Martha Nussbaum, Kent Greenawalt, William Schultz, and other dignitaries. Macmillan Press will publish it on December 6, 2011. For more details visit www.WhoseGodRules.com.

           With his interest in religion and politics, he is currently serving as President of UUPLAN – the Unitarian Universalist Pennsylvania Legislative Advocacy Network, a coalition of over 6,000 Unitarian Universalists.

Reverend Addae Ama Kraba

Affiliated Community Minister

(215) 563-3980 x311   revaddae@philauu.org

Office Hours: Tuesdays 10:00 am -1:00 pm or by appointment

          Reverend Addae Ama Kraba is a resident of Philadelphia and currently serves as the Consulting Minister to Dorthea Dix Unitarian Universalist Community in Bordentown, New Jersey. Prior to ministry, Rev. Kraba spent over twenty years in the field of mental health that led to employment in Ohio, Pennsylvania, the Hawaiian Islands and California.     

          After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco, a Masters from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California, she was ordained by Community Church of New York, Unitarian Universalist where she also served her internship. A deep interest in the divine feminine led to pursuit of a PhD in Women’s Spirituality at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. She continues online studies.     

          From 2006 through 2010 she served as full time minister of First Universalist Church of Southold, in Long Island, New York, where her ministry extended to community service with the Town’s Anti- Bias committee, Rotary Club International, and collaborative ecumenical worship in pulpit exchanges with neighboring churches.      In 2007 she was named one of the Suffolk Times News Review’s people of the year for work on the Committee for Phil McKnight, a community collaborative that successfully raised over $10,000 for a local resident in crisis.     

          She serves on the Unitarian Universalist Minister Association’s Committee of Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism, and is a former trustee for the Murray Grove Retreat and Conference Center. A former Co-Convener of UU Women and Religion, Rev. Kraba was a member of the planning committee for the First International Convocation of Unitarian Universalist Women (ICUUW) held in Houston, Texas 2008.     

          She is adjunct faculty at Starr King School for the Ministry, teaching classes on Sacred Rest and Her story: African Goddesses.     

          Her cultural journey to Africa in the summer of 2008 led to a name changing ceremony in Elmina Ghana, West Africa adding Ama Kraba to her Ghanaian name Addae. Ama Kraba was the name of a queen from Edina Essaman in Ghana, and the name was bestowed upon her by the late queen’s great grandson.