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Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church
1110 Resaca Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Phone: 412-322-4261

Twitter? Kind of: RevDVMcFarland

AUU Point of View from Rev. Dave:  

• reflections on social justice
• top ten reasons UU is cool
• minister's board report 
• minister's annual report
• sermon page

The Reverend David V. McFarland (just call him "Rev Dave") started his ministry at Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church in September, 2004. He preaches and sings from the heart and brings a lively style of worship to our North Side church along with a passion for social and economic justice. He tells world-wide stories of faith and hope. (Link to audio files from the district church camp, Summer Institute, where he was invited to offer every morning worship at the 2010 "Our Stories, Ourselves.") He works with individuals and groups connected to the church to deepen our inner resources so we can reach out and live our faith through our life in community and was the theme speaker in 2011 when the district Summer Institute's Youth Program asked him for creative, interactive daily workshops and talks about the spiritual discipline of putting justice into action. Not only does he encourage broad participation in our Social Justice Ministry, he is of course engaged in organizations like the North Side Common Ministries, Jefferson Recreation Center, and the Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN).

Rev. Dave was recognized for his community service and activism when he was awarded the Central North Side's "North Sider of the Year" in 2009, an award that the church itself won in years past. In May 2011 he worked with the PIIN Gun Violence Task Force to provide an alternate view of gun safety when the National Rifle Association's annual meeting came to Pittsburgh. Later in 2011, the PIIN Clergy Caucus leaders invited him to join their Executive Committee. He has been the driving force behind a new effort to connect North Side "street peace workers" through the North Side Peace Network (NSPN) styled after the Christian Peacemaker Teams that he brought to speak to us in 2008. The mission of NSPN is "Bring more peace to the streets and just stop the killing." The New Pittsburgh Courier's coverage of NSPN's "North Side Peace Gathering 2012" can be found here.

He lives his commitment to justice not just in his work and volunteer life, but does so in his daily serving and living in our economically and ethnically mixed neighborhood and in a committed and openly gay relationship with a multiracial family.

Rev. Dave's message from the pulpit is about the transforming power of love. Love writ small in our relationships with family, neighbors, and friends. Love writ large in our work bringing more hope and more justice to the inner city, the region, and the world. Love writ huge in our relationship to the divinity within, among, and around us; God, however we understand it. Over the past several years of our ministry together, we have worked with community leaders to bring our faith to the streets. Our Social Justice Council supports programs at the Jefferson Recreation Center and literally takes to the streets with an All Souls Vigil when there have been fatal victims of gun violence in the neighborhood. Conscious of our legacy in hosting the founding meeting of the CNNC, we continue to encourage voices of our under-served neighbors to get heard through get-out-the-vote and efforts like the neighborhood’s 2009 community plan. We connect with North Side Old Timers in their outreach efforts. We join PIIN in creating Holy Ground. And Rev. Dave actively supports our Christmas Caroling to neighborhood seniors, Halloween festivities for the kids, and the occasional Pagan worship or Tai Chi in the park.

Rev. Dave was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, but came to our church from Jena, Germany, where he began a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics at Friedrich Schiller Universität (working title: "Banking in Dignity: Applying the Ethic of Human Dignity at the World Bank in the Wolfensohn Years").  Before that, he and his husband, ecologist Tim Nuttle, lived in Utah where they met and where Rev. Dave was minister of the Cache Valley Unitarian Universalists. He graduated from UCLA and Harvard Divinity School and was ordained at The First Church in Boston, where he served as intern minister. His first call was to an AIDS ministry at the Universalist Meetinghouse in Provincetown, Massachusetts. After finding a life partner in Utah and marrying him in Germany, he and Tim are grateful to the Steel City for expanding their family with two beautiful children. Rev. Dave has been an invited panelist or participant in various business ethics, anti-discrimination, homelessness, and gay/lesbian workshops and advocacy groups, and published in a variety of journals, reference texts, and of course editorial pages.

Rev. Dave views his ministry as one of empowering committed Unitarian Universalists to build what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called "The Beloved Community." He describes Unitarian Universalists as "free-thinking mystics with hands who deal creatively with life as it is, and, working to transform life through the power of love, create life as it could be." He experiences Allegheny UU Church as "a great place to do this work because people are less invested in their Sunday-go-to-church self-righteousness and more invested in working together to celebrate and transform life." What we are doing here, he says, is "building on the legacy and history of Unitarian Universalism; nurturing one another in the spirit of this free faith; and bringing more life, more hope to the neighborhood."

Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church's mission is to be a welcoming urban congregation that puts Unitarian Universalism into action by celebrating life, nourishing the spirit, and committing to justice. Together with Rev. Dave we are building a community of justice, equity, and compassionate service to others, the neighborhood, and the planet. Sunday worship starts at 10:30AM.  We are located across from the National Aviary at 416 West North Avenue in Pittsburgh’s North Side (15212) and are served by bus lines 15, 16, and 17, with 54 nearby, with about a 10-15 minute walk from the North Side stop for the T North Shore Connector. For further information, call 412-322-4261. To connect with Rev. Dave directly, send an e-mail to minister <at> alleghenyuu <dot> org.