Today we’d like to introduce you to Brittany Isaac.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Brittany. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Since college, I knew that I wanted to make a difference by nurturing people’s gifts. I taught school for a couple of years and found that I could nurture people that way, but I really disliked having to evaluate at the end. Not the actual grading of papers but assigning a value for how much someone has grown in a particular area. I decided to go to seminary to become a pastor.
I loved the learning environment but became more troubled by the church. I saw it being exclusive and condemning to queer people and also at times women. As a queer woman, I came to realize there wasn’t a place for me. Needing health insurance I got a job as a barista at Starbucks. I found a great company that truly lived into its values and decided to make a career of it. Eventually, I was managing the busiest story int he midwest located on the Magnificent Mile.
When Starbucks changed its mission statement to nurture and inspire the human spirit, I was at once joyed and unsettled. I loved it and wanted to be all about it, but not with coffee. I wanted to do it as part of a church. Eventually, I stepped down from my management position and began to work part-time as a barista so that I could have time to start a church.
I partnered with Christian Coon and Trey Hall who had started a church in the south loop and Wicker Park called Urban Village Church. I got to be the one who started the third site in Andersonville. UVC is a different kind of church. Our values are to be bold, inclusive and relevant. It’s been a fun 7 years. Recently, I have accepted a new ministry position. I will be the supervising pastor for 60 United Methodist Churches on the north side of Chicago. This position will begin on July 1.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being queer and Christian is a challenge. Learning how to have an inward confidence when people who are “authorities” in the church tell you-you are a sinner, is a challenge.
But I came to discover that the challenge was inward. I had to have confidence in my gifts and skills and when I did those voices didn’t matter and actually weren’t even as loud as I at first perceived them to be.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Urban Village Church, Edgewater – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our mission is to create Jesus-loving inclusive communities that ignite the city and we do that by being bold –courageously rooted in the Gospel, This rootedness causes us to be inclusive — that is what we see Jesus doing over and over again, welcoming those who have been told they are less than. And we certainly want to be relevant. No topic is off limits. On Sundays, we talk about mental health, sex, anti-racism work, LGBTQ inclusion, loneliness. I think these things are what set us apart from a traditional church.
I am most proud to see so many people whose lives have changed because of our community.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I like the accessibility, the incredible diversity of people, the openness to difference.
I don’t like the isolation that you can feel even when you are surrounded by a million people but everyone is so busy you aren’t seen. I hear this over and over again from the people I meet.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5451 N. Broadway — on Sundays
- Website: urbanvillagechurch.org
- Phone: 773-633-0498
- Email: brittany@urbanvillagechurch.org
- Instagram: Urban Village Church
- Facebook: Urban Village Church, Chicago
- Twitter: @uvchurch
- Yelp: Urban Village Church, Chicago
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
