Ian’s leadership caused the members to reassess which teams were actually working toward accomplishing the mission of the church, as opposed to those teams acting on the desires of one or two persuasive members of the team. He has the leadership skills so desperately needed within our faith community.

— Gary Kendrick, President

Ian’s leadership caused the members to reassess which teams were actually working toward accomplishing the mission of the church, as opposed to those teams acting on the desires of one or two persuasive members of the team. He has the leadership skills so desperately needed within our faith community.

— Gary Kendrick, President

Spiritual Depth

A Caring Community

A Church That Serves

Organizational Leadership

Ministers must rely on organizational structures to help us identify where we are needed and the urgency of that need.

I strongly believe in the partnership of shared ministry with the Board, Board Committees, and Congregational Teams. About 8 years ago, I started using a model of lay governance I call Teams Night. Once a month, all the teams (Welcome, Caring, Buildings & Grounds, Social Justice…etc.) meet at the church for two hours. The church provides pizza and childcare to make it accessible to younger families. We all eat together for 30 minutes and then split into our different teams. This allows everyone to see how much work is happening and to hear about what other teams are doing, it makes it much easier for newer members or friends to join in the work of the church, and I am able to visit with each team for about 10-15 minutes.

Nominating Committees serve the congregation best when they are transformed into Leadership Committees. The focus shifts from identifying good leaders (or cajoling people to step up) to implementing training opportunities for people who are interested. If the leadership can focus on higher-level ideas that grow and train leaders, we are able to co-create a community that nurtures spiritual growth and service to the larger world.

Under Rev Ian’s leadership, our church staffing model has become much more effective and efficient, with outsourcing of costly administrative services to become a more fiscally responsible organization. We have also been introduced to a better understanding of church governance, financial planning, and church leadership. These transitions have made us better and set up our church community for a sustainable (and exciting!) future.

— Dot Verbrugge, President

From his very first sermon he was unafraid to challenge us. For those of us like myself who were keenly aware of our lack of courage in supporting our own values, it was breathtaking.

— R.K. Young

Justice

Over fifty years ago, Martin Luther King stressed that, as a nation, we “must undergo a radical revolution of values.” This admonition rings as true today as it did then.

No longer can we witness the persecution of other people and the defilement of the planet as something happening to others. We are one interconnected being. But this means more than protesting for better protections. The radical revolution of values is a spiritual transformation. We are called to see the world as holy. Wendell Berry writes, “There are no unsacred places; there are only sacred places and desecrated places.”

We are in the midst of a powerful political struggle at the moment. Forces have aligned themselves and seek to hold onto bigotry and inequality. And we need to ask ourselves, as people of faith, who are we to be in this historical moment? What are we called to? What is our sacred purpose?

I believe the embodied faith of Unitarian Universalism with its dedication to witness and protest holds the seeds for a more compassionate future for our nation. If we become willing.

Let's build the kind of church our world needs