Ms. Waltrina Middleton
Minister for Youth Advocacy and Leadership Formation
Congregational Vitality and Discipleship Ministry Team

Waltrina N. Middleton is a native of Yonges Island, S.C., one of the Sea Islands or Gullah Islands off of the coast of Charleston. She attended the historic Howard University of Washington, D.C., where she majored in Journalism and Theater as a Bob Johnson Journalism Scholar and a Howard University Dean’s Scholar.

Following graduation from Howard, Waltrina returned home to her native South Carolina where her ministry, Walk On Water Global Ministries was born. The ministry began by creating outreach for youth and building bridges between youth and elders. In addition, W.O.W. Global Ministries hosted renewal retreats that focused on healing and telling "our stories" to overcome the physical, spiritual and emotional oppressions we encounter in our lives.

Waltrina furthered her studies at DePaul University earning a Master of Science in Public Service and Non-Profit Management and completing a Master’s Thesis focusing on child labor law reform using non-profit models in Southern India (Cochin). As a student of DePaul, she completed research and service immersions across the globe, including India, China, New Orleans and Ireland. She was the recipient of numerous scholarships and fellowships based on her academic achievements. Waltrina was the keynote speaker for DePaul’s Scholarships and Honor’s Graduation Banquet and DePaul’s African Diaspora Commencement. In the fall of the same year of graduating from DePaul, she enrolled as a Merit Scholar at Chicago Theological Seminary. She graduated from Chicago Theological Seminary in the spring of 2010 with distinction and gave the student response to the faculty charge at her commencement ceremony. Her Masters Constructive Theology Paper was entitled: "Whose Side Are you Leaning On? Reconciling a God of the Oppressed. A Look at Sexual Abuse, Rape, Incest & Other Forms of Sexual Exploitation Within the Black Church."

Waltrina was very active as a student and community organizer in Chicago, organizing and facilitating student forums, film screenings, and community dialogues on issues such as health care, prison industrial complex, youth and violence, ecological justice, and more. In 2007, she established Seminarians for Change with more than 200 members organized to proactively respond to the needs in our local and global society. During this time, she served as one of the first cohort of media interns traveling with Senator Barack Obama’s exploratory campaign and later as his intern for White House presidency in research and fundraising departments.

Waltrina has served in various capacities as a lay person and minister of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago under the mentorship of Pastor Otis Moss III and Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. She is the inaugural Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Fellowship Scholar, a Fund for Theological Education Ministry Fellow and an Adrienne M. & Charles Shelby Rooks Fellow. Waltrina served as Trinity UCC-Chicago’s Pastoral Liaison for Green and Ecological Justice and chaplain for the church’s Food Share, Career Development and HIV/AIDS Ministries before relocating to Cleveland, OH where she now serves as the Minister for Youth Advocacy and Leadership Formation for the National Setting of the United Church of Christ.

Ms. Middleton has been featured in Essence Magazine, Chicago’s National Public Radio, Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference’s online forum and is a former teen co-host of BET's award winning talk show "Teen Summit." She is passionate about y o u th min i s tr y, social justice issues and is committed to global outreach and human rights advocacy.