A Progressive Welcome on Gilbert Road
Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ sits on a leafy lot near the corner of Gilbert Road and Whitney Way on Madison's southwest side. The midcentury modern-inspired building is approached through gardens and grounds that the congregation tends together, and the Worship Hall opens up through clear A-frame windows to the trees outside. Cushioned seats arranged in a gentle semicircle replace traditional pews so that worshipers can see one another. Across the entryway, a large stained glass window anchors Friendship Hall, where the carpet is laid with a labyrinth and the kitchen is always close at hand. For a congregation that calls itself "Spiritually Alive, Joyfully Inclusive, Committed to Justice," the physical space carries that posture: open, intergenerational, and rooted in a sense of welcome that the pastors and members describe as a "deep and centering breath."
Three pastors share the work of ministry here: Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Julia Burkey, who has led the church since October 2020; Rev. Ken Pennings, Associate Pastor for Congregational Life since August 2009; and Rev. Kate Mackey, Associate Pastor for Children, Youth, and Families, who joined the team in June 2023. The trio leads Sunday worship together with a deep bench of musicians, lay leaders, and dozens of volunteers. Members describe Orchard Ridge as a place where "active and audible children" are welcome, where the coffee is taken seriously, and where questions are valued at least as much as answers.
Spiritually Alive, Joyfully Inclusive, Committed to Justice
The church's three-word mission statement, "Spiritually Alive, Joyfully Inclusive, Committed to Justice," shows up on the front of every announcement and at the top of every email. It is more than a slogan. The congregation is officially Open and Affirming, an explicit and joyful welcome to LGBTQIA+ people, and has been a declared Sanctuary Congregation since 2017, pledging to support immigrant neighbors and provide physical sanctuary as the need arises. Pastoral staff include clergy who identify as gay, queer, and bisexual, and the church has been a member of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition, Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, and MOSES, an interfaith organization focused on mass incarceration and racial disparities in Dane County.
"We are an Open and Affirming church, which means we extend an explicit and joyful welcome to those in the LGBTQIA+ community," the pastors write. "Caring for and loving the earth feel urgent to us, along with the ongoing work of becoming a pro-racial-justice church." Each month, a designated Compassion Offering redirects undesignated donations to a community nonprofit, and justice mission teams keep the focus on long-term commitments rather than one-time gestures.
Sunday Morning at 10:00
The week's central gathering is Sunday worship at 10:00 a.m. in the Worship Hall, with Sunday School and adult education for all ages beginning at 9:00 a.m. The service weaves together a warm and radical welcome, congregational singing, a children's message, a sermon, a time of joys and concerns, and a closing blessing. A highlight for many is the joys and concerns segment, where anyone can lift a prayer; a prayer journal by the parking lot entrance also collects written prayers that pastors speak aloud during the service. The service usually lasts about one hour.
Music is central. A typical Sunday might feature the Senior Choir and organ, the Handbell Choir, the youth rock band Tru Function, or a solo musician from the congregation. The music ranges from old hymns to contemporary songs, with a piano or organ leading most of the congregational singing. The musicians are listed on the church's music staff: Dr. Bruce Gladstone directs the Senior Choir, Vicki Nonn accompanies on piano and organ, Bethany Schultz directs the Handbell Choir, and Rob Martens leads Tru Function. The church lives in a blended worship style that values both traditional and contemporary expression.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month, with an open table. "All you have to be is spiritually hungry," the church explains, and gluten-free bread and non-alcoholic grape juice are always available alongside the regular elements. Children of all ages are invited to take communion with their families. Baptism, the other UCC-recognized sacrament, is offered to both children and adults, with the congregation making vows to walk with the individual in their journey of discipleship.
For those who cannot be present, the 10:00 a.m. service is livestreamed on YouTube, and an archive of past services is available on the church's YouTube channel. The YouTube page goes live between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings; visitors may need to refresh the page after 10:00 if the live stream does not start right away.
Music for Every Generation
Music is one of the most visible threads running through the life of Orchard Ridge. The Senior Choir, directed by Dr. Bruce Gladstone and accompanied by Vicki Nonn, rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings on the first and third Sundays of the month. The Handbell Choir, led by Bethany Schultz, rehearses on Monday evenings and performs on the second Sunday of each month. Both groups welcome new members.
Tru Function is the church's youth rock band, directed by Rob Martens. The band rehearses on Sundays during the school year and typically leads worship on the fourth Sunday of each month, drawing from rock, blues, Christian rock, and rap. Solo musicians from the congregation and the wider community also regularly share special music during worship, including jazz piano, flute, guitar, and a cappella singing.
For the youngest musicians, Music Connections meets on Sunday mornings from 10:15 to 11:00 during worship, with Julie Mazer leading children in song, drumming, poetry, and Orff instruments. Children also help lead the 4:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service each year, often building their own melodies around a phrase or sentence the group has chosen together.
Children, Youth, and Families
Children are not just tolerated at Orchard Ridge; they are cherished. The church's stated hope is that every child will grow up knowing they are loved by God, that Jesus is their friend, and that the Holy Spirit is their comfort and guide. From nursery through high school, programming is built around that promise.
Nursery care is offered every Sunday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. for children from infancy through age four, in the Frances (St. Francis) Room. Paid caregivers have been screened and trained under the church's Safe Sanctuary Policy, and at least one First Aid/CPR-trained employee is in the building whenever the nursery is open.
At 9:00 a.m., three classrooms gather for Faith Formation. Peace Circle welcomes children from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade with music led by Julie Mazer, then Bible storytelling using a sensory-motor style rooted in Following Jesus by Sonja M. Stewart, with story figures crafted by church members. Older elementary students move through active stations using Godly Play by Jerome W. Berryman and The Way of the Child by Wynn McGregor, and receive their own Bibles to learn and use. A middle school rotation covers confirmation topics, the civil rights movement, and a unit called Co-exist that explores six major world religions. One year of the middle school rotation is devoted to Our Whole Lives (OWL), the UCC's comprehensive sexuality education program, covering healthy relationships, identity, consent, and decision making. High school youth are invited to lead in Sunday School and Music Connections, and many are part of Tru Function.
Once a year, the Rite of Confirmation is offered to eighth graders and high school youth. The Confirmation curriculum walks through the Phoenix Affirmations, confirmation vows, UCC history, and the many ways to be involved in church leadership. Confirmation is celebrated in worship each spring.
One of the most anticipated offerings for teens is the annual Youth Mission Trip, a weeklong journey open to youth entering eighth grade and older. Past destinations have included Greensboro, Birmingham, Roanoke, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, Alamosa, and Duluth, with work ranging from painting and gardening to river clean-up and caring for children. Once every five years, the trip is a Civil Rights Learning and Service journey that includes a day in Memphis and a week of service in Birmingham. Students fund the trip through bake sales, t-shirt sales, church tailgates, and volunteer shifts at community events like Brat Fest.
Sacraments: Open Communion and Belonging Baptism
The United Church of Christ recognizes two sacraments, and both are practiced with an emphasis on belonging. Communion, observed on the first Sunday of every month, is an open table. The church explains, "We practice open table communion, which means ALL are welcome at the table of God's love. Whether you are a member or visitor, Christian or not, baptized or not, a child or an adult, you are welcome to partake in the Lord's Supper; all you have to be is spiritually hungry." Bread (with gluten-free options) and a choice of wine or non-alcoholic grape juice are shared; in recent seasons the elements have been distributed in individual paper cups.
Baptism uses water as its essential element and is offered to children and adults. The congregation makes vows to welcome and walk with the individual, and the rite is grounded in the gathered community rather than a private ceremony. "If you want to be baptized or have your child baptized," the church says, "we invite you to come to worship with us and join our community, so that when we do baptize, it is done grounded in the love of community."
Faith in Action: The Justice Mission Teams
Justice work is at the heart of Orchard Ridge, organized through a Ministry of Christian Witness and Service that oversees more than half a dozen active mission teams.
- Heart Room, launched in 2018, helps families with young children find and keep stable housing as a foundation for thriving. Working with community partners, the team empowers families with children to grow up safe, healthy, and successful.
- Homes for All works on the broader community challenge of affordable housing, joining coalitions that bridge the gap between rents and prevailing wages in the Madison area.
- Immigration Justice carries out the 2017 Sanctuary Congregation resolution, providing support, advocacy, and physical sanctuary to immigrant neighbors through the interfaith Dane Sanctuary Coalition.
- Racial Justice helps the congregation become more intentionally anti-racist, combining self-reflection, education, and partnerships with other local groups working on racial equity.
- Care of Creation organizes worship, education, service, and advocacy around climate and the environment. The church has invested in energy efficiency, solar hot water heating, native plantings, and pollinator gardens.
- Palestine Justice Mission Team explores ways to support a just peace in Israel and Palestine, hosting book studies, film screenings, and educational events.
- Veggie Village and the Pantry Garden are church gardens tended by Sunday School children, adults, and neighbors. A portion of the harvest is taken weekly to a nearby church's food pantry, a partnership that has been running since 2009.
- The Greeting Card Ministry sells original-design cards in the Crossroads entryway, with all proceeds going to support housing stability in the community. The ministry has raised tens of thousands of dollars for that work over its lifetime.
- Voter Engagement partners with the Wisconsin Interfaith Voter Engagement Campaign to support voter registration and accessible voting.
During the pandemic, the church raised more than $25,000 for a new Emergency Housing fund and distributed gift cards, meal packs, and household essentials to neighbors in need. It also opened its parking lot and building to host a neighborhood COVID testing site with Public Health partners.
Beliefs: A Progressive Christian Welcome
As a progressive Christian church, Orchard Ridge makes room for individuals to find their own spiritual paths. The congregation includes people new to Christianity, people raised in progressive traditions, people who have left traditions that caused harm, mystics, doubters, and self-described atheists and agnostics. "There is no requirement to believe certain things in order to belong with us," the church explains. "We value questions, spiritual seeking and curiosity more than we value sure belief and right answers."
Many in the congregation resonate with the Phoenix Affirmations, a set of twelve progressive Christian commitments that center on loving God, loving the world, and loving the self. Some members worship Jesus as divine; others understand Jesus as a profound example of a human being fully alive, fighting the powers that be, healing people, and living into the Christ presence within. The Bible is honored as part of the tradition, "but we do not take it literally." Truth found in other faiths is respected, and the church teaches its children the gifts of interfaith community and dialogue.
Rather than focus on original sin, the church focuses on original goodness, understanding sin as structural, woven into systems like white supremacy, racism, and classism. The congregation seeks to dismantle those systems and dream new ways of living into the realm of God here on earth.
The United Church of Christ itself was formed in 1954 from the merger of four earlier traditions, including the Congregational and Evangelical and Reformed Churches. Each UCC congregation is self-governing, all members are ministers, and ordained clergy are servant leaders. The denomination was the first historically white Christian body to ordain an African American, the first to ordain a woman, the first to ordain an openly gay man, and the first to affirm the right of same-gender couples to marry.
Covenant and Governance
Orchard Ridge is a covenantal congregation. The Covenant reads, in part, "Believing in the Creator, in the Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, we covenant together in this church to walk in the ways of God known or to be made known to us. As a community of concern, we pledge to worship together, learn together, and work together to build loving relationships with all people and to live in healthy balance with all of God's creation."
There are no bishops or other outside authorities directing the congregation. Lay leadership is shared through a Leadership Team made up of a Moderator, a Moderator-Elect, a Treasurer, a Clerk, and five at-large members, with the Past Moderator also serving. The pastors are ex officio members. The Leadership Team works alongside five ministries: Ministry of Resources, Ministry of Adult Faith Formation, Ministry of Youth Faith Formation, Ministry of Christian Witness and Service, and Ministry of Congregational Life. Each ministry is staffed by a pastor and a Leadership Team liaison and is supported by a constellation of mission teams. The congregation meets annually to vote on officers and budget, and the pastors are called through a search process that is assisted by the Wisconsin Conference UCC but ultimately voted on by the congregation.
Small Groups, Classes, and Adult Faith Formation
The church's Ministry of Adult Faith Formation supports a wide variety of groups and classes. Sunday morning education at 9:00 a.m. often takes the form of "Java and Jesus," a discussion hour with coffee. A separate Morning Meditation group meets on Thursdays in person in the Oscar Romero Room, and a Friday morning group gathers on Zoom.
Wayfinding: The Spirituality of Aging is one of the church's most distinctive adult offerings, gathering on the third Wednesday of each month from 9:30 to 11:15 a.m. in Friendship Hall, with a Zoom option the following day. The group works through books like Parker Palmer's On The Brink of Everything and The Inner Work of Age, with teaching, singing, meditation, and small group discussion. A monthly Lunch and Learn on Wednesdays, beginning at 11:30, includes a simple lunch and a presentation from a UW-Madison faculty member, local nonprofit leader, or church member, with a suggested $10 donation toward the meal.
Other recurring groups include a Breakfast Group that meets the first Friday of the month at a local restaurant; a Women's Compassion Circle that meets by Zoom on the first and third Thursdays; a Women's Book Group that meets the first Thursday of the month, in person and on Zoom; a Men's Group on the second and fourth Mondays; a Knitting Group that produces prayer shawls; a Pantry Garden Mission Team that tends the food pantry plot from May through October; a Garden Tenders Team; and a Catering Mission Team that prepares and serves food at church events. The church's calendar also includes a small Movie Discussion Group and a Parents Together peer support group for caregivers.
Music groups are another pathway to belonging, with the Adult Choir, Handbell Choir, and Tru Function all open to new members of any experience level.
The Pastoral Team and Staff
Rev. Dr. Julia Burkey, Senior Pastor, came to Orchard Ridge in October 2020. She holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary (2012), where she received the Karen Ziegler Prize for embodying the highest ideals of feminist and liberation theology in preaching, and a Doctor of Ministry from Hartford Theological Seminary (2020) focused on church visioning and racial justice. A former dancer and performer, and a trained birth doula, Julia identifies as bisexual and queer and brings an artistic dynamic to her preaching.
Rev. Ken Pennings, Associate Pastor for Congregational Life, has served since August 2009. A graduate of Columbia Bible College and Columbia Biblical Seminary, Ken lives on Madison's south side with his husband John Leonard, a religious studies professor at Edgewood College. The couple hosts ministry gatherings at their home, Emmaus House, and Ken is known for his warm, intergenerational ministry.
Rev. Kate Mackey, Associate Pastor for Children, Youth, and Families, joined in June 2023 after chaplaincy and local church work. A native Wisconsinite, Kate holds a Master of Divinity from The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 2014. She has additional training in spiritual care for mental health and is committed to fostering belonging for children, youth, and families.
Julie Mazer has served as Children's Music Director since September 2009 and now also serves as Children's Education Coordinator. A music therapy graduate of UW-Oshkosh, she is trained in Orff Schulwerk, the Reggio Emilia approach, and the Pace Piano approach, and she leads early childhood music classes, intergenerational music classes, and the Music Connections program for older children. Dr. Bruce Gladstone, Senior Choir Director since May 2008, is Associate Director of Choral Activities at UW-Madison. Vicki Nonn, the service musician and choir accompanist, previously served as ORUCC's choir director and organist before Bruce's arrival, and now plays piano and organ in worship after a long career at Wisconsin Public Radio. Bethany Schultz has directed the Handbell Choir since 2016. Rob Martens, a software developer and former church music director, leads Tru Function and Tru Gumption and is married to former ORUCC Associate Pastor Tammy Martens, who retired in 2021. George Decker serves as Office Manager.
Affiliations and Building Partners
Orchard Ridge UCC is a member of the United Church of Christ and the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ. It works with other denominations through the Wisconsin Council of Churches, is an organizational member of the Dane Sanctuary Coalition and Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice, and is a member congregation of MOSES. Madison Mennonite Church shares the building, and the calendar of events is coordinated so that the two congregations can use the spaces together. The church's welcome statement names the building's features: a worship hall with treetops visible through clear A-frame windows, cushioned seats in a semicircle, Friendship Hall with a carpet labyrinth, a stained glass window, a kitchen, and several classrooms that can host small groups, meetings, and parties. The meditative garth garden is occasionally used for memorial services and interments.
Practical Information for Visitors
Orchard Ridge is located at 1501 Gilbert Road, Madison, Wisconsin, near the corner of Gilbert Road and Whitney Way on the city's southwest side. The church has a large parking lot as well as ample street parking, and the building is fully wheelchair accessible. Greeters welcome visitors at both the Gilbert Road entrance and the parking lot entrance, and ushers hand out bulletins, including large-type bulletins, to anyone who would like one. Many members write their pronouns on name tags as a small practice of inclusion.
Most people dress casually, and the church's only stated rule is, "You can come exactly as you are." If dressing up feels special, have fun with that too. Children of all ages are welcome in worship, and little noises and wiggles are not a problem. After the children's message, kids through sixth grade are invited to Music Connections, and nursery care is available for infants and toddlers through age four. Communion Sundays generally include the children in the meal.
As long as the Dane County COVID risk remains low, masking is optional in the building. Small groups may set their own practices. Visitors who are feeling unwell are asked to join worship online via YouTube.
The 9:00 a.m. hour typically includes adult education and faith formation for all ages. Three weekly email offerings keep the congregation connected: Worship Resources (sent Saturday), Weekly Announcements (sent Thursday), and Prayers (sent Friday). Daily reflections written by a church member are also available on request. Visitors who want to support the church financially can do so online, though the church notes that visitors are not expected to contribute to expenses.
Whether someone is looking for a place to raise children, a community that takes questions seriously, an Open and Affirming congregation, or a place to put faith into action on housing, immigration, the environment, or racial equity, Orchard Ridge United Church of Christ welcomes the conversation.