Rev. Kelli Harrison of 12 Baskets Ministry: A Queer Faith Leader Sewing into the Community

Kelli Harrison is a pastor, artist, hiker, gamer, spouse, pet mom, Notre Dame football fan, tree admirer, lover of God’s creation, and a person in recovery.

She grew up in the cornfields and forests of Indiana. As a child, she loved exploring the forest, using her imagination, and playing “church,” which involved pretending to give her sister communion and preaching sermons on her Mr. Microphone.

Kelli graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Saint Mary’s College at Notre Dame, where she majored in religious studies and minored in justice education and women’s studies. There, she met her wife, Jennifer. They have been together for 30 years.

She worked as a social worker until deciding to follow her childhood dream of becoming a pastor. She graduated in 2020 from Chicago Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. While in seminary, Kelli completed internships with Urban Village Church in Chicago and University Christian Ministry at Northwestern. After seminary, she returned to both sites, working as an interim site pastor for Urban Village Church and volunteering as a board member for University Christian Ministry.

Kelli also worked as an associate pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette, Illinois, where she served as the pastor of children and youth.

In March of 2025, Kelli launched 12 Baskets Ministry, where she serves as the ministry’s faith leader.

She is currently seeking ordination in the Church Within A Church Movement, an anti-oppression community representing the community that honors diversity. This aligns naturally with Kelli’s commitment to supporting those who face discrimination, living grounded in anti-racist values, and promoting the value of interfaith relationships and open-mindedness in spirituality.

Kelli and our founder, Dr. Calynn Lawrence

Kelli started 12 Baskets Ministry to bring together faith and addiction recovery. She found that many people in recovery had experienced rejection, judgment, and religious trauma, which often led to a reluctance to attend religious services. At the same time, many churches were underprepared to fully welcome and serve people in recovery. After COVID, most recovery agencies did not provide any spiritual or faith-based activities for their residents. Seeing these gaps, Kelli began dreaming of a ministry that supports individuals, brings spirituality into places of recovery, and educates places of worship about addiction and recovery.

Kelli believes that holistic recovery includes spirituality. She maintains that pastors must specifically talk about addiction and recovery from the pulpit and in other settings, or their congregants will not know if they are a safe person to approach about addiction—whether for themselves or someone they love.

Kelli is interested in continuing to build connections with grassroots groups, recovery organizations, and places of worship across the South Suburbs of Chicago.

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