{"id":55,"date":"2020-04-02T17:08:16","date_gmt":"2020-04-02T17:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bertschausen.org\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2021-04-29T21:47:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T21:47:54","slug":"ministries","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bertschausen.org\/index.php\/ministries\/","title":{"rendered":"Previous and Current Ministries"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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First sermon at UU Fellowship of Bartholomew County (1988)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

My ministry began in 1988-89 with a quarter-time ministry in the UU Fellowship of Bartholomew County<\/strong> in Columbus, IN, and a full-time chaplaincy serving at a drug and alcohol treatment.<\/strong> Though brief, both played a pivotal role in my still unfolding ministerial formation. The Fellowship took off on a trajectory that led it to having a full-time minister within a decade. In the treatment center, I learned much about pastoral counseling and spirituality through the Twelve Steps program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 1990, I became the first settled minister of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, WI.<\/strong> Appleton is not where we expect UU congregations to grow a lot. It\u2019s a religiously and politically conservative smaller Midwestern city with a population of around 75,000 (225,000 if you count the surrounding area). It\u2019s the hometown of Joe McCarthy and the headquarters of the John Birch Society. But it grew and grew–until there were 700 when I left in 2015. The Fox Valley UU Fellowship story shows that Unitarian Universalism has a lot more potential in all sorts of areas than we typically think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rally in county register of deed’s office for marriage equality (2014)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Professionally, I was attracted to stay at the Fellowship because the challenges we faced as a congregation continually evolved. It felt like I served at least three distinct congregations in the same place: a small, pastoral-sized congregation; a mid-sized, program congregation; and a large, resource congregation. My ministry included two capital campaigns, building a new facility, adding on a 330-seat sanctuary, and having as many as four services a weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important chapters of my ministry at the Fellowship was my last one.<\/strong> The Fellowship\u2019s leadership and I were mindful that the first departure of the congregation\u2019s senior minister would establish a pattern for how ministers leave. The year between my giving notice and leaving gave us a good opportunity to learn together about the healthy boundaries that help make a ministerial transition successful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n