Christine Purcell

Congregational Transitions Director

Congregational Life

Telephone: 617-843-3621, 6125

Headshot of Christine Purcell

Christine Purcell is the Congregational Transitions Director on the Congregational Life field staff group. She supports governing board and search team members in their ministerial search processes. She is a member of the Congregational Life Leadership Team and the Review Team. She works in close partnership with UUA regional staff, the Transitions Office, the Ministries and Faith Development staff group, the Office of Church Staff Finances, and the IT office to optimize the ministry search process for good matches between ministers and congregations.

She began working as a consultant for our Association's Southeast District in 2011. As Southern Region staff, she held the portfolios for small congregations, staffing analysis, strategic planning, and ministerial transitions. In the spirit of cross-regional collaboration, our Congregational Life Leadership Team gave her the transitions portfolios for all five regions in 2018. This change gave her the ability to focus on her favorite aspect of field staff work--supporting congregational leaders in the ministerial transition process.

Her educational background is in sociology, psychology, and criminal justice. Before joining the UUA staff team, she worked as a workshop facilitator at a military counseling center in Sardinia, Italy, as a corporate trainer, and as a UU congregational and cluster leader. She is certified in Critical Incident Stress Management (crisis response) and as a Red Cross emergency shelter manager. She is an Our Whole Lives facilitator, as well.

She lives in central Connecticut, but feels like she lives on Zoom! In her spare time, she enjoys sci-fi, cooperative and strategy games, training dogs, traveling with her family, and playing guitar, bass ukulele, and baritone ukulele.

From Christine Purcell

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He asked, “Can you explain the logic behind having Dwight Brown Leadership Experience in May in Arkansas?” “Why, yes I can.” I replied. The Southern Region staff routinely hears from congregational leaders and staff members who are concerned about the cost, timing, location, and occasional...

By Connie Goodbread, Christine Purcell | November 8, 2017 | From Southern Region

I love getting emails from the Church of the Larger Fellowship. They start off with “Our faith alive in the world!” That phrase makes me smile every time I see it. I’ve been concerned about the health and life of our faith and Association in the last few months. Since the US presidential...

By Christine Purcell | July 5, 2017 | From Southern Region

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren't always comfortable, but they're never weakness.” ― Dr. Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead After the presidential election, I made a...

By Christine Purcell | March 14, 2017 | From Southern Region

A week or so before the presidential election, an elder of our faith added me to Pantsuit Nation, a secret Facebook group with 3.8 million members, most of whom supported Secretary Clinton for President. What a resource! The stories! The hope! I can’t estimate how much time I’ve spent...

By Christine Purcell | November 30, 2016 | From Southern Region

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