Reverend Lynn Ashley
was called as minister of the Unitarian Church of Barneveld on November 1, 2003.

 

Reverend Ashley was ordained in Albany, New York in October, 2003.  Lynn has masters degrees in Community Development, International Management and Religion & Psychology, and a doctorate in Ministry with concentration of Pastoral Care and Practical Theology.  She has held positions in university administration, college instruction, corporate financial management and policy research.  Lynn previously served as summer minister at churches in Fredonia and Rochester, New York.  While completing her doctoral studies, Lynn served as a part-time minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Northern Chautauqua in Fredonia.  Just prior to coming here, she served as minister at the Unitarian Church of Rochester, New York.  

Reverend Ashley conducts two or three services each month in Barneveld and is available for pastoral visits to members of the church community.

Rev. Ashley can be contacted by phone at 315-525-1477 or you
may click here to e-mail her.

    When she first came to Barneveld, Lynn captured the sense of  
      community and depth of history that define the congregation.

On my first visit to Barneveld, I came as your guest and the warmth of your presence and your hospitality were so great on that wintry day that as I walked down the steps, departing, I felt a tinge of sadness. “It’s too bad they don’t want a minister,” I had thought to myself, “because if they did, I’d surely want to be considered.” Those of you who were present that day – and this place (the church and the community) – were memorable indeed.

It is thus, with a deep sense of awe and of privilege that I will return as your consulting minister. And I am still – even more so as I come to know you -- touched by the warmth of your hospitality, the sense of community that exists among you, and by the many ways you express your presence in and sense of responsibility to the greater community.

There is something noteworthy in the history of this community, with its name borne in the tradition of religious freedom: Von Oldenbarneveld lost his head because he – a Protestant – had loudly advocated for the right of Roman Catholics to worship as they wished in Holland. And there rests a source of pride in this congregation with its distinction as the oldest Unitarian congregation west of the Hudson: two hundred years ago, a group of people came together trusting that freedom of individual expression of beliefs – in community -- was more important than adherence to a particular doctrine. What significant values these are to cherish, not only as history, but to hold forth in these troubled times.

From the wells of our own experience of peace and love, may we each help in the making of a more just and peaceful world.

E-Mail: Church

                                                      

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