Reverend Nathan C. Walker was introduced  Unitarian Universalism in 1992 when his maternal grandma took him to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Nevada. In January of 2007, over 400 people attended his ordination, dually sponsored by the Fourth Universalist Society and the Unitarian Church of Staten Island in New York City.

In May 2007, Reverend Nate was called by the members of the historic First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia to serve as the settled Minister and Executive Director. He is currently in his 12th year of serving congregations in various capacities.

Responsibilities as Minister 

          As Minister of the church Reverend Nate is responsible for providing pastoral care, preaching and leading worship, officiating at rites of passage and leading adult religious education classes. He also works closely with the membership and social justice ministry teams. He also collaborates with the church's Affiliated Community Minister, Rev. Addae Ama Kraba.

Responsibilities as Executive Director

           As Executive Director, Reverend Nate develops and oversees a $896,000 operating budget. As a regional community center, the First Unitarian Church welcomes an average of 2,200 people per week. As Executive Director he negotiates leases, and works with tenants and the congregation to develops strategic plans, as well as oversees twelve employees - his dream team. 

Mission

          The First Unitarian Church uses a modified version of Policy Governance to manage the congregational affairs. In this role, Reverend Nate's primary role is to work with paid and volunteer staff to develop means - programs - to achieve the following ends (download)

Global End:

We are an intentionally diverse community that affirms and promotes Unitarian Universalist principles. In valuing the legacy of our historic urban ministry and our community center, we foster peace, sustainability and justice in our community, our city and the world.

Our Family

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  Shared Responsibility: We take shared responsibility to cultivate a culture of abundance through the sharing of our time, talent, and treasure.

• Nurturing Spiritual Community: We cultivate and nurture a welcoming spiritual community that enriches, inspires, and encourages moral and spiritual growth across the lifespan.

• Transparency: We apply transparency in our governance and ministry in order to build trust and to preserve the integrity of our democratic process.

Our Home

• Preservation: We commit to preserve and enhance our architecturally significant building while creating a modern, safe, and accessible space.

Our World

• Social Responsibility: Inspired by the historic and contemporary activists of First Unitarian Church, we work towards a more just, peaceful, compassionate, and equitable congregation, urban community, and world.

• Sustainability: We care for and seek sustainability in our relationship with the earth, its vital ecosystems, and the human and non-human animals who inhabit it.

Note: The term Ends refers to the effects we seek to have on the world outside ourselves. Our work will cause something to be different for someone at some cost. The following Ends statements are therefore designed to embrace three parts: (1) The impact, difference, change, benefit or outcome to be obtained in the lives of the populations we serve, often referring to results. This answers the question: what benefit? (2) The identity, description, or characteristics of those who receive the results, referred to as recipients, answers the questions: who benefits? And (3) The monetary expense, relative worth, or relative priority of a result or set of results, or the comparative priority of certain recipients rather than others getting the results, referred to the costs, answer the question: at what cost?