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Letter from Rev. Matthew Johnson
June 11, 2025
Dear Beloveds,
It has been my honor and joy to serve as your minister for the last 17 years. We have done much good together growing theologically, witnessing and advancing our values, healing broken hearts, honoring the dead, welcoming hungry spirits, and stabilizing and strengthening the institution of the church. You have shown me trust, kindness, and generosity through this long ministry. I am grateful beyond words.
So it is with thanksgiving that I tell you that my ministry with you will conclude at the end of August of this year.
Over the last few years, I have felt strongly that my call within ministry has been shifting toward serving leaders and congregations across our faith. While I was walking the Camino de Santiago last fall, I had absolute clarity that I was ready for my next chapter. It was time. Thus, when two positions on the Unitarian Universalist Association’s MidAmerica Congregational Life Staff opened this spring, I applied. I’m excited and humbled to have been hired for this role and will begin this work on July 7th (my beginning there and finishing here will overlap for two months). In that role, I will coach and companion leaders and congregations across the Midwest. It will use some of my existing skills and require creating many new ones – a journey of growth and change I am thrilled to begin. The success and stability we have experienced together is no small reason the UUA is delighted to have me.
We will have time in the next three months to count our blessings for this shared ministry, to apologize and forgive some of our mistakes (mine included), to reflect on what we have learned, and to say our goodbyes.
The work for the UUA is remote work; I will still live in Rockford in a new apartment with my younger son until he graduates from High School in three years, though I will often be traveling for the work or to be with my beloveds. After that? It’s unknown. As Whitman put it: “Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road.”
After the end of August, however, I will not be your minister, and it will be important that I step fully aside so that you and your next ministers can thrive together. Your very capable Board of Trustees will be working with the UUA’s transitions office to secure a minister to serve this congregation in an interim or transitional ministry. You have the UUA’s full support in finding the right person – they are invested in doing this right for you. This next ministry will serve you as you reflect together on who you are now and what you need next. You will then search for a new settled minister, who will be only the 5th settled senior minister of this church since 1958. Expect to hear separately soon from your Board about this process.
You will continue to be well-served by your remarkable staff – the Rev. Joyce Palmer, Tim Anderson, Lindsay Trank, Autumn Powell, and Michelle White. This will be a major transition for them as well, so I ask that you show them grace, support, and encouragement.
You should know that I depart fully out of my longing for my next adventure and form of ministry. You have treated me with such good care, and I hope you will continue to treat my successors with such love. (This includes in compensation – the UUA role is actually a significant pay decrease, only possible for me because of my reduced housing costs as I downsize dramatically). I depart also knowing that you are thriving right now – many new visitors, strong and stable lay leadership, solid financial position, a strong reputation in our community and in the wider world of Unitarian Universalism, and excellent staff. It is a good time to hand the baton to the next runner.
I know that my departure will occasion many feelings in you. You might feel gratitude, concern about what’s next, or curiosity about the process. And yes, a few might be glad as you consider different leadership possibilities (I know I have not pleased everyone).
Many of you, of course, will feel deep sorrow and grief. I have been with you and a deep part of your lives for a long time. Some of you may have hoped I would remain forever, or at least long enough to officiate your memorial. I have grown to love you so, however, that the truth is I wish not to bury any more of you. It is time for me to make this change, and I am glad for it. Still, I will miss you very much. We will have occasions, before I go, to express these thoughts to one another. I am still here for now.
I’ll say more about this Sunday and in the next few months. For now, I am thankful, full of love, and hopeful for both my next chapter and for yours.
In faith,
Matthew
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