History of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Petoskey Michigan
In the year 1993 Karen and Bob Donaldson put an ad in the Petoskey News Review asking if there were others in the surrounding community who were interested in starting UU church. Several persons answered the ad in the affirmative. Among these were Sallie McPharlin, Ethel Larsen and Dr. Marcia and Trisha Shattuck. The Shattucks had recently moved from Chicago to Petoskey and were looking for a UU church here. Sallie McPharlin was a member of the Church of the Larger Fellowship of the UUA, an organization for UUs who have no church home available in their area.The first meeting of about 20 persons met at the Shattuck's home. Thus began our present congregation. Sallie McPharlin, Ethel Larsen and Bob and Karen Donaldson are all still members. A core of about 10 of those present began to meet at the Shattuck home to worship and organize. Their focus was on developing a place where individuals and families could explore common questions of humanity without fear and guilt, where there is racial, cultural, and sexual diversity, and where people with diverse sexual orientations were welcomed.
In 1994 Dr. Anna Young was elected the first president, and served until 1997. The "steering committee" was developed to run the business of the congregation. Officers were elected, but all those interested were encouraged to participate in the meetings. Mike and Frances Sosadeeter were in charge of the worship services, and we used the "Church in a Box" materials from the UUA as well as ministers from other UU churches.The UU District organization paid to send two of our members, Ed Loomis and Trisha Shattuck to the UU Association headquarters in Boston for training in the development of a new fellowship. They also paid for a survey of our area to determine the feasibility of establishing a UU congregation here. The Traverse City UU congregation as well as the district gave us much advice and support.
We have been wanderers looking for a home. In 1994 we moved from Shattuck's home to the Jewish Temple in Petoskey. We enjoyed our stay there but found that is was impossible to settle on a regular Sunday upon which we could count. Consequently we moved to the Concord Academy. Here we were able to have a room for worship as well as a room for Sunday School and child care during services. Then in 2000 the school was put up for sale and we moved to the Petoskey Club. Religious education for children was started by Marcia Shattuck. When we moved from the Jewish Temple to the Concord Academy the task was taken over by Cathy Avery. However, the number of children dwindled for a while, and when Cathy resigned from the church we no longer had a program.While there we furnished Sunday dinner once a month for the clients. Eventually the Petoskey Club board members objected to the use of their facility by a church and we were forced to move again.Dick and Jackie Lewis were kind enough to offer us their home on an interim basis, and we are grateful to them. Then we were lucky enough to gain use of the Bellmer House, which is owned by one of our members, until it was sold in 2002. Since then we have been meeting in the lower level of the Petoskey Public Library.
Though the advice of the UU District Office, in 1995/6 we were able to hire our first part-time minister which we shared with the Ludington group for a period of one year. Rev. Shermie Schaffer spent two weeks of every month, staying with Raechel and John Alberts. The rest of the month she served in Ludington. She brought us new members as well as making us better known in the community through her efforts to make other ministers and local groups aware of our presence. In October 1996 we held our Charter Membership Service with 20 persons signing as members.After this we hired ministerial interns from the UU theological seminary at Meadville, Illinois. They came two Sundays a month. Sometimes they stayed in one of the member's homes. Beth Williams was our first intern. A high point during her service was the holding of a retreat a the Sacramentine Monastery where we wrote our Vision Statement. During 1997/8, Eric Severson served as our second intern. A high point of his service was the holding of a class called "Building your own Theology". This class resulted in a pamphlet which included the theologies of each of the participants. Both of these students gave us much help with our worship services and with advice about congregational matters.
From 1997-1999 we hired retired pastor, Rev. Jack Middaugh. He and his wife Barb had been attending for a while. He received no salary and only accepted payment for his expenses. During the first year he did the preaching and other ministerial duties. During the second, he preached only part time due to his health. We thoroughly enjoyed a retreat at their Island home in Canada. We studies the book, "How to Know God" by Deepak Chopra.Since that time we have not had a regular minister, but have managed to hold our own worship services by sometimes hiring speakers and sometimes developing our own. During the 2001-2003 years, members have signed up to be in charge of services. This has resulted in some very interesting and thoughtful experiences.
Mike Sosadeeter served as president in 1997/8, Sally McPharlin from 1998-2000, Ken Allen from 2000-2002, Dick Lewis from 2001/2, Jerry Ailes for 2002/3, and John McClorey for 2003/4.About two years ago we began to develop a Religions Education program. We were unable to find someone to hire as the director, so Mary Johnson stepped in and initiated both programs for adults and a program for children and parents which meets once a month before the regular service. This was an on-going success.
During October 2002 we held our second retreat at the Sacramentine Monastery. We made plans for the coming year about services, activities, and religious education.We have tried to serve the local community by providing Christmas baskets to families, giving to the Women's Resource Center, the Matthew Shepard Fund, have served dinner at the Petoskey Club, and have helped with the Bear River Cleanup.