At the end of 2009, Rev. Chris Waldron and his wife, Leah Waldron, moved to Atlanta and began the exciting and arduous work of planting a new church.  Praxis UCC is still very much a community that is “becoming.”  In their Ministry Plan, Chris and Leah dreamed of forming a community that reflects, worships, serves and creates together.  They write “We strive to be open to all, bridging rifts between people and proclaiming God's radical hospitality and social justice, attentive to the care of the whole of God's creation, from humanity to the inherent beauty of the earth. Just as God has made us each of us a work of art in God's own image, with profound diversity, so do we seek to live into this artistry.”  They are well on their way!

Pastor Chris Lyman Waldron has a variety of experience with ministry, education, and non-profit work.  He has been a member of four separate church starts, including Hope Church in Jamaica Plain, a federated UCC and DOC congregation.  Chris was raised in the tradition of the Evangelical Covenant Church.  He became affiliated with the United Church of Christ during his first year of seminary, feeling a call to participate in a denomination with an explicit message of social justice and openness to members and clergy of all sexual orientations.  Chris found the Open and Affirming movement and the proclamation that “God is Still Speaking” to be a match to both his unfolding understanding of God and theology and his path of developing in the faith.

Chris has talent with music and has led singing during worship in sanctuaries, youth retreats and camp fires.  He played bass and guitar in bands during his college years.  While at Bethel UCC, he led singing during the weekly contemporary service and formed a youth band to play during these services.  Prior to seminary, Chris gravitated toward work with populations of people who are often misunderstood, labeled, or face stigma.  He served as a paraprofessional in a collaborative special education class, directed a group home for men with dual-diagnosis, and worked as an aide for a child in a YMCA program.

Chris has also worked in and directed a number of camp environments with all ages from five to eighteen with both Christian and secular missions.

Leah Lyman Waldron moved from the Mississippi Gulf Coast where she worked with under-served populations following Hurricane Katrina.  She worked as an Americorps volunteer with El Pueblo/The Village, a Methodist non-profit organization with an outreach to immigrants and people who are homeless or marginally housed.  The Village was a church start in its own right, holding weekly Sunday worship and Bible study with the homeless and transitional community that gathered there during the week.  Prior to working with El Pueblo she worked as the volunteer coordinator for Back Bay Mission, a community outreach mission of the United Church of Christ.  Leah graduated suma cum laude from Wellesly in Wellesly Massachusetts and is currently in the Masters of Divinity program at Candler School of Theology.  Leah and Chris met in the national offices of the UCC in Cleveland, and were married in Sawyer Michigan on September, 26 2009 at Tower Hill UCC camp, where Leah attended during her youth.

We come almost a year later and Praxis United Church of Christ now has held its first Worship Service. Led by their pastor Chris Lyman Waldron, Praxis United Church of Christ, one of the newest churches in the Southeast Conference held its first worship service in Octobrt at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Atlanta. They had over 40 people in attendance. The church, a ministry of the Southeast Conference has been in development for almost a year.  Chris and Leah Lyhman-Waldron moved to Atlanta one year ago with the dream of starting a new progressive UCC church called Praxis UCC. According to Chris, "Praxis is a Greek word meaning “practice”.  It refers to the way that we integrate our spirit and faith into daily life so that our actions rise out of our relationship with God, and our spirit is nurtured by the way we act in the world around us."

"The Praxis service was in a word 'Amazing' with a jazz band leading the music, Chris delivering an exceptional message and people given the chance to respond in a talkback time during worship," as stated by Rev. Cameron Trimble. The Southeast Conference once again is birthing a new thing.