Biography

Rick Ufford-Chase is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, an organization that has a sixty year history of supporting Presbyterians who take bold action for the cause of peace.  Rick has worked on the US/Mexico border for twenty years where he founded and directed BorderLinks and worked in a variety of efforts to support migrants and refugees in the borderlands.  He and his wife, Kitty, are reservists with Christian Peacemaker Teams, and they continue to live on the border and volunteer with to create humane border and migration policy.

Rick served the Presbyterian Church as the Moderator of the 216th General Assembly, the church’s highest elected office, from 2004 -2006. As a result, he continues to work with Presbyterian congregations to support their efforts to engage in mission with partners around the world, to become effective multi-cultural communities of faith, to move their members into active peacemaking efforts, and to develop leadership for the next generation of church.

Rick and Kitty have a son, Teo, born in 1995 and they live in an intentional community in Tucson, AZ.

Service to local congregations – PC(USA)

  • 1984 – 1985 Intern for Junior High Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, CO
  • 1985 summer Coordinator for Junior and Senior High Youth Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, York, PA
  • 1986 - 1987 Volunteer with Junior and Senior High Ministries, Central Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY
  • 1987 – 1989 Coordinator for Junior and Senior High Ministries, Tabernacle United and Old Pine Presbyterian Churches, Philadelphia, PA
  • 1988 – 1989 Elder, Tabernacle United Church, Philadelphia, PA
  • 1991 – 1994 Elder, Southside Presbyterian Church, Tucson, AZ

Ecumenical Service:

  • 1987 – 1991: Central American refugee support as a volunteer with the Tucson refugee support group
  • 1989 – 1995: Arizona Area Committee of the American Friends Service Committee
  • 1988 – 1994: Advisory Committee for the Tucson Ecumenical Council Task Force for Central American refugees
  • 1996 - present: Maquila Organizing Project, Tucson Support Committee, supporting organizers who teach Mexican factory workers their rights under Mexican labor law
  • 1999 – present: Humane Borders, a faith-based organization that puts water stations in the desert for migrants in high risk areas
  • 2002 – present: The Samaritans, a faith-based desert search and rescue organization offering direct aid to migrants at risk
  • 2002 – present: National steering committee of Christian Peacemaker Teams
  • 2003 – present: Reserve Corps, Christian Peacemaker Teams, providing nonviolent, direct intervention in situations of extreme conflict

Family Connections:

  • I grew up in the Presbyterian Church and my father is a Presbyterian Minister. My mother has worked in small businesses and as a travel agent. They currently live in Northern Vermont.
  • 1991: Married Kitty Ufford, a lifelong Quaker
  • 1995 – 2000: Acted as primary care provider for our son Teo, from the time he was three months old until he was five years old
  • 1995 - present: Joined by my father at BorderLinks, who left parish work to become our full-time fund developer

Educational Experiences:

  • 1982: Graduated from Dallastown Area High School, Dallastown, PA
  • 1985: Graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from The Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • 1988: Spent one semester working on a Master of Divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary before leaving to become a Volunteer in Mission in 1986.
  • 1986: Two week delegation with Witness for Peace in Nicaragua
  • 1987: Studied Spanish in Antigua, Guatemala for 10 weeks
  • 1990: Co-led the “Refugee trail of tears” delegation for three weeks from Guatemala to the U.S./Mexico border
  • 1998: Led a multi-national delegation on an immersion experience in Nicaragua
  • 2000: Led 45 people on a delegation to commemorate the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador
  • 2001: Participated in a jointly-sponsored Presbyterian Peace Fellowship/Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation to Israel and the West Bank, including Bethlehem and Hebron
  • 2003: Worked for six months designing delegation experiences for the Evangelical Center for Pastoral Studies (CEDEPCA) in Guatemala
  • 2003: Trained for one month to become a reserve corps member for nonviolent direct intervention work with Christian Peacemaker Teams