Christopher Bell is the primary worship leader and meditation teacher of Open Way.

Chris developed a lifelong interest in the Tao Te Ching and Zen in his early 20s, while pursuing his B.A. in Religious Studies from Cleveland State University. Over the ensuing decades, he studied Zen under Richard Baker, James Ford, and Rachel Mansfield-Howlett, by whom he was named a Teacher in the Pacific Zen lineage. He now studies under Leonard Marcel, Roshi, of Seven Thunders Zen.

Chris earned a Master’s degree from the Harvard Divinity School, and was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister in 2006. He served as senior minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Rosa, California for 15 years before moving to Portland in 2021.

After working for two local hospices as a chaplain and volunteer coordinator, Chris now makes his living as a cook at McMenamins, and is much happier for it. He currently leads a meditation group and grief support group through Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, where he also occasionally teaches classes and leads retreats. If he goes to church on Sundays, he attends the Reedwood Friends Church.

In Chris’s free time, he reads, watches birds, hangs out with his cats, attends Thorns and Timbers matches, listens to music (live, whenever possible) and beams with pride for his two grown children and beautiful granddaughter.