Beyond Welcome
Building Communities of Love
How do we go beyond welcome to build compassionate, authentic, and equitable communities? In Beyond Welcome: Building Communities of Love, editor Linnea Nelson and contributors dream of a future Unitarian Universalism that upholds abundant love and universal justice within every community. Through personal and collective reflections, these heartfelt essays tell stories of how it feels to be in Beloved Community while prompting readers to imagine what it will take to get us there. The lived experiences of these hopeful Unitarian Universalists—ministers, religious professionals, and laypeople alike—illuminate the relevancy of liberation in each and every one of our communities. Examining both the joys of community and the responsibilities we have to one another, Beyond Welcome provides clarity about current structures and behaviors that create barriers to equity in our faith communities as a passageway to building foundational structures of love and liberation. With questions designed for both personal reflection and group discussion, Beyond Welcome is a powerful and necessary resource for all looking to live into the essence of community.
Linnea Nelson is a certified spiritual director companioning adults, youth, and children on their life journeys. She served as president of the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA) and is the executive director of UU Wellspring, a yearlong spiritual deepening program for Unitarian Universalists. She is a religious educator credentialed by the Unitarian Universalist Association. Community has been a lifelong focus for Nelson and she believes that we can create religious communities as a place for all to bring our whole selves to enrich and empower the greater good. She and her husband, Ted, are active members of the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, Florida.
