The Generalist Ministry Team

Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong (he/they) began his term as First Parish’s Interim Lead Minister in August 2025 and welcomes being called either “Jonipher” or “Rev. Jonipher.” Born and raised in the Philippines, of Chinese descent, most of Jonipher’s adult life was spent in California and Hawai’i. He has served as a minister at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, the Fourth Universalist Society of the City of New York (where he was the Interim Senior Minister), and UU congregations in Sepulveda, the Temecula Valley, and Toronto. He has also served Metropolitan Community Churches in Honolulu and Orange County, CA. He worked for the UUA as the Ministerial Credentialing Director and a member of the Congregational Life Staff for the Pacific Western Region. Raised with an ecumenical background, Jonipher values pluralistic religious experiences. Process theology speaks to him most deeply, but he was christened at a Gospel church, baptized as a Chinese Mennonite, and a member of the Honolulu Mindfulness Community, a sangha influenced by the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn. Rev. Jonipher brings to First Parish a deep interest in congregational cultures, structures, and healing.

Rev. Erica Richmond joined the First Parish team in August 2020. After several years as a hospital chaplain and one year at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in North Andover, Rev. Erica is thrilled to be settling into Arlington. She brings humor, warmth, and curiosity to her ministry, all the while making space for grief and injustice to be heard and honored. Rev. Erica grew up as a Unitarian Universalist at the First Parish in Brookline- she will be forever grateful for the faith formation she received there. She then went onto Clark University in Worcester where she studied International Development and Gender Studies. After completing her undergraduate degree she stayed at Clark to earn her Masters in Community Development. Next it was onto New York City- she graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 2013. Rev. Erica spent two years in Seattle at Harborview Medical Center and then served as the Palliative Care chaplain at Hartford Hospital from 2015-2019. In this complex and aching world, she believes we must hold each other tenderly, creating a beloved community that can journey together, through joys and sorrows, through triumphs and challenges. She loves all things New England, including our sports teams, our autumns, and our history. Beyond that, she loves reading psychological thrillers, going on rambling walks with friends, and perfecting her newly-discovered commitment to biking.