Elekes Zsolt

I am a Unitarian minister from Transylvania, currently serving as the school chaplain at the János Zsigmond Unitarian High School in Kolozsvár and, in another capacity, as the International Relations Officer of the Hungarian Unitarian Church. My journey into Unitarianism began at the age of 20, after years of searching and questioning within the framework of my Roman Catholic upbringing. Soon after I answered the call to Unitarianism, I answered another one: the call to ministry.

I pursued this path at the Protestant Theological Institute’s Unitarian Faculty in Kolozsvár, where I studied for six years, while also completing a three-year program at Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago, earning a Master’s of Arts in Leadership Studies. Along the way, I served both rural and urban congregations in Transylvania, and in the Chicago area, I had the privilege of serving as an intern minister for a year at Unity Temple in Oak Park and Third Unitarian Church of Chicago.

In the Leadership and Design Team, I bring the lessons I’ve gathered from these diverse communities—each encounter a thread woven into my understanding of ministry and global faith. I hold a deep commitment to creating a just, caring, multicultural, and spiritually diverse international U/U community—an open and welcoming “lounge” where hearts and minds from around the world can meet. Together, we are building bridges—each one a connection between distinct pieces of land, upheld by the pillars of theological and spiritual diversity. These bridges do more than link shores; they carry the hopes, questions, and shared wisdom of a global Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist family, uniting us in a shared journey of faith and justice.

In my international ministry—if we can call it that—I embrace a project-based approach to partnerships, where global collaborators create meaningful, long-lasting, and replicable initiatives. Having recently organized a Transylvanian Choir Tour along the East Coast of the United States, with 40 teenagers and 5 chaperones, I experienced firsthand how deeply local communities everywhere long for these kinds of connections. Beauty is born when we open doors for one another, and joy is found when we each bring our best to the table in the spirit of mutual partnership. It is in this spirit that I am honored and privileged to serve as a member of the Leadership and Design Team!