The Nominating and Recruitment Committee (N&R) is beginning to identify potential candidates for future positions, such as the Board of Trustees, Endowment Committee, and our own N&R Committee.

Please help us! We may not know what skills and experience you have that would make you a perfect fit for one of the positions. You may know someone who would step up if asked. We especially want to encourage folks who have not previously served on these committees to consider this opportunity to support the church.

Please fill out this Google form if you would like to nominate someone or volunteer yourself. Also feel free to reach out to Janice Milanovich (through Realm). See the website for more information.

Like challenge?   
Like to work with others?   
Like the chance to significantly help UCE nurture the human spirit for a world made whole? 

UCE’s Nominating and Recruitment Committee (N&R) is beginning its work to identify potential candidates for leadership positions in the church, some of whom are then elected at our annual meeting in the Spring to open positions on the Board of Trustees, Endowment Fund Trustees, and our own N&R Committee.   Over the next few months we will be contacting folks who have shown an interest in being considered, and others who have been suggested by others as potential candidates.   

This is challenging work in the best of times, and particularly so now.  COVID presents its own problems in terms of peoples’ bandwidth capacities, heightened stress and competing priorities.  We are also aware as never before that, just as we need to improve our capacities for “radical hospitality” to welcome people into our church, we need to open the gates to leadership within the church. Along with looking to people who have provided leadership for years, we want to encourage folks who have not previously considered themselves “leaders” to share their best selves in helping our church move forward in its mission.   

Please help us out here.  We may not know what skills and experience you have that would make you a perfect fit for one of the elected positions, or some other role within the church’s organizations.  You may have a friend (or even spouse/partner) who you think would add value to some aspect of church life, if asked.   Even if we can just help someone without leadership aspirations find a group that fits their interests or gives them the kind of challenge they crave, that would help enrich their church experience, as well as make the church stronger.    

Please let us know if you would like us to talk with you or someone else about contributing to the church’s work.   Contact Maggie Wilson by email maggiemwilson@gmail.com or phone (847) 648-0884.

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.