In this volume we answer the following questions:
1) What are
the differences between a Settled Minister and an Interim Minister?
2) Why might
we hire two Interim Ministers?
3) When will we
finally get our Settled Minister?
4) When is the
next Listening Session where I can give feedback, and will there be another way
to provide input?
Please read on for discussion of these questions from the
Interim Minister Search and Transition Committee.
1) What are the differences
between a Settled Minister and an Interim Minister?
A Settled Minister enters into a
long-term covenantal relationship with a Congregation. Over the entire span of 227 years that our
Parish has existed, we have been served by a series of just eleven Settled
Ministers. The process for finding a
Settled Minister to serve the Parish necessarily takes time, and is conducted
as part of a process of Congregational self-review and renewal. The Settled Minister Search Committee will be
elected by the vote of the entire Parish—hopefully at the next Annual
Meeting—and recommendations of that Search must be ratified by a vote of the
Parish, resulting in a Call of our new Settled Minister. The success of any Settled Minister depends
in part on how well the Congregation has prepared itself for transition—particularly
as we move away from the patterns and relationships of the previous Settled
Ministers’ tenures. In our case, that
period of stable traditions lasted almost three whole decades from when Rev.
Merritt was Called as our Tenth Minister and ending with Rev. Schade’s imminent
departure.
An Interim Minister is hired by the
Prudential Committee for a finite period of time, to carry on the work of ministry
at the church during times of transition.
The UUA actually trains and certifies “Accredited Interim Ministers“ who
have made a profession of helping Congregations work through transitions, spending
a year or two in one place, and then another place to start again. At First Unitarian,
when Rev. Schade announced his plans to depart in January of 2013, the
Prudential Committee appointed an Interim Search and Transition Committee. This
Committee will advise the Prudential Committee in the identification candidates
and eventual hiring of an Interim Minister(s) until we are ready to Call our
next Settled Minister.
2) Why might we hire two
Interim Ministers?
Accredited Interim Ministers are
highly sought-after, well-trained professionals. The UUA assists Congregations in identifying
and placing the best possible individuals to match the unique needs of each
place. This process has become so
structured that there is a strict calendar of application, ranking of candidates,
“matching” of individuals—all aiming at ensuring stable predictable periods of
employment for these Accredited Interim Ministers. Their employment contracts run from August 1
to July 31 of every year and at this particular moment, we are out of sync with
that calendar. We need get ourselves onto
the UUA’s timetable so that one of those transition ministry experts can be available
and hired to work with us starting next August.
Given that timetable, we still need
an Interim Minister to serve us for the remainder of this current church year
after Tom departs. There is another pool
of highly capable Ministers available to us for this short period—recently
retired Ministers, recent Divinity School graduates who have not yet been
placed in Settled Ministries of their own, and perhaps even a few individuals
currently completing the Interim Ministry accreditation process who are also
“off-cycle” from the UUA’s placement timetable.
Our intention at this point is to
have a small Subcommittee of the Prudential Committee move quickly to find and hire
the best available Interim Minister to offer us high quality worship services
and support us when Rev. Schade leaves.
The Interim Minister Search and Transition Committee will then focus its
energies on preparing the way for the second Interim Minister to come to First
Unitarian during the summer of 2013 and take the reins from whoever was hired
for that initial half a year of service.
3) When will we finally get
our Settled Minister?
The Prudential Committee hopes to
see nominations for and elections of a Settled Minister Search Committee at our
January 27, 2013 Annual Meeting of the Parish.
The Settled Minister Search Committee will work throughout the spring
and summer of 2013, and with the assistance of the UUA, our Interim Ministers,
and our extremely capable lay leadership and church staff, will be
well-positioned to advertise for and recruit candidates for our Settled
Minister starting in October 2013. We
will then be in position to select and interview prospective Settled Minister
candidates during the Winter and early Spring of 2014, if one is to be called
as soon as the Summer of 2014.
There is no guarantee that this
entire transition can be accomplished within the next 20 months, but we are going
to try! So, please stay tuned, and participate
as fully as you can in the conversations, listening sessions, surveys, etc.
that we intend to use to guide us in making these important decisions along the
way.
4) When is the next
Listening Session where I can give feedback, and will there be another way to
provide input?
The third Interim Minister Search
and Transition Committee Listening Session is scheduled to take place this
coming Monday Night from 7-8pm, October 15, 2012 in the Bancroft Room. After that, the Committee will be distributing
a brief survey (both on paper, and online – whichever is convenient for you) to
try to gather systematic feedback on a number of items that will help us
prepare for our candidate searches. Please
fill out the survey even if you attended one of the Listening sessions.
With sincere thanks for everyone’s interest and
involvement,
David Spanagel, Interim Minister Search and Transition
Committee Chair davidspanagel@comcast.net
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