Do you know how we choose congregational leaders at UCE? Do you think the leadership selection process should be more equitable and more transparent? Do you have opinions about who our future leaders should be? Do you want to join the UCE board or one of the UCE leadership committees yourself? Read on to understand our leadership selection process, and to make your voice heard about how it works or who our leaders should be.

Per the UCE bylaws, our congregational leaders are elected at each Annual Meeting in May, when the voting membership selects a third of each of the Board of Trustees, the Endowment Committee, and the Nominating and Recruiting Committee. Trustees and committee members each serve a 3-year term, starting and ending a third at a time, on a staggered basis, so that a third of each group has their terms expire and their replacements elected each year. (Members often drop off for personal reasons before their 3-year term ends, resulting in more than 1/3 turnover most years.)

The Nominating & Recruiting (N&R) Committee identifies and nominates qualified candidates from the congregation to serve on each of these committees. Through a process that starts each fall, the N&R team conducts one-on-one conversations across the congregation to find members who are interested in and whose skill sets match the needs of the positions opening in the spring.

The N&R team recruits broadly and aspires to find diverse, previously unidentified candidates. This article is penned by the N&R team to spread the word about recruiting, in hopes of finding leadership candidates who may not be known to N&R, or who may not be aware of UCE leadership opportunities.

What can you do to help shape our future UCE leadership? You can:

• Talk with any of the 2018-2019 N&R team: John LaPlante (co-chair), Shirley Adams (co-chair), Vicki Doebele, Alice Swan, Sarah Iles, Ruth Orme-Johnson, Woody Haynes, Beth Thompson and Maggie Wilson.
• Help recruit your fellow UCE members as volunteers, especially people the N&R team may not know.
• Share your thoughts with N&R through the feedback forms we will have set up at bulletin boards, or look for us at the back of the sanctuary on first Sundays of each month.
• Email the N&R co-chairs with questions, thoughts and feedback: shirley@comeoutdancing.com, johnlaplante73@gmail.com.
• Suggest a UCE member as a potential leadership candidate.
• Let us know that you’re interested in being considered for leadership!

Stay tuned for a follow up article about the current N&R team’s aspirations for 2018-2019.

Following up on Rev. Greg Stewart’s sermon on mercy, his words help guide us to small acts of mercy, giving generously to provide Mitten Tree gifts. We try to find a balance of organizations serving those groups that our Social Justice program supports and also helping local Evanston based organizations.

Mittens will be available on Sundays between services and after church on November 11, 18, and 25. All gifts are due by December 2. On December 9 we will have our annual wrapping party as part of Ornament Sunday. Sign-up to help at the table, sorting gifts, or delivery of gifts.  https://tinyurl.com/y89xdubk

Two weeks ago we spotlighted three of the organizations we are serving including The Vet Center, Curt’s Café, and the YWCA Transitional Housing Program. That article can be found at: https://ucevanston.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/2018-Mitten-Tree-Organizations.pdf

Below are the other three organizations we are serving.

The Rice Center of the Children’s Home and Aid Society of Evanston: When a child abruptly leaves a family or foster home due to abuse, violence, or mental illness, he/she may arrive at the Rice Center in Evanston without clothing, personal items, or toys. Through the Mitten Tree, we have been serving the Rice Center since 2011. Recently the director, Keith Polan (who is a UU at Unity Temple) told me that our gifts are spot on!  We give the right balance of clothes, toys and therapy or educational items. This year we are serving 12 children. The Rice Center houses approximately 36 children. Children live, play and are educated at the Rice Educational Center on Ridge Avenue. District 65 provides schooling. A team of social workers, psychologists, pediatricians, nurses, art therapists and others provide a structured environment to help children build healthy relationships.  The goal for the children is to eventually return to their own family, a foster family, or an adoptive family.

El Rescate: Finding housing for homeless LGBTQ and HIV-positive youth between the ages of 18-24 can be difficult. El Rescate (The Rescue) offers culturally appropriate, identity-affirming housing for these young adults. Also offered are HIV prevention services, employment, educational resources and life skills training. The program is part of the Puerto Rican Community Centers many programs. Our donation of gifts helps support this wonderful program.

The Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants is a non-profit, faith-based organization of staff and volunteers called to respond actively and publicly to the suffering of all individuals and communities affected by immigration detention, deportation, and post-detention through pastoral care, advocacy, public witness and other activities. UCE’s Immigration Solidarity Team has been working with ICDI this year. Their Executive Director, Melanie Schikore (a UU and member of Countryside Church in Palatine) was thrilled to be asked for gift lists.

The Interfaith Community for Detained Immigrants is a prophetic voice for just and humane treatment of immigrants caught in the immigration detention process. Upholding the dignity and basic human rights of each individual as ICDI Chicago stands in solidarity with immigrants as a powerful collective voice to minimize the use of detention and to seek justice.

Part of the important work I do at the Unitarian Church of Evanston is to get to know the congregation, to hear your stories, and for you to tell me what kind of a congregation you hope to have in the next two years.  Sounds simple enough, but most of us are already overscheduled.  So I will try to make it easier. 

Starting November 15, I’ll be at Curt’s Café from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. every Thursday.  You are invited to join me for coffee and informal conversation in this warm and inviting setting.  You don’t need an appointment; just show up.  The only agenda will be yours.  Please remember that this is a public place, so it’s not a good place to share sensitive information.  I hope to see you then and there! 

If you would like to make an appointment to meet with me at my church office, please call, text, or email me at church and we’ll find a time to meet on weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.  You may come alone or set up a session for your church committee or team.  Of course, I’ll also come to your monthly meetings if you’d like me to do so, just ask.  My calendar fills up quickly. 

I will be officially welcomed to the congregation on Tuesday, November 13, at 6:30 p.m.  We’ll be showing the documentary “Preacher’s Sons,” which chronicles the life of the Stewarts as five at risk, children of color, join our forever family.  If you want to know more about me or my family or my ministry, you’ll see it all on the big screen.  This is a great opportunity to invite a friend to come too.     

In early December we will begin to offer programs about and for interim ministry.  We will look at our history and see the clues it offers for our current situation.  We’ll explore who we are and what we want to be.  We will consider the theologies that have meaning for our members.   We will determine what is working and what is not. We will do this in small groups and at open forums.  

As I’ve said before, a big part of my job is to hold up a mirror to the congregation and ask, “Is this who you are?” and “Is this who you want to be?”  We’ll tackle this in fun and creative ways.  We may hit some corporate sore spots that make us uncomfortable, but it is better to deal with these now rather than to wait for the arrival of your next settled minister.  Transitions are rarely easy. 

So let the conversations begin with your story and your hopes and dreams for the congregation.  I’m eager to hear from you.  Blessed be! 

 The joy continues, 

Greg