The Search Is On!

The Search is On!

Last Spring, you elected seven members of the congregation to serve on a Ministerial Search Committee (MSC).  We are charged with spending the next year doing our best to learn about the needs and hopes and concerns of our fellow parishioners.  Then, using the process provided by the UUA, we will identify and present to you, for your review and vote in May, our recommended candidate for our next Settled Minister.

We’ve begun our work, and the most immediate steps are these:

• We will conduct a number of Listening Sessions before and after Church to hear your thoughts and concerns.  The 1^st session will be after church on In-Gathering Sunday, September 8^th.  See below for a complete list of Listening Sessions. Childcare is available during the Listening Sessions.
• We will create a comprehensive Written Survey (which will be available online and on paper) to learn more about you.  We’ll be asking what it is that you value at our Church, your expectations of a new minister, and the type of ministry that you prefer.  And, of course, we will be asking for lots of demographic data.
• Once we have a fairly good “read” on who we are and what we are looking for in our next minister, we will prepare a very detailed “Congregational Record” to be submitted to the UUA.  This Record becomes the means by which prospective ministers learn we are searching for a new minister. The document, along with word-of-mouth and reputation, is the major way a minster seeking a settled ministry can learn about us.  Needless to say, it’s worth our investing a lot of effort in this process – each and every one of us.

There are quite a few steps following the submission of the Congregational Record, but for now, our primary interest is in hearing from you.  Thus far, we know of the detailed opinions, preferences, and concerns of just seven parishioners (the MSC members!), so we need to hear from you.

Please make every effort to (a) attend at least one of the Listening Sessions, (b) take the time and effort to fill out the Congregational Survey (which will “go live” in late September), and (c)  seek out any member of the MSC to tell us what’s on your mind related to this important task.  This is YOUR search process and we’ve been charged with representing your interests – we need you to tell us what they are!

We hope to see you at In-Gathering and at one or more of the Listening Sessions.

                                                                                    The Ministerial Search Committee

                                                                                                Diane Mirick, Chair

                                                                                                Jesse Anderson

                                                                                                Jane Beckwith

                                                                                                Noel Cary

                                                                                                Shannon Kirshenbaum

                                                                                                Lee Reid

                                                                                                Alison Barrows Ronn

Schedule of Listening Sessions:

Sunday, September 8^th, at noon, in the Chapel - childcare available.

Saturday, September 14^th, at Ferry Beach

Sunday, September 15^th at 9:00 a.m. and at noon, in the Chapel -childcare available.

Sunday, September 22^nd at 9:00 a.m. and at noon, in the Chapel -childcare available.