Becoming the Church…

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 A Vision for First Congregational Church of Evanston
WORKING DRAFT
Presented to FCCE Leadership on April 29, 2023
Shared with FCCE Congregation on May 22, 2023
To be approved by Church Council on June 5, 2023 and
Blessed by the Congregation on June 11, 2023

Background

In 2019, we, the people of First Congregational Church of Evanston (FCCE), UCC, gathered to
discern and affirm a new mission statement. With boldness, the church articulated its mission
in this way, “We express God’s love in action, compassion and justice.”

Not long after, First Congregational faced a series of challenges that would test our resolve.
The Covid-19 virus upended the world and caused First Congregational to move our worship
and programs to online spaces. Senior Minister Ann Rosewall announced her retirement early
in 2020 and Music Director David Lornson retired at the end of 2021. As we began to regather,
we encountered the headwinds of lower participation and fewer volunteers that many
churches and organizations face.

In the Spring of 2022, First Congregational called Rev. Jason W. Coulter to be its next Senior
Minister. The Church also received a transformational bequest that opened many possibilities
for us. Church leadership discerned that the time was right to expand upon the church’s
mission and chart a new course for our future. Acknowledging the fundamental changes
rippling through church and society, FCCE leadership created an initiative called “Becoming
the Church.” This initiative recognizes that we must grow in new directions and become the
church that God is calling us to be.

Process

In June of 2022, Church Council endorsed the Becoming the Church initiative and formed a
Task Force1 of seven persons to lead the process of discernment. In the Fall of 2022, the Task
Force held nearly 20 listening sessions with members and friends of the church. The Task
Force conducted interviews with peer churches and read resources related to congregational
vitality. The Task Force studied scripture and inclined their ears to God’s Spirit.

Through Winter and Spring of 2023, the Task Force met to distill the information and to
discern a vision for the church. At the end of April, the Task Force presented a draft of the
vision document with Church Leadership (Church Council and Trustees) at a retreat for
discussion and further development. In late May, the updated vision document was revealed
to the congregation for feedback and comment at a Congregational Meeting. The final
product in your hands reflects the combined wisdom of the entire First Congregational
community and the work of the Holy Spirit. We give thanks to all who contributed to this

1 The Becoming the Church Task Force members are: Julie Captain, Pastor Jason Coulter, Sheran Fiedler, Bob Krause,

Thekla Metz, Sarah Pressly, and Anne Trompeter.

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document and praise and gratitude to our God who is ever calling us to, in the words of Isaiah,
“Do a new thing!”

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Four Cornerstones

As the Task Force reviewed the information and gave consideration to our contexts, we
arrived at Four Cornerstones that express the values of our Christian community and form the
basis for our strategic vision of Becoming the Church. Here are those broad themes, with
additional detail included in the final section.

1) Cultivating Our Community

The church is more than a disparate collection of individuals; it is a community, one called
together by the Spirit to worship God and love our neighbor. In countless conversations,
the Task Force heard how important connection is to our community. To that end, we will
cultivate community in the following ways:

● Foster worship that is creative, dynamic and inclusive.

● Support a music program that maintains our tradition of excellent organ and
choral performance while introducing new forms of music to our worship.
● Provide more opportunities to gather outside of Sunday worship to build
community and deepen our faith.
● Develop our online ministries so that we may become an inclusive hybrid
community.
● Maintain our commitment to care for our people in all the phases and stages of
life.

2) Advancing Justice & Action

First Congregational has a long history of service to the community and world, as well
expressed in our mission statement: “We express God's love in action, compassion and
justice.” As we consider our call to love our neighbors as ourselves, we will advance justice
in these ways:

● Extend and deepen our extravagant welcome to those marginalized communities

previously recognized as important to our FCCE-UCC identity including, but not
limited to these communities:
○ LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, etc.)
○ BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color)
○ Immigrants
○ People experiencing or vulnerable to food insecurity and homelessness.
● Remain responsive and engaged in the world as we become a church with a
profound presence in the Evanston public square.
● Evaluate financial and service support of our local nonprofit community to ensure
action aligns with our current priorities.

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 3) Sharing the Good News

First Congregational is a beautiful church with meaningful worship and a warm and
welcoming community. We need to let the world know and put this light on the
lampstand! To that end, we will share the good news through the following initiatives:

● Provide an extravagant and inclusive welcome to all visitors to First

Congregational.
● Teach and practice progressive evangelism so that we become a congregation
that invites people to share in the joy of our community in Christ.
● Improve church communication.
● Develop, fund, and execute a concise, cost efficient, and effective marketing plan
to reach the broader Chicagoland and North Shore communities.

4) Caring for the Church

First Congregational is blessed with beautiful and useful buildings and financial resources
to support our ministries. We are called to use these gifts wisely and in service to our
community. Therefore we will provide institutional support and care for the church in
these ways:

● Conduct systems review to ensure best financial practices and provide better
information for congregation and church decision makers.
● Invest in and maintain our two buildings so that they reflect the high standards we
hold for our properties.
● Ensure that both buildings are fully accessible to all persons.
● Support relationships with community partners who use our facilities.
● Invest in and support our employed staff to retain a stable and effective team.
● Nurture our endowment so that it may provide steady and secure revenue for
future ministry.
● Simplify our governance structure so that it serves the church we are becoming.

How Will We Know We’ve Become The Church God Is Calling Us to Be?

Making a plan is one thing. Executing a plan is another. How will we know we are having impact and
growing in fruitful ways?

As we look to the future with hope and confidence, First Congregational Church of Evanston will:

● Be a vibrant, passion-driven church, with an abundance of active members, representing

myriad identities, engaged in leading FCCE and serving the community.
● Offer Christian worship that is dynamic and meaningful, while presenting many robust roads
to spiritual growth, fellowship and community.
● Grow! We unabashedly desire to grow our congregation and deepen our faith so that we can
change lives and transform society.

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 ● Engage in the public square, be a force for justice, and serve as a close partner with other
faith-based, nonprofit and municipal organizations.
● Be a financially-stable and sustainable organization that maintains programs and facilities,
while supporting the community in ways consistent with our values.

In the coming twelve months, we intend to accomplish a significant number of the initiatives listed
below in the section, Building on the Cornerstones.

Church leadership will prioritize those ideas that are impactful, attainable and aligned with our vision
of the church.

Building on the Cornerstones

For consideration, what follows is a collection of ideas generated at our fall listening sessions and
expanded upon by Church Leadership, curated and organized within our Four Cornerstones.

1) Cultivating Our Community

a) Foster worship that is creative, dynamic and inclusive
i) Develop additional themed worship Sundays focused on mission, arts (including
new genres like including dance/movement, etc.), mental health, reconciliation
and ritual.
ii) Support pulpit exchanges with congregations from other Christian traditions.
iii) Worship outside during the summer months.
iv) Encourage lay participation in worship planning for themed worship services
and special seasonal gatherings like Ash Wednesday or Longest Night Advent
Service.
v) Establish a rotation to feature different elements on different weeks of the
month (e.g. 1st Sundays = Communion, 2nd Sundays = Mission Moments, 3rd
Sundays = Youth Focused, 4th Sundays = Testimony and Witness).
vi) Promote interfaith opportunities to build relationships and bridges with
communities of non-Christian faith.
vii) Ensure Sunday mornings are exceptional experiences for guests and visitors.
(a) Foster a spirit and message centered on joy
(b) Maintain tidy and inviting pews with updated marketing materials,
pencils, envelopes, etc.
viii) Incorporate youth in service regularly, e.g. helping Deacons with jobs like
Offering Plate duty
ix) Ensure hybrid/virtual worship is optimal and a high-quality streaming
experience.
x) Leverage Sunday service as a major communication channel with the
congregation; use it to provide important updates
b) Support a music program that maintains our tradition of excellent organ and choral
performance while introducing new forms of music to our worship.
i) Feature one “fresh music approach” each quarter (e.g. African
American/spirituals, female composers, LGBTQ composers; youth-led, jazz or
folk music).
ii) Plan 1-2 concerts in the sanctuary that are free and open to the public and
reflect diverse musical traditions.
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 iii) Develop a children’s music program and choir (and/or partner with another
congregation on this until FCCE has a critical mass)
iv) Expand Christmas Caroling within our neighborhood
v) Choir share with other congregations (e.g. St. Luke’s)
c) Provide more opportunities to gather outside of Sunday worship to build community
and deepen our faith
i) Invest in our young people
1) Expand the position of Director/Minister of Community Life and
Communications to include support of children and youth programming
2) Support a dynamic, progressive, arts-centered Sunday School program
3) Work in partnership with ally congregations to develop a grades 6-12
youth program. This may include funding for a PT/FT Youth Pastor.
4) Offer vacation bible school via exchange/partner with another
congregation, or attend one that another church offers

ii) Expand Christian education programs that foster fellowship

1) Continue Bible Studies and Book Discussion Groups to serve those
interested in Christian Education.
2) Plan quarterly “prayer and potluck” gatherings in the church house.
iii) Host fellowship events that support our partners and neighbors
1) Invite church members to attend a Mudlark performance as a group;
schedule a talk-back with the actors and Mudlark staff afterwards with
refreshments provided by FCCE.
2) Become a First Night destination again
3) Offer our sanctuary to host musical events with NU, Music Institute of
Chicago, Evanston Art Center, etc.
iv) Resume fellowship events and programs halted during pandemic, including
annual golf outing, church picnic, Beach Day, Tower Hill retreats, Three Cups of
Coffee, etc.
d) Develop our online ministries so that we may become an inclusive hybrid community.
i) Maintain a high-quality live stream of Sunday Worship to YouTube.
ii) Ensure that all worship experiences and faith formation events allow for online
participation.
iii) Identify a Digital Minister (Dir/Min of Community Life and Communications?) to
coordinate and engage with our online community.
e) Maintain our commitment to care for our people in all the phases and stages of life.
i) Develop a Committee of Care (Deacons+) to provide material and spiritual
support to those who are aging and those in need.
ii) Explore developing a formal program (e.g. Stephen’s Ministries, NAMI
resources) or 1-day workshops to train lay members so they can provide
pastoral care to members in need.
iii) Create support groups to meet the needs of congregation and community (ex.
Parents of Young Children, Single Adults, Caregivers Alliance).

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2) Advancing Justice and Action
● As a predominantly white church, and particularly for FCCE's white congregants, in all
that we do, particularly within the context of Justice and Action, remind ourselves to
intentionally shift our mindset from one of a white-centered identity (white supremacy
culture) to one of multicultural pluralism.
○ (We also have to get comfortable with the uncomfort we might feel in using
the term “white supremacy”.)
● As we work to repair injustices, also work to dismantle the existing oppressive systems
that have caused inequities in the first place.
● Create banners for all four columns of the front of the church; we already have Pride
and BLM, we need “Immigrants are welcome!” and something about food and housing
insecurities.
● Be explicit in our expectations: these are “secular” events designed to support and
foster community, not evangelism events designed to “convert” or bring in visitors or
members. Our objective is to demonstrate that FCCE is a safe sanctuary.
● One way to do this is to immediately rename the “Church House” the “Community
House” to demonstrate our intention that all are truly welcome.

a) Extend and deepen our extravagant welcome to those marginalized communities

previously identified as important to our FCCE-UCC identity including, but not limited
to these communities:
i) LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, etc.)
1) Create and hold a “lamentation and support” quarterly/monthly meet-
ups for LGBTQ+ folks, particularly Queer kids and their families, in the
face of the 2023 slate of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. This can also include
events specifically for allies focused on how to be an ally.
2) Create programs to minister with them and advance justice for our
siblings
3) Engage with EvanstonPride and other local organizations.
4) Feature LGBTQ+ composers in one of the themed Sundays.
5) Partner with other faith families in hosting events, e.g. Jewish
Reconstruction with a Faith and Family Pride Fest in Raymond Park in
June 2024.
ii) BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color)
1) Set date for congregational-wide anti-racism training (postponed and
budgeted from 2020)
2) Build upon our work as an Anti-Racist church, by developing deeper
relationships with the Black community of Evanston and working to
bring about equity in all areas of community life.
3) Co-create and share a Statement of Apology to accompany our
reparations payments.
4) Actively seek BIPOC organizations to whom we can offer our facilities
for free.
5) Offer regular partnership, fellowship and worship opportunities with
Good News UCC in Rogers Park.

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 6) In all areas of our operations and ministry, hold an intentional lens for
uplifting the BIPOC community
iii) Immigrants
1) Connect with a trusted organization(s) (e.g. UCC) to learn more about
the current state of the immigrant/refugee crisis and identify qualified
partners (e.g. BorderLinks in Arizona) for service or financial support
(individually and/or as a congregation).
2) Hold an education workshop on the multi-layered issues of immigration,
with the potential for a service trip
iv) People experiencing or vulnerable to food insecurity and homelessness.
1) Continue our good work with Connections for the Homeless and
Interfaith Action of Evanston to support their ongoing programs,
including the expansion and approval process to make Margarita Inn a
permanent home for clients in transition.
2) Consider pairing with Garrett-Evangelical in its nascent work on
supplying students with very affordable food options (food pantry, or
financial support, etc)
b) Remain responsive and engaged in the world as we become a church with a profound
presence in the Evanston public square.
i) Adult education opportunities to bring awareness of issues and tools for
advocacy.
ii) Connect FCCE congregants with the wider UCC resources: Chicago
Metropolitan Association, Illinois Conference, UCC National.
iii) Welcome congregants to create and implement their own ideas for
connections, especially on timely/urgent crises or local issues where we wish to
stand in solidarity with our neighbors, e.g. domestic violence, criminal justice
reform, gun violence, etc.
c) Evaluate financial and service support of our local nonprofit community to ensure
action aligns with our current priorities.
i) Launch congregational-wide survey to ask for feedback on service, advocacy
and philanthropy as they are today and feedback on if/how to change in the
future.
ii) Conduct best practice survey to look at models of philanthropic funding, with
any changes to be implemented in 2024
1) For example, it may be time to separate philanthropic giving from
pledging process

3) Sharing the Good News

a) Provide an extravagant and inclusive welcome to all visitors to First Congregational
i) Make welcome the role of the entire congregation, not just deacons
ii) Make our “extravagant welcome” inclusive of all people of varying levels of
ability, mobility and neurodiversity by offering hearing assistive devices next to
large print bulletin. Find a system (e.g. nametags, bracelets, seating locations)
for guests and members to self-identify their social comfort level (e.g.
friendship bench and respecting introverted or private persons). Include
language online and in bulletins about who to contact for accommodations.

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 iii) Establish a first-class Fellowship Time! Create space in the back of the
sanctuary for serving and seating. Develop teams to provide or contract for
refreshments. Serve quality coffee and good food.
iv) Practice regular follow up with all visitors.
v) Welcome individuals who hold a diversity of thought and faith beliefs (or no
faith), while preserving FCCE as a safe, Christian-based home for our
congregation.
vi) Promote a message of “community” in addition to “Christianity”.
b) Teach and practice progressive evangelism so that we become a congregation that
invites people to share in the joy of our community in Christ.
i) Progressive Evangelism 101 Workshop for congregation in Fall of 2023
1) Extend a clever and warm invitation to participate in the life of the
community without the expectation of conversion.
2) Emphasize that we hold no creed and welcome people at all phases and
stages of belief, including agnostics and atheists.
3) Identify what makes our congregation unique — our extraordinary
welcome and focus on social justice.
4) Hold a “Friend-raising Sunday” when we invite others to church.
ii) Be present and visible in Evanston at parades, farmer’s markets, sporting
events, community festivals with t-shirts and banners promoting our church
iii) Consider hosting “secular” events (in addition to music/art events) to garner
attention from the broader community (e.g. guest speakers (non-religious),
quarterly coffee truck/food truck in Raymond Park, Cookies with Santa, Easter
Egg Decorating, Oktoberfest, etc.)
c) Improve church communications
i) New logo, banners and t-shirts.
ii) Refreshed website with more use of video.
iii) Enhanced social media presence on current and future platforms.
iv) Use less “churchy” language and more succinct, contemporary language and
images.
v) Leverage kids and children’s programs in communications.
d) Develop, fund and execute a concise, cost efficient, and effective marketing plan to
reach the broader Chicagoland and North Shore communities
i) Identify and market to groups who are natural “consumers” for FCCE.
ii) Once facilities improvements are complete, market sanctuary and church
house in targeted ways as venues for weddings and other special events, which
can provide exposure and revenue.
iii) Maximize Google search to amplify updated website.

4) Caring for the Church

a) Conduct systems review to ensure best financial practices and provide better
information for congregation and church decision makers.
i) Complete 2022 internal audit and prepare for 2023 external audit
ii) Purchase new church financial software that will allow for complete financial
report and better budgeting processes.
iii) Consolidate church investment accounts to simplify accounting processes.

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b) Invest in and maintain our two buildings so that they reflect the high standards we
hold for our properties.
i) Ensure that both buildings are fully accessible to all persons. Accessible
bathrooms in 2023. Elevators in 2024-2025.
ii) Develop 6-month, 18-month and 5-year plans for building management and
improvement.
1) Within these plans, consider additional capital enhancements that
would make the Church House an attractive facility for the groups we
wish to attract (e.g. full A/V equipment with overhead projector and
sound system in the Guild Room, upgraded kitchenette and kitchen for
hosting events, upgraded gym and storage facilities). As building use
expands, be mindful of staffing (FCCE or contracted) required to
maintain facilities.
iii) Prepare a capital campaign with building partners to raise funds for capital
improvements, including elevators, for the Community House.
iv) Improve the lighting and sound in the sanctuary.
v) Continue with external and internal repairs and maintenance of both
buildings—painting, plastering etc.
vi) Schedule and support routine cleaning and de-cluttering of our buildings
vii) Repair and maintain memorial garden as well as the greenery and curbside
appeal of both buildings.
c) Support relationships with community partners who use our facilities, including
Mudlark Theater, Family Promise, Interfaith Action of Evanston, and Chiaravalle
Montessori. Investigate space sharing with other community partners, for example to
support Reparations initiative.
d) Invest in and support our employed staff to retain a stable and effective team.
i) Proactively recognize staff and evaluate salaries and equality of overall
compensation package.
ii) Ensure staff lines of supervision, responsibility, and workload are clearly
managed across church staff and in relation to various church volunteers,
committees and projects.
iii) Provide all staff members with a church laptop for their work.
iv) Review and update the staff handbook and ensure staff feel empowered to use
it and the HR committee as needed.
v) Expand HR committee to support these functions and be present for staff.
e) Nurture our savings and endowment funds so that it may provide steady and secure
revenue for future ministry.
i) Establish procedures for endowment use in the context of an abundance
mindset.
ii) Develop a program of planned giving to encourage future bequests to the
congregation.
f) Simplify our governance structure so that it serves the church we are becoming.
i) Review the list of boards and committees to streamline the number of boards
and reduce meetings.
ii) Revise church bylaws to reflect the new streamlined structure and to reduce
the quorums to reflect current church size.

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