Pastor D’Angelo’s Transition

On September 18, Pastor D’Angelo announced their decision to resign as site pastor of Wicker Park and Hyde Park - Woodlawn. In the video below they share what lead to this decision as well as what they will be doing next.

Later that day, the ONE Board released the following statement in an email to HPW and Wicker Park community members:

Dear friends at our Wicker Park & Hyde Park-Woodlawn sites,

We know that Pastor D'Angelo’s announcement today may come as a surprise, and you may wonder just how much transition and change our church can handle. Please know that as your One Board representatives, we remain committed to UVC's mission and values – including being open and transparent. We felt it was important to provide context and background about a clarification and addition we recently made to our staff handbook. The staff handbook now states that a full-time pastor can only work 10 hours outside of their UVC ministry.

For those who don't know, UVC is a part of the United Methodist (UM) denomination. The One Board considered UM expectations for clergy when adapting our handbook, and we thought it would be helpful to share the new language around those expectations–and our policy–directly from the UVC handbook:

"Full-time ministry is a significant commitment and vocation. In The United Methodist Book of Discipline, it describes the work of a full-time elder (aka the pastor of a local church) as 'one's entire vocational time devoted to the work of ministry in the field of labor to which one is appointed by the bishop.' In addition, when a United Methodist pastor takes their ordination vows as an elder, they agree to a significant commitment including such duties as preaching and teaching the Word of God; leading worship; leading people to faith in Jesus Christ; exercising pastoral supervision of the people in the congregation; ordering the life of the congregation; offering pastoral counsel; and seeking justice, peace, and freedom for all people.

"Though we have had, and will likely continue to have, full-time pastors on staff who are not United Methodist, we believe these are good guidelines for all UVC full-time pastors to follow – both for their own health and the health of the congregation. Because of this commitment, we do not allow full-time pastors to work more than 10 hours outside of their UVC ministry. Any external employment should be discussed in advance with the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and supervisor to discern and provide transparency.

"There may be circumstances where a pastor desires to temporarily work more than a few hours (eg, writing a book, teaching or taking a class, serving as an on-call chaplain), but these would be approved only if they are short-term arrangements.

"If a full-time pastor desires to work outside of their UVC ministry, they are to contact their supervisor and/or the Staff-Parish Relations Committee so those parties can come to an agreement to make sure the pastor is fulfilling their UVC commitments to the staff and their congregation. Each circumstance will be reviewed on a case by case basis."

Full-time United Methodist clergy, then, are not permitted to work more than a few hours outside their church. This policy is known by UM clergy when they are ordained, but it was not spelled out in our staff handbook, an oversight we regret.

Our policy is meant to balance the needs of the church and its congregants, while still allowing a full-time pastor to explore bivocational ministry. By working on a limited basis outside of the church, we believe a full-time pastor can personally grow in unique ways and that growth can have a positive impact on their ministry.

Pastor D'Angelo is an ordained pastor in the United Church of Christ and, of course, would not have known of the UM policy. Pastor D'Angelo informed us several weeks ago that they have been a full-time chaplain at a local hospital for most of the time they have served at UVC, and they desire to continue in that ministry. Neither the Staff-Parish Relations Committee nor their supervisor, Pastor Emily McGinley, was aware of Pastor D'Angelo's ongoing full-time work outside of UVC during their time as a full-time pastor. Once Pastor D’Angelo made us aware of this arrangement, the One Board had numerous prayerful conversations about what UVC's official policy on this matter should be. It was those conversations that led us to adding the new language in the handbook.

Pastor D'Angelo is committed to bivocational ministry where they can both serve a church full-time, and continue in their role as a chaplain for more than 10 hours each week. Unfortunately, our new policy is where we differ in how we both understand ministry. Our differences do not mean one party is wrong and the other right. There are many ways of understanding ministry in various contexts. We respect D'Angelo's perspective and pray they flourish and utilize their many gifts in a ministry that shares the same perspective. We remain grateful for their ministry and impact at UVC.

So, who will pastor the WP & HPW sites? We know some of you may be weary of the word "interim" but for the next few months at least, we will return to a one pastor/one site model. We are very pleased that Pastor Juan Pablo Herrera will be serving as the WP site pastor and our Interim Support Pastor Dr. Pamela Lightsey will serve as the HPW site pastor. This means we will also be looking to hire an interim person to assist with small group ministry organization, ensuring it remains vital as Pastor Juan Pablo's focus shifts to WP.

This has been a challenging year for UVC! Many churches around the world are still finding their bearings as we slowly come out of the pandemic. The loss of three pastors in four months makes our reentry even more difficult. But we remain steadfast and faithful, believing with all our being that UVC is still needed in our city, and that the Holy Spirit is calling us to boldly follow in the footsteps of Jesus. This certainly is not the path we anticipated, but we hope and trust that you will remain with us on the journey together.

Please reach out to any One Board site representative if you have questions or concerns. You can also contact any of our pastoral staff, as well.

Thank you, dear friends, for remaining faithful to our community. May we stay connected and together in the coming weeks and months as we remain true to our mission of creating Jesus-loving, inclusive communities that ignite the city.

Your One Board representatives