Friday, April 10, 2015

Morgan to lead UM Advocacy in PA

Dai Morgan, a Pittsburgh area pastor who serves on the Pennsylvania Council of Churches’ public witness commission, has been selected as coordinator for United Methodist Advocacy in Pennsylvania.

Morgan is pastor of Swissvale United Methodist Church, a multi-cultural mission church just outside the City of Pittsburgh. He also chairs the Commission on Christian Unity of the Western Pennsylvania UM Conference.

As the denomination’s Advocacy Coordinator in the state, Morgan will bring together advocacy leaders from the Eastern Pennsylvania, Susquehanna and Western Pennsylvania conferences to develop an integrated, collaborative plan for advocacy ministry, including building awareness among United Methodists and others throughout the state.

“Dai Morgan brings passion and the gifts essential to promote the importance of advocacy in living out our faith. Dai will work tirelessly to create a sense of collaboration, cooperation and awareness among the people called United Methodist throughout Pennsylvania,” said Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton of the Pittsburgh Area, speaking for the three United Methodist bishops in the state.
In addition to creating avenues to build relationships with legislators and public officials, Morgan will work to train United Methodists in advocacy and increase practical possibilities for them to get involved.

“Because I have been sitting on the Pennsylvania Council of Churches Commission on Public Witness for the last three years, I am familiar with the work of the church and political advocacy,” Morgan said. “As a gospel and Wesleyan mandate, I believe that promoting advocacy is a critical element for fuller expression of our faith.”

In addition to his appointment as a pastor, Morgan is the lead administrator of a large food pantry, secretary of his local Rotary Club and coordinator of the ministerium in the Borough of Swissvale.

Morgan is married and the father of four adult children. He is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University and earned a master of divinity degree at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.