Our church is widely experienced as a warm, friendly, caring, generous, and inclusive community. We became a Welcoming Congregation in 1999, and recently successfully navigated the renewal process to remain a Welcoming Congregation. Many in our congregation are highly educated, with ties to the University of Illinois and Parkland College. The University is only a few blocks away from the church. Recently there has been an increase of young adults into the church, and there is an active Young Adult group.

We are socially and politically progressive, and the energy for social action and racial justice has increased in the last four years (see Anti-Racism page).

We have experienced dramatic growth in membership, energy, vitality, and programs in the last four years. We now have 345 members, after many years of about 250 members, and before COVID our all-ages services frequently exceeded the maximum number for the size of our Sanctuary. We have a new Soul Matters covenant group program and a new Adult Religious Education program. In 2020 we hired a half-time Associate Minister for Congregational Life, Rev. Sally Fritsche, to support Rev. Caplow as our Lead Minister, and we have also expanded our support staff as well.

Our theology leans in the humanist direction, as is typical of Midwestern UU churches. There are UU atheists, agnostics, Christians, Buddhists, Jews, and Pagans among us, and our lead minister is a UU Buddhist. We strive to support each other in our spiritual journeys, though we know that we have work to do to become more open to a greater range of religious language and practices. This is a commitment in our new Strategic Plan.

Worship is important to us, as is the quality of the worship services. A staff worship team made up of the Minister, Choir Director, Assistant Music Director, Interim DRE, and Youth Coordinator meets weekly to plan worship, with the intention of creating powerful, integrated, spiritually grounded services. Our summer service program is led by our Worship Committee. All services have been live streamed or pre-recorded since March 2020.

Our music program is excellent, with an outstanding Choir Director and Accompanist. Our adult choir has continued meeting online and creating virtual choir performances, though our two other choirs have been on hiatus, including our children’s choir. The University of Illinois has one of the largest music schools in the country.

The RE curriculum, pre-COVID, was vigorous, with an average of 100 enrolled children, and a large cadre of volunteer teachers, although we struggle, as many UU churches do, with the “upstairs/downstairs” split in the congregation. We have had a full time Interim DRE, Dr. Michele Townsend Grove, since August of 2018. Under her leadership, and during COVID, we have begun an Adult RE program as well, with strong attendance and enthusiasm.

We have dramatically increased funding for social action and racial justice through a mission based budget over the last three years. Four years ago we converted 70% of our electrical use to a new rooftop solar array and we strive for sustainability within the church.

Our beautiful old buildings (1913 and 1960) need to be made more accessible. We have a task force working on this issue, and have created fully accessible bathrooms in the RE wing and a renovation to the entrance to the Sanctuary to make it safer for all. We also purchased hearing devices and print large print Orders of Service.

We have a very active Care Core, so named because caring for each other is a “core” value. Every church member is on the listserv. A core group meets monthly and sends out information about things going on with people in the church who may need a phone call, visit, card, or some kind of help. This year we have begun a Pastoral Care Associates program to support the work of the ministers, with four trained and commissioned Pastoral Care leaders.