The sixth settled ministry brought a husband-wife co-ministry and the first settled woman minister to First Universalist’s pulpit in 1988, and with them a surge in membership. For seven years Rev. Frank Lowell (Terry) Sweetser Jr. and Rev. Mary Susan Milnor kept the congregation “about the task” of welcoming new members, of expanding programming and of planning for the future. They were committed to a ministry of spiritual nurturing and social justice.

Under their co-ministry the church hired the denomination’s first full-time social justice coordinator who also served as youth advisor, the church launched its annual service at the Lake Harriet band shell and the annual all-church auction was begun. The Unity Summer program was instituted which provides summer employment at social service agencies for teens from the church and the community. They provided the vision and support for the Universal Mind Bookstore, presided over the first same-sex marriage in 1989 as well as recommending 4 x 4 dinners mixing GLBT folks with straight people andguiding the congregation to becoming one of the early welcoming congregations in the Unitarian Universalist Association.

In 1993 after nearly 40 years in the 50th and Girard location, the rapid growth of the congregation brought a capacity crisis with no room to expand the 230-seat building. Three Sunday morning services and renting space across the street in the community center for the expanded church school were necessary and brought extra work and stress to the staff. The decision was made to purchase and move to an available space in the uptown area of Minneapolis, the 44,000-square foot recently-vacated Adath Jeshurun Synagogue at 3400 Dupont Avenue South. The space offered seating for 900 and much more space for classrooms. After raising $1.5 million the congregation purchased the building and moved on July 25, 1993. Later the sanctuary was remodeled. The colored glass windows with Jewish scenes were replaced, an atrium was constructed to illuminate the space between the main building and the education wing and the building was made semi-accessible for the handicapped. The pew cushions were also removed.

Sweetser and Milnor left at the end of 1995. Rev. Frank Rivas was called as senior minister in 1997, the first settled minister who was openly gay. Many felt that Rivas’s more introverted and reflective personality offered what the church needed most at the time — an ability to emphasize coming together while respecting differences. He felt particularly called to address issues of human rights, especially racism and homophobia. His sermons were frequently intellectual and scholarly, challenging the congregation to follow his thought processes as he sought to give contemporary meaning to teachings of Buddhism, stories from the New Testament, contemporary and ancient poetry. He preached from an outline and his sermons were not available in printed form.

One condition of Rivas accepting the call to ministry was the church hiring an associate minister. The church was fortunate that the Reverend Kate Tucker was available to assume that position. Tucker’s welcoming spirit and gift for inclusiveness endeared her to the congregation from the start of her ministry in 1997. Tucker touched the spiritual hunger of the congregation and provided a variety of ways for fellow searchers to deepen and enrich their own spiritual lives through the development of pastoral care programs, the creation of Welcome Home Wednesdays, in small group ministry called Sharing Circles, and in a contemplative practices group. A captivating preacher who draws on ancient texts and contemporary poetry for inspiration, her radiant presence in the pulpit communicates as much as her well-chosen words. She can be present to a single individual or to a sanctuary crammed to capacity, and from a generosity that welcomes the first time visitor and the long-time member.

Rivas resigned in 2006, and interim minister Charlotte Cowtan led the two-year process of preparing to call a new minister.

~ Excerpted from First Universalist Church of Minneapolis: The First 150 Years, October 2009.