February 2, 2000

Without a minister

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       Keeping the faith.
      That could be the theme of the past year for members of the congregation at the Unity Church of Traverse City. Operating without a minister since March 31 of last year, the church has actually seen a slight increase in membership during this time.
      Patience, a plan and a phalanx of volunteers have filled in the gap and kept Sunday services and the church administration on track. And it is volunteers who will keep everything going just a little longer until the recently hired minister, Judy Grimes of Maui, Hawaii, starts in early April.
      "We knew we needed to pull together as a community and build a strong core of love and cohesiveness to survive," said Karen O'Connell, president of the board of trustees at the Unity Church. "With this, we knew we could survive and thrive."
      The first step in pulling together was to hire a spiritual transition coordinator, a consultant from California who specializes in helping Unity congregations find a new minister. Equally important was her advice on how to keep the church operating during the search process, a time when many congregations can lose membership.
      The consultant set up a structure for the congregation to follow to keep the church going without a minister. This included hiring a volunteer coordinator and an administrative assistant, two crucial roles a minister usually directs. She advised the board to set up a schedule to keep the Sunday services going, including bringing in a guest Unity minister once a month, a licensed Unity teacher another week and guests from the community the other two weeks. Guests included other religious speakers from the community or members of the congregation who prepared a sermon.
      "The Sunday program was the most important thing we wanted to preserve," O'Connell said. "We were getting tired but more volunteers kept coming forward each week and now we are set until the new minister arrives."
      The consultant next helped the congregation and the board identify what they were looking for in a minister and how to go about finding this person. After clarifying goals and setting priorities in a new minister, they drew up five criteria they wanted in the new minister.
      Then the search began. The congregation placed an ad on the Unity Church International's website, in the Unity ministers' newsletter and at the Unity seminary in Missouri. Board member also attended a regional conference to get the word out, handing out a pamphlet about the church and what they were looking for in a minister.
      "A number of people were looking for any position, not this position," said Joe Breech, vice president of the board of trustees. "But we all knew how wonderful Traverse City is and we knew if we got someone who was interested in this position, they would get hooked."
      One challenge facing the congregation during the search is that there are more open ministerial positions than available Unity ministers. In this sellers market, Unity congregations around the country often have to hunker down to wait for a minister. Once the members in Traverse City were aware of this, they were even more determined to wait for the best match.
      "We were set for the long haul to get exactly what we needed," O'Connell said.
      When Grimes contacted them in November, the pieces started falling into place. She is an experienced minister who has worked with congregations of all sizes, most recently helping the Maui congregation grow from 30 to 200 members during her nine-year tenure there. She came out to visit the congregation in mid-January, conducting a service and meeting with members at gatherings both large and small.
      The interest was mutual and soon the Unity Church of Traverse City will have the minister they have been waiting for.
      Leaving a tropical paradise and coming more than 6,000 miles to the cold, snowy upper Midwest may sound absurd to any northern Michigan resident in middle of February, but Grimes has a grown son, daughter-in-law and grandchild living in Boyne City. Plus, noted Breech, she went to school in Wisconsin, so the winters will not be a complete shock.
      "Judy comes with a really strong background and great administrative skills," Breech said. "She has the background in spiritual principles of Unity and the strength to build and support a congregation."