Rev. Emily Conger
Emily is an ordained Unitarian Universalist Minister and co-founder of Nourish. She is a nearly lifelong UU who is called to help people connect to Unitarian Universalism in innovative ways.
She has served as the minister of the Longmont UU Presence (The LUUP) for more than four years. The LUUP is a an emerging ministry based in Colorado invested in food justice through dinner church and garden church.
Emily received her Master of Divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She has served for many years as a leader in youth and young adult communities.
Emily is committed to working toward intersectional justice, especially racial justice and queer justice.
Outside of UU contexts, Emily worked at Planned Parenthood and Rutgers University and lived in South Africa and Chile.
Emily lives in Salem, MA with her partner Ted, toddler Lily Abundance, and extended family. They enjoy biking, going for walks, playing cooperative board games, and eating homemade bread together.
Rev. Aisha Ansano
Aisha is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and co-founder of Nourish. She believes that deep relationship building is crucial in the struggle for justice in our world.
Aisha believes there is room at the table for everyone, and that gathering over a meal is one of the best ways to build and strengthen community. By cooking and eating together, we allow ourselves to be vulnerable in a way we often are not, and open ourselves and our communities to deeper and fuller connection.
Aisha received her Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. For her MDiv project, she interviewed dinner church pastors around the country, researched the anthropology and theology of food, and crafted a non-Christian dinner church liturgy that was the beginnings of her UU dinner church dreams. She has led dinner church for various groups of different ages at several different churches, and plans on planting a dinner church community.
Aisha lives in Malden, MA with her partner Matt. She enjoys cooking and baking for friends, learning aerial silks and ballet, and reading romance, fantasy, and YA fiction.
What is dinner church?
Dinner church is all about nourishing bodies and spirits through food and ritual. It is a worship service and a meal woven together to tap into the heart of what it means to be in embodied spiritual community with one another. It is ancient spiritual technology that can be used in a modern context. Through the centuries, people have gathered to worship while eating meals together. Harvest rituals celebrate food and promise. Passover Seders recognize freedom and redemption. And Christian communion stemmed from the practice of sharing meals to connect people to love and grace.
Eating together is at the heart of community building. The Latin roots of the word companion are com “with, together” + panis “bread.” We are companions on this challenging journey through life. We celebrate and ritualize our connectedness through dinner church. Right now, there are dinner churches popping up all over the country in many different religious traditions and religious leaders are writing books about modern dinner churches.
Revs. Emily and Aisha have experience crafting and leading many forms of dinner church: online, in person, and multi-platform; as standalone communities as well as parts of existing ministries; for families, youth and young adults, and Coming of Agers; at retreats, ministerial candidating events, installations, and more! We will leverage our expertise and creativity to support your unique needs.