United States of America
The Rev. Dominique Chantell Atchison is a proud native and resident of the Bronx, New York. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from Oberlin College in Ohio and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Rev. Atchison began her ministry at the Abyssinian Baptist Church where she was licensed to preach the Gospel and served as Intern Minster for Youth Ministries.
Rev. Atchison was ordained by the United Church of Christ at Judson Memorial Church where she also served as a Community Minister. Her vocation has led her to serve as the Pastor and Teacher of the Amistad Community Church, UCC in Ann Arbor, MI and the Sacred Conversations on Race Coordinator for the Connecticut Conference of the UCC.
Rev. Atchison currently serves as an Associate Minister at Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn, NY and as a consultant who creates and facilitates Sacred Conversations on Race for clergy and lay leaders in the New York Conference of the UCC.
In addition to parish ministry, Rev. Atchison is a singer, performance artist and writer. Her writing has been featured in blogs including The Huffington Post Blog, For Harriet and the Young Women’s Clergy Project. Rev. Atchison has also contributed curriculum for the African American Lectionary.
1. From womanish. (Opp. of "girlish," i.e. frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, "you acting womanish," i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous or willful behavior.
I am by no means a minister who is going to tell people who are subject to racism not to be angry. I am, however, going to say that this moment needs our faith. This moment needs our focus. And in spite of this young man's attempt destroy the sanctity of prayer, we need prayer.
There is no such thing as being trans-racial. In spite of the braids, the light black face and her matriculation at Howard, Rachel Dolezal is still white. And in spite of my life experiences and the fact that I might fail the #askRachel quiz, I am still black.
There was something sacred about Memorial Day and the Day of Pentecost falling on the same long weekend. I'm sure many preachers around the country engaged in some homiletic interpretation of this convergent moment.
Posted: Dear Colleagues, As members of the clergy we have been called and compelled to care for all of God's people. Therefore we would like to offer our deepest condolences to the families of Michael Brown Jr., Eric Garner, Wenjian Liu, and Rafael Ramos.
by Rev. Dominique Atchison A few years back I made the hard choice to leave the majority African American church and denomination where I was raised. I left because I felt we were choosing misogyny and homophobia over the Spirit of the Living God.
By Rev. Dominique C. Atchison I grew up hearing stories about the generational domestic violence that seemed to be ever-present in my mother's family. As witness to that violence, my mother would always say, "I hate the way that the word 'domestic' gets put in front of the word 'violence'.
by Rev. Dominique C. Atchison Like many people of African descent, the issue of skin color is a theme in my family narrative. My mother's mother was the dark-skinned one of 2 sisters. If you go a gathering my mother's side of the family you may hear references being made to someone simply named "Black."
by Rev. Dominique Atchison As I sat in my father's car driving down Billy Graham highway in North Carolina, I heard my father utter the words, "I don't like Black lady preachers." That was at the very beginning of my journey, when I had just started seminary.
Posts about the POV documentary American Promise began to appear in my Facebook newsfeed about a week before it aired on PBS. Two Black male friends of mine in particular began to post over and over again that this was not a movie to be missed.
MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES Sunday, June 23, 2013 Dominique Atchison, Guest Lectionary Liturgist, is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. Gabrie'l J. Atchison, Guest Lectionary Liturgist, holds a Ph.D.
MOTHER'S DAY MUSIC & WORSHIP RESOURCES Sunday, May 12, 2013 Courtney-Savali L. Andrews, Lectionary Young Adult Liturgists' Team Worship Planning Notes On this day, we come together to celebrate and honor mothers, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in our society.
I am someone who doesn't neatly fit into the many stereotypical boxes provided for me. Because of this I often find myself in the position of navigating the assumptions of others. But I absolutely cannot stand the idea of constantly qualifying and justifying in anticipation of outside assumptions: "I'm a pastor but I'm not one ...
by Dominique C. Atchison My intention was to write about race and racism. I am an African American pastor in a predominately white denomination. I serve a multi-racial, actively anti-racist congregation. This is after all an issue dedicated to diversity. I wanted to lament about my denomination, which sometimes opts for tokenism over true diversity.