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Steve Eriksen retires after 22 years at Shalom UCC in Richland

After 22 years of ministry at Shalom UCC in Richland, Steve Eriksen retires Dec. 31 and will spend several months as a “member in discernment” at the end of his ministry, looking at his options.

Steve Eriksen retires from Shalom.

Shalom was his first church in the PNC. In his studies for a masters at United Seminary in Ohio, a United Methodist school, Steve realized he did not fit in the Open Bible Church but would fit in the UCC.  He earned a master of divinity in 1988 at Earlham School of Religion at Earlham College, a Quaker school, in Richmond, Ind., and served UCC churches in Southwest Ohio and then in Bellevue, Ky. 

At Richland, he has nurtured interfaith relations with Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Baha’i.

They have held interfaith potlucks and panel discussions in the church and joined the interfaith community in peace marches.  The Buddhist meditation group met in the building Thursdays until COVID.

The church expanded its building over the last 10 years, giving architects information on what they did in the community to inform the structure needed.

Steve said his preaching has been a balance following the lectionary between pastoral and social justice components.

“I’ve enjoyed the intellectual stimulus of the church with many scientists,” he said.

For information, call 509-943-3927 or visit shalomunitedchurch.org.

 

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