Huntley interim minister enjoys serving congregations

Having finished her work at one Fox Valley church, the Rev. Michelle McNamara has happily moved into the pulpit of another.

Such is the life of an intentional interim minister.

Earlier this year, McNamara filled in at Congregational Church of Algonquin for four months, following the Rev. Howard Self, who had served as interim for a year and a half.

That church installed the Rev. Brian Cope as its new pastor last month.

McNamara shifted eight miles west to First Congregational Church of Huntley, where the Rev. Walter Thyng recently retired after six years at the church.

Considered an intentional interim minister for the United Church of Christ, McNamara has been specifically trained for this kind of work.

Back in the day, interims did little more than make sure there was a sermon for every service when a church was between pastors.

Today, in many denominations, the interim ministry carries much more weight.

"They realized that this in-between time in congregations was a powerfully rich time to promote congregational health and well-being," McNamara said.

She served as a "settled" pastor for 14 years in Crystal Lake and Palatine before moving to the interim ministry.

She said she helps the interim congregation assess the past and plan for the future.

"You take an honest look," she said. "Once you see from where you have come and an honest evaluation of where you are now, you're able to articulate a vision for your future. You're better equipped to articulate your needs for the pastor who will come beside you."

She added that interim ministers can also help a local congregation understand that it does not exist in isolation, but it's connected to a larger denomination.

McNamara and her 9-year-old son, Liam, have enjoyed the move to Huntley.

"It's a great congregation," she said. "They just needed somebody who could help them develop some internal structure and have that ground ready for that called pastor who's coming in.

"I'm blessed to be there."

He hopes to connect: The Rev. Brian Cope, newly installed at Congregational Church of Algonquin, had been pastoring in Danville, Penn., for eight years but wanted to get back to the Midwest.

"We chose this area because our families are in Indiana," Cope said.

The church's search committee began courting him before Christmas, and at the first phone interview "we hit it off right away and knew this was where we wanted to come."

Cope's wife, Sally, and their daughter, Nikki, will remain in Pennsylvania until June so Nikki can finish her junior year of high school.

For his daughter, any frustration in having to start as a senior at a new school will be offset by all the shopping opportunities the Fox Valley affords, Cope said.

A son, Paul, is in Chicago at Columbia College, and another son, Andrew, is on a track scholarship at Penn State.

Though he's just getting settled, Cope said one of his hopes is that he'll be able to connect with other Algonquin churches in ecumenical efforts that meet community needs.

"Everywhere I've been, I've worked in something like that," he said.

He also has a passion for Kenya and has taken groups to Nairobi and into the villages.

"We helped them where they needed help," he said, "but we learned an awful lot from them as well."

Cope said the "ambassadors" he led helped lay bricks for a community center, built desks at a school so children didn't have to sit in the dirt and taught churches how to provide Sunday School programs.

He hopes to be able to return.

All in the family: When the Rev. Sue Ellen Grudt came three years ago to Shepherd of the Prairie Lutheran Church in Huntley, it was to play keyboards for contemporary worship services and head up the small group ministry.

That worked out so well that the 7-year-old congregation recently installed her as its associate pastor.

She's still making music and directing small groups, "which I have experience and a passion for," she said.

But now Grudt also is preaching every six weeks and performing weddings, baptisms and funerals.

"I feel so honored," she said. "You're with people in such intimate times in their lives."

Grudt said she also is excited about how the prayer ministry "has taken off" at Shepherd of the Prairie.

Three years ago, they had an active prayer chain by phone.

Now, church intercessors come together once a week to pray by name for the church membership roster, for government leaders and for world events.

They're still praying for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The phone ministry expanded into daily e-mail prayer requests, and 60 ladies gathered for a day-long prayer retreat in March.

"This is a very caring church," Grudt said.

"People really care about each other and take time to offer up needs to God, and I think that's one of the things which keeps this church so healthy and faithful."

Her husband, the Rev. Richard Grudt, is a full-time hospice chaplain and part-time interim pastor at Trinity United Lutheran Church, Waukegan.

Having met in seminary, the Grudts started their marriage worshiping in different churches, so it works for this Island Lake family.

Their kids -- Nina, 17, Benjamin, 12 and Joseph, 8 -- switch back and forth between Mom's church and Dad's.

"It's difficult logistically," Grudt said, "but on the other hand we both feel like we have another church family, which is neat."

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Contact "In the Spirit" at cmchojnacki@yahoo.com.