Dear Fellow Fourth Church Members and Friends,

We are delighted so many of you were able to join us in person and online to celebrate Shannon Kershner’s final Sunday with as our Pastor! (If you haven’t yet seen the photos from May 28, you can view them online.) We are grateful for that opportunity to express our gratitude to Shannon, and we know you join us in continuing to hold her and her family in prayer as they move to Atlanta.

While some of this season in our life together may feel different because we are more used to our Senior Pastors retiring rather than sensing a call to another congregation, there is also much that is the same as we move through this change in leadership. As with any other pastor leaving a congregation, Shannon will not be returning to Fourth Church to preside at baptisms, weddings, or funerals or to assume any other pastoral duties here. And all of us, in turn, will be upholding that covenant by not reaching out to engage her in Fourth Church matters.

With Shannon’s departure, we now enter a transition period as a congregation, that time between a Pastor’s leaving and an intentional Interim Pastor’s arriving.

As we do so, we wanted to share a few updates.

The Interim Pastor Nominating Committee (IPNC) of Mark Hurley (chair), Jared Light, Sally Scott, Gretchen Van Natta, and Jessica Wang has completed the Ministry Information Form (MIF) — the initial step required in the search for an Interim Pastor — and it has subsequently been approved by the Presbytery of Chicago.

The MIF functions as a job description, describing both our congregation as well as those characteristics that will be important for an intentional Interim Pastor to bring to their ministry here.

The completed Ministry Information Form has been submitted to the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the IPNC will now begin receiving names of interested and recommended candidates to consider as they look for someone to guide us during the year or more when we are searching for the next Pastor.

At the same time, the IPNC has already begun contacting potential candidates who were referred by members and friends of Fourth Church. The committee is also reaching out to PCUSA leaders to ask for their recommendations as well.

As a reminder, the intentional Interim Pastor will not be our next Senior Pastor but will be hired by Session on a one-year (renewable) contract to help us do the kind of preparatory work that is always important in advance of welcoming a new leader.

This includes actively discerning as a congregation our call for the future and making room for change where it might be needed.

Part of what will inform our congregational discernment for the future is a better understanding of who we are today. A critical component in painting that picture is our Fourth Church Member Census.

In late May another batch of Census forms was mailed to member homes.

All members are asked to please take a few moments to complete your Census form and return it to the church by Thursday, June 15.

The Census results will also help inform the work of the Long-Range Planning Task Force, as they focus on who God is calling Fourth Church to be and what God is calling us to do.

That team, which began its work in January, is made up of Janet Love, Diane Meister, Theresa Mintle, Anne Voshel, Eric Wu (co-chair), Allison Youngblood (co-chair), and Betsy Zeiger, with Nancy Benson-Nicol and Lucy Forster-Smith serving as staff liaisons.

Together with the consultant partners they identified earlier this year, the task force is guided by four principles:  

In mid-June the Task Force will join the session retreat to meet with current congregational leaders, the Senior Leadership Team, and pastoral staff to explore strategic opportunities and gather information before engaging the congregation, administrative staff, guests, and partners to co-create a three– to five–year plan for Fourth Church ministries.

This plan will also serve as a foundation as we prepare for calling our new senior pastor.

All throughout this summer season of transition, the vibrant life of Fourth Church continues.

Our Women’s Choir and then our Men’s Choir will be singing during Sunday worship.

Vacation Bible School will invite young children on a journey with Moses to ancient Egypt.

A Fourth Church contingent will march in the Pride Parade.

Chicago Lights Summer Day will fill the Gratz Center with children learning and making music for six weeks.

Our youth will head out on mission trips.

Older adults will enjoy summer Center for Life and Learning classes.

Our Friday Noonday concerts will head outdoors for Music by the Fountain in July and August.

And so much more!

Check out our email newsletter and the weekly worship bulletin as well as the Fourth Church calendar for details about the many opportunities of the coming months.

And if you have questions or comments about this season of transition, we hope you will connect with us when you see us around church or by emailing us at transition@fourthchurch.org.

You will also find current updates posted on the church website, with a link from the home page.

In partnership,

Arlene Faulk, Patsy Habicht, Jared Light, Jim Kulich, and Allison Youngblood