Rev. Sarah Oglesby-Dunegan
Senior Minister
Minister@VUU.org
In July 2022, I moved to Phoenix with my family, including a high school-aged son, my partner, my mom, and our pets (Millie the Cat, and Astro the Dog). Our college-age daughter is finishing college in Missouri. I’ve fallen in love with the desert, and enjoy exploring our new state. I love hiking, riding my bike, live music and bookstores. My family loves camping, libraries, movies and travel. I am also deeply committed to building communities that center justice, equity, and compassion and partner with others who seek to restore relationships and repair and replace systems that are oppressive and destructive. I am guided by curiosity, collaboration, and capacity building.
If you’d like to meet with Rev. Sarah, please complete this form: bit.ly/MeetRev
Ministry and Professional Background
I grew up unchurched and outside of any community of faith–much like so many who consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” I joined my first UU congregation as a 21 year college student, finding there a community that was spiritually diverse and meaningfully engaged in justice and service work. I was drawn toward earth-based and pagan spiritualities, especially practices that honored the feminine divine. Later, my husband and I belonged to a sangha led by Brother Chi Sing at the Dallas Meditation Center who taught us about Buddhism from the teachings of the Order of Interbeing. I learned about Christianity and other faith traditions in seminary at Iliff School of Theology, where I met faith progressive leaders interested in dismantling racism, championing LGBTQIA+ rights, fighting poverty and all forms of injustice. I believe in the power of community to heal and to organize for change.
I graduated from the Iliff School of Theology in June 2014 after successfully serving a full-time internship at Boulder Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Lafayette, CO. I was granted Final Fellowship from the Ministerial Fellowship Committee in February 2018. Beginning my second career as a Unitarian Universalist minister in 2014, I led a congregation in Topeka, Kansas for six years where I was also involved in community organizing and advocacy that was multi-faith and intersectional (2014-2020). Later, I served two years as an interim minister for High Street UU Church in Macon, GA during the COVID pandemic. Before seminary, I served as an administrator and faculty member in urban community colleges in downtown Dallas and Denver. I also have experience as a community organizer with tenants in HUD housing in Dallas and as a lay leader in small, midsize and large congregations. I have both a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Master of Divinity.
Becoming a minister has allowed me to bring the stories and experiences of my life as an educator and activist into the sanctuaries I have served in. I preach from personal stories, scripture, events in the world and from resources I’ve found along the path. I encourage worship associates to share their stories and experiences as well. I try to connect the music we hear and sing together to the themes I explore. I believe worship can move us and change us, and I try to bring a variety of sources, styles, and ideas into the worship services I lead, as I know that I serve humanists, theists, Buddhists, liberal Christians, folks whose traditions may not be their spiritual home anymore, and many who are still discerning their theology.
Who I Am As a Leader
My professional values come from a foundation of pluralism as a core value, which means exploring our differences (religious, political, cultural, and other identities) in order to build deeper relationships based on respect and true interdependence. During graduate school, I learned from Dr. Vincent Harding, who believed that dialogue and sharing our stories is an integral part of dealing with conflict and building resilient, diverse communities. In many of our organizations and institutions, difference and conflict are an inherent and sometimes hidden part of our work.
I encourage congregations to develop intergenerational and intercultural approaches to worship and congregational life, gathering to develop relationships across generations. This usually means embracing change, experimenting, and taking risks. Helping congregations develop spiritual maturity to make changes that aren’t stalled by individual preferences and are instead celebrated for building bridges across difference is a primary goal for me as a minister.
My work life has given me many different opportunities to be a collaborative partner in building and sustaining community. I have responded to public crises within the larger community as well as more personal crises within my community. I have led community prayer vigils in response to mass shootings, I have been with families as they watched a loved one die in hospice, and I have helped my own congregation mourn the loss of important leaders. I have helped design and lead community conversations about police violence, testified in legislative hearings, spoken in front of city council meetings, and led press conferences. I officiated the first same-sex marriage in Topeka, KS (and many others before and after) and I have led many memorial services. I have developed new and small non-profits, including resource development and fundraising, and I have led board development. In all of these settings, I am and have been committed to serving and creating spaces for lives and relationships to be held with love, compassion and equity.