Ministry & Worship
our minister

Reverend Tim Ashton was called to service here at our church August 2004.

Dr. Timothy W. Ashton was born near Akron, Ohio in 1944 and graduated from its University. He received his Doctorate with Distinction from the Meadville/Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago in 1970 and was there awarded the Billing's Prize for Excellence in Scholarship. As recipient of the Meadville/Lombard Alumni Grant, Rev. Ashton also traveled extensively in Romania and Hungary where he studied and wrote on the theology, liturgy, and life of Hungarian Unitarians during their 400th anniversary year in 1968.

Rev. Ashton's first ministerial settlement was in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1970. During this ten-year pastorate, he was active in the community's religious, political, and social service work. He volunteered as a "youthful offender" probation officer and as an advocate in community mental health and half-way house administration and community relations. In denominational circles, he was President of the Ballou-Channing District, President of the District Minister's Association, and a Board Member of the International Association for Religious Freedom and the Doolittle Home, Inc., in Foxboro, Massachusetts.

His next ministry began in Roanoke, Virginia in 1980. Rev. Ashton participated in the formation of Roanoke Valley Together, a community coalition to foster religious and racial understanding and cooperation. He was appointed by the City Council to the Roanoke Arts Commission and elected as a Board Member of the Mental Health Association. The Spiritual Assembly of Bah'ais of Roanoke awarded Rev. Ashton and his wife, Gretchen, with their Distinguished Service to Humanity Award for 1983.

In 1986, Rev. Ashton was elected the District Executive for the Massachusetts Bay District of Unitarian Universalist Churches. During that time, he was a member of the board of Ecclesia Ministries, which provides religious services to the homeless in Boston. In his work with Mass Bay District, he was particularly appreciated for counseling ministers, religious educators, and congregational leadership and staff. An expert in conflict transformation, he helped leaders turn heat into light, guided ministers in establishing good boundaries, and helped the potentially "stuck" reframe and re-envision problem situations.

The UU Church of Amherst conducted a ministerial search for a full year, finally presenting Rev. Ashton as the recommended candidate to guide our congregation during these new years of growth.

In May of 2004, Rev. Ashton was unanimously elected the parish minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Amherst in Williamsville, NY, a suburb of Buffalo. He began his ministry here the following August.

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