Rev. Marilyn B. Kendrix,
Retired Bridge Conference Minister of the Southern New England Conference UCC
“Over the last 13 years, I have been guest preaching first in Connecticut and since the creation of the Southern New England Conference, in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well, raising awareness about mass incarceration and systemic racism. My new 2025 sermon series will focus on the thread that flows from the history of racism in America to the situation making the USA the nation with the highest rates of poverty among developed nations. Poverty has been an enduring problem that has been out-of-sight or actively ignored for too many years despite the fact that we know that we can solve this problem. And now, help for the poor among us is under real attack. What would Jesus do? “
Prior to ordination, Marilyn worked for over 15 years as an Organizational Development Consultant principally at AT&T and in other profit and not-for-profit settings. She served on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Conference and participated with the Southern New England Conference Planning Team. She also served as the last Conference Minister of the Rhode Island Conference UCC and one of the first Bridge Conference Ministers of the new Southern New England Conference of UCC.
Marilyn earned her Bachelor’s degree from Spelman College, an HBCU school in Atlanta, Georgia, her Executive MBA and an MA in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, both from the University of New Haven. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a certificate from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Since 2012, her personal ministry has included preaching at over 200 churches to raise awareness about mass incarceration and systemic racism in America. In her ministry to seek criminal justice reform, Marilyn co-wrote The Justice Imperative: How Hyper-Incarceration Has Hijacked the American Dream (Significance Press, 2014). Her 2025 sermon series addresses poverty in America and its link to anti-Black racism.
Marilyn retired from the Southern New England Conference in January, 2021 and is married to her best friend, Alan. Together they have 3 children, 6 grandchildren, one great grandchild and one new puppy, Dash.
Rev. Kendrix has shared a reading list with us for learning more about poverty in America.
