This week, Ordinary Life features a guest speaker, Rev. Dr. Dawson B. Taylor.
Dr. Taylor has titled his presentation to Ordinary Life as, “What Does it Mean to be a Progressive Christian in an Era of Church Divide?”
Approximately 2,000 churches disaffiliated from the United Methodist Church through the end of 2022, 294 or almost 15% of those from the Texas Annual Conference.
The Lewis Center for Church Leadership at Wesley Theological Seminary released a study of churches that disaffiliated and their common characteristics. However, this report did not study the theological reflection of the congregations that stayed and those that left. So, we find ourselves needing to ask further questions of what it means to be a progressive Christian in an era where there are those more eager to divide than unite.
Biography:
The Reverend Doctor Dawson B. Taylor served as the sixth Senior Minister of Naples United Church of Christ from 2016-2022. Prior to becoming a Floridian, he served as Executive Minister of Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas, the largest LGBTQ+ congregation in the world.
Dr. Taylor holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Centenary College of Louisiana where he served two Congressional internships and was twice-elected Student Body President. Dr. Taylor received his Master of Theological Studies from Perkins School of Theology, and his Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary, where he is now a Trustee.
In 2022 Dawson completed the Next Generation Leadership Initiative, a 10-year program which identifies leaders for training to lead the “church of the future.”
In 2018, Dr. Taylor was named by Gulfshore Business in its annual class of 40 Under 40 and his alma mater, Centenary College presented him the Bentley Sloane Alumni Award for service to the church.
Dr. Taylor has been a featured guest on the BBC’s The Compass, the podcast One Spark at a Time and the documentary film Compelling Love and Sexual Identity: Connecting Beyond Tolerance (2014). Additionally, he was a Contributor to Rise Up: Spirituality for Resistance (The Pilgrim Press, 2017) and a presenter at the 2020 Courageous Faith Summit hosted by Convergence Network. In 2021, Dr. Taylor was honored to deliver the address at the 196th commencement of Lancaster Seminary.
Dawson enjoys traveling and time with family, especially his five nieces and nephews. And of course, he is always entertained by his Chocolate Labrador, Max.