Rev. McKinley L. Sims, M.Div.

June 4, 2018 – Announcing our Next Minister Dear Members and Friends of Restoration: The Ministerial Search Committee was very excited to submit the Reverend McKinley “Kin” Sims to the Board for consideration as our contract minister. The Board met to discuss Reverend Sims’ qualifications and to finalize a salary and benefit package, which I offered to him by telephone. Who is Our New Minister? Reverend Sims is a native of Texas. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Princeton Theological Seminary. Prior to attending seminary, he worked as a teacher of middle school students at a small independent school in New Haven, Connecticut where he served as a mentor to the boys in his charge. After two years of teaching, Reverend Sims began a journey towards ministry “…because it seemed like other people needed me to be a minister; like it was a call not just from God, but from humanity, too.” He discovered and “fell in love” with Unitarian Universalism following an internship in an Episcopal church. He completed an internship nearby us, at the Unitarian Society of Germantown. At USG Reverend Sims found in social justice ministry an outlet for his desire to be of service and a place for his own work in rebuilding his theology. Following his internship at USG, Reverend Sims served as an intern at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax in Oakton, Virginia. He currently serves as a psychiatric chaplain resident at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington, DC. He says of his work, “My ministry there with the individuals in care opened my heart to hear that God of many names “speak”, calling me and us forward to love and care for others as we care for ourselves, to honor the image of God in every single being in the universe, even those with whom we don’t want to get too close. This is the heart of the gospel I follow, and the heart of the Unitarian Universalist covenant I live into; to uphold the Seven Principles and make the world a little bit better, one step at a time. That’s a call I can show up for and answer in good faith…” Reverend Sims will bring a unique personality to Restoration. He is younger, enjoys humor, and speaks openly about Christian teachings that inform his personal theology. He is also thoughtful, deeply spiritual, scholarly, open-hearted, and is capable of understanding and utilizing a range of theological ideas in his sermon presentation. In short, he ticked all the boxes the Ministerial Search Committee’s recent survey told the committee whom we are seeking. The qualities our congregation most desires include someone with good communication skills, intellectual depth, the ability to deal with conflict, and someone “empathic and caring who loves us.” In getting to know Reverend Sims, the Search Committee is convinced that he embodies those attributes. Additionally, members of the Search Committee are confident that Reverend Sims’s openness, honesty, passion for social justice work and genuine humanity will appeal to Restoration’s longtime members and friends as well as to youth and younger adults who are searching for guidance in living with purpose and meaning. I thank the Search Committee for their tremendous efforts in getting us to this point and am delighted with the results of their work. I’m sure you’re as excited as I am to welcome Reverend Sims to Restoration later this summer. With appreciation, Tim Styer, Moderator

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