Dear Beloved Community, 

We have exciting news to share! We have officially embarked on the search for our next minister. Our board has agreed with the board of the Prairie Circle Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Grayslake (PCUUC) to conduct a joint search for a full-time minister who will serve both of our congregations on a 50-50 basis.  

We felt that hiring a full-time minister on our own would not be fiscally responsible for our congregation at this time, and we have chosen to join forces with PCUUC to offer a full-time position rather than compete with them for the services of one of what is likely to be a small number of part-time ministers searching for positions.  

This is a fairly unusual approach to seeking a minister, but with congregations shrinking among all denominations in all parts of the country, new and creative approaches to growing strong and thriving congregations are called for. We believe we are more likely to find and hire the sort of innovative, energetic, forward-thinking minister we are seeking by working together with a sister congregation than by going it alone. 

Will it be difficult to accomplish? Probably. Will it be exciting and energizing? Definitely! Do we anticipate finding many new ways of sharing ideas and collaborating and having fun with another UU congregation? Yes indeed we do.  

What is the next step? Well, we are thrilled and very grateful that to tell you that Janet Burns, Kathe Lacey-Anderson, Leah Mikkelson, Andy Myers, and Ivy Sitkoski have agreed to serve as our search team. They bring a wealth of dedication, intelligence, and creativity to the process and will soon be hard at work with a team of five from PCUUC to establish common priorities for a minister and assemble the materials necessary to create a joint profile and job posting on the UUA’s minister search site.  

This is a very big step for our congregation, and we expect you will have many questions and many opinions. As always, you are encouraged to reach out to Sue McCowin or Rev. Jenn or any member of the board with your thoughts and questions. In addition, we will offer listening/answering sessions on Sunday Oct. 2 at the church immediately following the service and on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7:00 on Zoom. A link to the Zoom meeting will be in the Happenings and available on the calendar in Breeze. 

With love, respect, and great joy,  

Sue McCowin, Board President, and Rev. Jenn, Interim Minister