Rosie Schultz is going to be a very happy girl.

After years of having to share her mom with a whole congregation of people, Rosie soon will be able to enjoy a lot more of the Rev. Sherry Schultz’s undivided attention.

Schultz, pastor of Unity Church of Lawrence, 900 Madeline Lane, is leaving the pulpit where she has served since December 1996 to become a hospice chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Wash., near Tacoma.

Though the challenge of her new position will be intense, Schultz will be able to keep a 9-to-5 schedule with most of her weekends free — a luxury most congregational ministers can only dream of. That will leave a lot more time to spend with Rosie, 5, whom Schultz adopted as a 10-month-old in China.

“I was beginning to feel that I could not be both an effective pastor and a good mom, a single parent, and I just came to the awareness that I did not want my daughter to be raised by other people,” says the 48-year-old Schultz, who will begin her new job on Aug. 18.

“Ministry is so variable. You never know when you’re going to be needed. There were just a few too many times I had to tell her ‘no’ so that I could be what I thought was an effective minister.”

Schultz is excited at the prospect of more time spent with her daughter.

“Now we’ll have evenings, and we’ll have weekends. We’ll have Saturday night, and we’ll have Sunday together,” she says.

The Rev. Sherry Schultz, left, pastor of Unity Church of Lawrence since 1996, and her daughter, Rosie, 5, will leave next month for Puyallup, Wash. Schultz decided to become a hospice chaplain at Good Samaritan Hospital so she would be able to spend more time with her daughter.

“I love Unity Church of Lawrence, I can’t imagine a church I would love more. But I took on the mantle of parenthood, and now I have to make Rosie first.”

Schultz’s last services at Unity Church are Sunday.

Absolute commitment

Members and leaders of Schultz’s church are quick to say they understand why she’s leaving town. But they’re sad about her departure all the same.

“I get choked up just to talk about it,” says Tanya Mayer, who serves on Unity Church’s board of trustees and has worked closely with Schultz.

“She has just helped us build a church that is so inclusive of all faiths and so full of heart, a place in which most everybody feels comfortable and there are roles for everybody who wants to be involved. We’ve just become much more spiritually mature with Sherry.”

Steve Chronister, Unity’s treasurer, affirms Mayer’s perspective.

“Sherry’s just been a huge inspiration to me. You kind of go through your life, and there’s certain pivotal people who you meet who totally change your life forever. She’s one of them,” he says.

Schultz has not only touched individual lives, according to those who know her. She also has influenced Unity Church’s role in Lawrence, as well as the city’s faith community itself.

Unity members credit her with nurturing their congregation’s outreach ministries, focusing the church’s energies toward serving others in need. That’s been accomplished by opening the church’s building to various community groups, as well as tithing a portion of the congregation’s resources to go toward the support of worthy causes in Lawrence.

An important part of Schultz’s legacy here, members say, is her effort to strengthen interfaith relationships among the city’s clergy and its diverse religious traditions.

Schultz and Rabbi Judith Beiner, former spiritual leader of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Drive, organized the city’s first Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, a multicultural event that has become an annual tradition.

Lawrence Ministerial Alliance is host to the event. Schultz is a past president of Lawrence Ministerial Alliance.

“I will miss Sherry’s absolute commitment to share ministry among all the churches. I just deeply appreciate her wonderful attempts to get a lot of the denominations connected,” says the Rev. Sharon Howell, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, 946 Vt.

Reluctant goodbyes

Schultz leaves behind a revitalized church.

“Our average weekly attendance is about 140. When Sherry took over, it might have been 30 to 40 a week. We’re not piling up lots of money in the bank, but we’re operating in the black. When she took over, they used to have to decide, ‘This month do we pay the mortgage or the minister?'” Chronister says.

Schultz also shepherded the congregation through its search for larger quarters, leading to the $350,000 purchase of the former Lawrence Wesleyan Church last spring.

Unity members say the congregation is on solid footing and will continue to thrive.

“It’s going to be a change for the church. I guess from a spiritual standpoint, I feel like everything happens for a reason. But I don’t have any fear for the future of the church,” Chronister says.

The Rev. Steve Colladay, former pastor of Unity Church of Edgewood, Wash., has a six-month contract to serve as interim minister of Unity Church of Lawrence.

The Edgewood church actually serves the Puyallup community where Schultz is moving.

Colladay, a friend of Schultz’s, heard about the open pulpit in Lawrence from her. He had been seeking a ministry position in a sunnier climate than the gray, rainy Northwest.

Saying goodbye to her church — and to congregational ministry, at least for now — isn’t going to be easy for Schultz.

“I’ve had the privilege of watching people get married, seeing their babies born and christening them, and I’ve buried the elders,” she says.

“I’ll miss watching how people grow in life and in spirit. It’s such a privilege to be part of that.”