Congregational Relations Team

What is the CRT?
The Congregational Relations Team (CRT) consists of UCE members who have training and experience in communication skills and conflict resolution and are available to help promote healthy relationships within the UCE community, including dealing constructively with conflict.

Congregational Relations Team Vision Statement
The Unitarian Church of Evanston will continue to thrive as a healthy community grounded in caring, direct, open, and honest communication with trust and respect, consistent with our Covenant of Engagement.

Congregational Relations Team Mission Statement
The mission of the Unitarian Church of Evanston’s Congregational Relations Team is to:

What does the CRT do? How does it fulfill this mission?
The CRT promotes the well-being and emotional safety of our community, including dealing constructively with conflict, by offering two main services: early intervention/consultation and, when appropriate, facilitated conversations.

Consultation/Early Intervention
The CRT is available to consult with individuals or groups within the UCE community experiencing conflict or relationship difficulty with others in the community. In this stage, CRT members work confidentially with one or more parties to help clarify their concerns, needs, and options to address the difficulty.

Facilitated Conversations/Conflict resolution
For situations in which the above efforts at consultation and early intervention do not resolve the issue, CRT members act as moderators for one or more facilitated conversations with the community members or groups who find themselves in conflict and wish for help in resolving it.

How do I contact the CRT?
Mike Takada is the CRT Coordinator. You may contact him in person, through REALM, or by emailing him at admin@ucevanston.org. You may also contact any member of the CRT in person, by email, or by telephone. The current members are listed in REALM. 

How will confidentiality be handled? 

The CRT functions as a team and all contacts are kept confidential within the team. CRT members may consult with each other and the ministers, as appropriate, but will use discretion when doing so and will not share outside the team and ministers except with permission. The requesting party may request that a particular CRT member(s) not be included in such consultation if, for example, there is a perceived conflict of interest or confidentiality concern with a particular CRT team member.

What if a CRT member is a party to a conflict or may not be neutral? 

CRT members may recuse themselves from participating in a consultation, facilitated conversation, or CRT team discussions for any reason, including the inability to be optimally impartial or helpful due to a conflict of interest. If several team members find they cannot be impartial, an outside person may be chosen in collaboration with the participants to provide the consultation or facilitated conversation if needed. Also, if any participant in a consultation or facilitated conversation feels that a particular CRT member may not be neutral, then that CRT member will not participate in the process.

Why was the CRT formed?
The CRT was formed in 2011 as a way to recognize that passionate congregational involvement may lead to conflict between individuals and groups within the community. Such conflict can play an integral role in the growth of our community, and we welcome it as an opportunity for creative change; however, we recognize that conflict left untended is potentially destructive.

The UCE Board of Trustees formed an ad-hoc committee in 2010 to recommend an effective approach to strengthen the congregation’s health, growth and retention of membership with the goal of continuing to be a thriving community. The committee began with the Covenant of Engagement, which was adopted by the congregation on May 15, 2021. After learning about teams similar to the CRT at other UU churches, the ad-hoc committee later recommended that UCE develop such a team as a way to help us live into our Covenant of Engagement. A task force was therefore formed to adapt a program to the needs of UCE, which resulted in the creation of the current CRT.

What if my conflict or difficult relationship is with one of the staff?
If the conflict is with a staff member, UCE does have a Member/Staff Grievance Process. This process does involve the CRT at some point and if the CRT is not able to assist the parties, then the Board would become involved.

What if my conflict or difficult relationship is with one of the ministers?
The CRT engages with difficulties between members, friends, and staff within the UCE community. If a member, friend, or staff is experiencing conflict or relationship difficulty with a minister, then the matter will be handled by the Committee on Shared Ministry.