Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Summit Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

Contact: 8778 Cottonwood Ave., Santee 619-562-0833 www.summituuf.org

Membership: 100

Pastor: KC Marie Pendell 

Age: 34

Born: Orange County, CA

Formation: Chapman University, Orange; Meadville-Lombard Theological School, Chicago 

Ordination: in process

San Diego Reader: What’s the mission of your church?

Pastor KC Marie Pendell: Summit seeks to be a loving, welcoming, warm community for a liberal faith, especially in the Santee area. We want to be a home of belonging. I’ve been with Summit since last August, and as soon as I came on the first day, everything the members of Summit said was, “Welcome home! We’re so excited to have you!” That’s how the community approaches everyone who walks through the door.

SDR: Why Unitarian Universalism?

PP: I went church-shopping. I tried various other denominations—Baptists, Mormons, Methodists, non-denominational Christians, and it felt that there was a qualifier with these churches, and Unitarian Universalism was the first time I felt I was allowed to be exactly who I was exactly in that moment. There was nothing broken about me that needed to be fixed and nothing about me that needed to be addressed. I was allowed to be, explore, and wonder with people…and it was affirming to be told I was fine just as I am.

SDR: Where’s the strangest place you found God?

PP: Even before I heard the call to ministry, there was a woman who came into a job I worked at. It was a customer service job and I was doing an intake for her. She was telling me about herself and she suddenly said, “My husband died a year ago and I feel like I’m crazy and I feel like no one listens to me.” Then she stopped, stared at me for a second and threw her hands over her mouth. “Oh, my God, I can’t believe I said that to you!” I paused and said she wasn’t crazy and she happened to say what she did to someone who knew what it was to lose someone. (It was four or five years after my boyfriend died.) To be able to sit in that compassionate place with her and help her be heard and see her feel relief for the first time—that was one of the most spiritual experiences I’ve ever had. I think that’s what God is—those moments of connection that feed our souls. I like to hope that’s what she got that day.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PP: As a non-doctrinal faith, our church has a number of congregants who don’t think that there is anything after death—we have a number of humanists, atheists, and agnostics. We also have Christians who believe they’ll go to heaven, and we have Jews and Muslims who believe their own various version of the afterlife. All of those things are equally welcomed in our space. There will never be an argument about whether it’s right or wrong; that’s just a truth for each individual. For myself, I hope we get to go somewhere. The earth is incredible, so my idea of heaven is that we get to go someplace like this but without all the horrible things—no illness, death, anger, hatred, pain. I hope we get to go someplace like this and see our loved ones again. If we don’t, that’s OK too. I like to think I’ve lived a life good, happy, and worth living here. So, if I don’t get to go somewhere, I get to experience some of that here on earth.