Our Minister
Reverend Alison Wilbur Eskildsen
Rev. Eskildsen joined the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens, Georgia, in August 2010. Prior to her arrival she was Assistant Minister and Director of Religious Education at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Church in Reston, Virginia. A fourth generation UU, her family moved around during her childhood but joined Unitarian churches each place they lived. Formative experiences at the Unitarian Rowe Camp and in Rev. Eskildsen's Liberal Religious Youth group during high school drew her to ministry.
Upon graduation from Albion College Rev. Eskildsen began working at the National Geographic Society (NGS) expecting to stay long enough to earn tuition for seminary. Somehow 25 years passed while directing elite photographers and developing books, articles and other projects. In 2001 she left NGS and began her pursuit to ordained ministry.
Rev. Eskildsen graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC, and was ordained in 2009. During her training she served as Summer Minister at the UU Congregation of Fairfax (VA), and Intern Minister at the UU Church of Arlington (VA). She served as Student Chaplain at Georgetown University Hospital and participated in a housing mission at South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Rev. Eskildsen describes herself as a humanistic religious naturalist. She derives spiritual renewal from the vast wonder of nature and aspires each day to live out our UU principles. She is passionate about energetic and meaningful worship and is committed to transforming lives and making the world more just.
Her husband, Paul Eskildsen, is the General Counsel of a telecommunications company. They have two sons, Scott, a third-year medical student in Virginia, and Brian, a staff member for Stanford University's Men's Basketball program.
Contact information
UUFA Phone: 706-546-7914
706-424-9449 (cell)
Email: rev.eskildsen[at]uuathensga[dot]org
(Please substitute the appropriate symbols @ and . in the above address, written this way to avoid junk mail.)
Community Minister
Rev. Don Randall, Ph.D.
Don is a licensed marriage and family therapist and professional counselor with Athens Associates for Counseling and Psychotherapy. He has special interests in marital therapy, spiritual development, mind-body healing, and hypnosis. Don provides consultation to the pastoral care team and monthly pulpit supply at Canon UU Church. He and his wife Sally have three adult daughters and six grandchildren.
As a service to members of the Fellowship, Don offers a free consultation session to those seeking a referral to the most appropriate psychotherapist.
Contact Information:
Counseling Office: 706-353-0709
Home: 706-769-7540
Email: drrandall5@gmail.com
Vision Statement (adopted May 15, 2011)
The vision of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens, Georgia is to be a beacon of liberal religion and spirituality in Northeast Georgia. Guided by our Unitarian Universalist principles, our light will shine more brightly as we welcome greater diversity and search for deeper meaning. By speaking and acting for justice, and modeling sustainable stewardship of personal and earth resources, we strive to transform our world.
Mission Statement (adopted May 15, 2011)
The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens, , is a caring congregation of diverse peoples, ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. Our purpose is to support our members and to commit deeply to our shared Unitarian Universalist principles by worshiping, playing, and exploring life's meaning together, thus promoting love and justice in our larger community and the world.
History of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens
UUFA was founded in 1954 by ten families seeking a liberal religious presence in Athens. Originally small gatherings were held in members' homes to hear interesting speakers. From the beginning, we have been known for our strong commitment to social justice and human rights. In the 1960s, members of our Fellowship led the University of Georgia faculty in supporting campus desegregation. Later, other members helped to create the Clarke Community Federal Credit Union to serve the needs of lower income people.
Today, UUFA is a vital community of over 300, with a minister, choir and religious education program for both children and adults. We are a growing congregation, grateful for the beauty and functionality of our new building, dedicated in 1993.
Along with more than 1,000 other member UU congregations in the United States and Canada, our Fellowship benefits from the leadership and support of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Our Fellowship also has a rich tradition of social events, from Wednesday potlucks and circle suppers to Nifty-Gifty (a children's holiday gift-making workshop). Committees and activities are as diverse as our membership because they are led and organized by the members. In 1995, we began our paraministerial CARE RING program to support and strengthen the members of our community. Additionally, we honor the gifts of our lay members by having at least one lay-led service each month. We invite you to join us in the pursuit of your religious, spiritual, and intellectual interests.
With its historical roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions, Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion -- that is, a religion that keeps an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. We are a "non-creedal" religion: we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed.
Unitarian Universalist Association Principles and Purposes
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:
- The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
- Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
- Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
- A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
- The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
- The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
- Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:
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Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
- Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
- Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
- Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
- Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
- Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
Grateful for the religious pluralism which enriches and ennobles our faith, we are inspired to deepen our understanding and expand our vision. As free congregations we enter into this covenant, promising to one another our mutual trust and support.
The Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association
The Unitarian Universalist Association shall devote its resources to and exercise its corporate powers for religious, educational and humanitarian purposes. The primary purpose of the Association is to serve the needs of its member congregations, organize new congregations, extend and strengthen Unitarian Universalist institutions and implement its principles.
The Association declares and affirms its special responsibility, and that of its member societies and organizations, to promote the full participation of persons in all of its and their activities and in the full range of human endeavor without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, age, or national origin and without requiring adherence to any particular interpretation of religion or to any particular religious belief or creed.
Nothing herein shall be deemed to infringe upon the individual freedom of belief which is inherent in the Universalist and Unitarian heritages or to conflict with any statement of purpose, covenant, or bond of union used by any society unless such is used as a creedal test.
