First Unitarian Portland

(she/her)

Rev. Leah Ongiri came on staff in 2023 but her relationship with First Church began when she started attending as a toddler with her family. Her work centers on helping integrate learning opportunities for children, youth, and adults, so that everyone gets to experience the church as a cohesive learning community. If you’re curious or passionate making that happen, or would like to connect simply to say hello, please don’t hesitate to be in touch. Leah would be happy to chat or meet. She loves knowing the church’s friends and members, whether brand new or firmly established.

Since her ordination to the UU ministry in 2010 (in First Church’s Eliot Chapel) Leah has served congregations in California, New Jersey, Florida, Wisconsin, and Colorado, focusing in areas of lifespan faith formation, spiritual care, and membership/belonging. She attended and received her Master of Divinity degree from Starr King School for the Ministry in California in 2009. A proud UU Jew, she is former president of UUs for Jewish Awareness and coeditor of the Skinner House book Jewish Voices in Unitarian Universalism.

In her (extremely limited) spare time, Leah is an amateur potter and casual poet. She lives in the Kenton neighborhood of North Portland with her spouse Amy, their four children, two feisty tuxedo cats, and a bearded dragon lizard.