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After Rev. Merritt left in December of 1982, the church conducted a search to find new leadership which would continue to serve the growing congregation. In another daring move, church leadership tapped a young husband and wife ministerial team. The Rev. Stephen Churchill Washburn and the Rev. Dianne Arakawa began their ministry in August of 1983. From the beginning they were a popular choice. Both were kind and caring. Rev. Arakawa excelled in pastoral care and crafted memorable worship experiences. Rev. Washburn was a gifted teacher in a small group setting, although some members felt he lacked strong pulpit skills.

In 1984, church leadership undertook a massive examination of the church's governance structure. The result was an entirely new set of by-laws which were adopted in May of that year and which have remained in force, with regular amendments since that time. The congregation also adopted a new covenant statement at that time which replaced explicitly Christian wording with more inclusive language.

The church also changed its name to the Congregational Unitarian Church. It was felt that few people understood what Universalism meant, but that many more were aware of Unitarianism. It was hoped the new name would help attract new members who were specifically searching for a UU Church. In that it was successful. From that point on almost all new members who joined the church expressing a denominational preference identified themselves as Unitarian Universalists.

A strong commitment to social justice was a highlight of these years. The church was deeply involved in community projects such as local food pantries. It also hosted inner-city youth who were brought to the county by the United Church of Christ's Pleasant Valley Farm retreat center. The congregation's most notable project, however, was becoming a founding site for the rotating PADS homeless shelter. The church was eager to offer its space as the Woodstock PADS sight. The city council, however, feared that a homeless shelter would attract undesirables from out of the county who would loiter, panhandle and resort to petty crime. First they demanded extensive upgrades of church facilities, particularly electrical systems and exit lights, which volunteers from the church promptly provided. Then they declared that a homeless shelter required zoning and licensing as a hotel and threatened to close the site by police force if the church opened it. Rev. Washburn was a strong advocate of opening the shelter regardless of the city. He rallied the Congregation in his most memorable sermon and the Church Council unanimously agreed to open the shelter anyway and dare the local authorities to raid the church. They won the gamble, the city backed down and the PADS shelter, which still uses the Church every Wednesday night in October through April, opened successfully.

The congregation also reached out to the fledgling Jewish Congregation of McHenry County, which held services in the church building until they were able to purchase a building for the synagogue in Ridgefield. In the late 1990's a new Reform Jewish congregation, Tikkun Olan, would also find a welcoming home, as would a Zen meditation group. The congregation often shared joint social events and worship services with all of these groups.

An important change to the church's religious education program occurred in these years when Carol Alfus was selected as the new RE Director. Previously church school classes were conducted using both United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalist curricula. Alfus felt that it was difficult to have a coherent program using both. She asked for and received permission to conduct the church school using UUA curricula.

After the first years, some dissatisfaction arose in the Congregation with Rev. Washburn. He had begun an adult Bible class early in his ministry. The class had proved popular, but as it progressed Washburn became more and more traditional and orthodox in his Christian theology. The content of his sermons began to take on an evangelical tone that offended some members, particularly those of Jewish origin and some of the humanists. A handful of them, including some congregational leaders were so offended that they left the church and founded an independent fellowship which continues to meet in members homes to this day. In addition his weak pulpit style did not meet the expectations of others who were used to sermons of high intellectual content strongly delivered. Although most people, even those dissatisfied with Rev. Washburn, admired Rev. Arakawa, the two were a team and it was impossible to retain one without the other. The Church Council reluctantly declined to renew either of their contracts.

Both, however, had strong supporters in the congregation and there was bitter division over the issue. Other members, dismayed by the rancor within the church community simply quietly dropped out of the church. The steady growth that church had been enjoying for the past 15 years screeched to a halt and membership plummeted to about eighty members. This period became so painful for everyone involved that for years few people would even speak of it.

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