Gerald Liu 04T

Emerging Faith Communities Cultivator for the Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church | Chair, Programming Committee
The son of culturally Buddhist immigrants from Taiwan, the Reverend Gerald C. Liu, PhD is Emerging Faith Communities Cultivator for the Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church. He helps United Methodist churches across Kansas and Nebraska navigate denominational divisions regarding human sexuality and start new ministries as the entire denomination redefines itself for the 21st century. He is an ordained minister of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Liu holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, a Master of Divinity from Candler School of Theology where he was also awarded a theological fellowship at Georg-August-Universität in Göttingen, Germany, and a PhD in Religion (Homiletics and Liturgics; preaching and worship) from Vanderbilt University. He has taught and consulted across colleges and universities, schools of theology, and seminaries, including Southern Methodist University and tenure-track posts at Drew Theological School and Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was the first American-born Asian hired in the department of practical theology. He is the author of two books (one co-authored with Candler’s Khalia J. Williams), and several articles and book chapters about liturgy, preaching, theology, and the arts. Examples can be found here. He still preaches and leads worship ecumenically.