Profile of Minister We Seek and Congregation

The following are our responses to two crucial questions in the Congregational Record, which is the first major document through which prospective ministers learn about us. The Congregational Record was submitted, reviewed by our ministerial consultant, and approved in early November.

Provide your profile of the minister you seek:

 Results from our congregational Listening Sessions and Survey clearly indicated that the single most important task of a new minister is to be our spiritual leader, and that great preaching tops the list of qualities desired in a new minister.  Assuming that all congregations seek that quality, we asked our congregants to define it.  Their comments on the leader we seek included:

• a good preacher is able to deliver a well-researched and stimulating sermon
• the content of a sermon needs to be relevant and pose difficult issues and questions to challenge us
• we want someone who makes us aware of ideas and ways to be in the world which we didn't even know we were seeking
• we want a spiritual leader who is not afraid to model an awareness of his/her limitations
• someone who teaches by unspoken as well as spoken example
• someone who takes us along on his/her own voyage of spiritual and moral discovery.

We are looking for a minister who can plan a cohesive service that ties together sacred and secular readings with the music and the sermon.  Our use and love of music needs to be considered, valued, and accommodated.  

After preaching, the next most frequently mentioned quality was the ability to foster “a sense of fellowship and community within the church.” A minister attentive to our decidedly Judeo-Christian heritage while being open to all faith traditions is essential.  We seek someone who is comfortable working collegially with our Directors of Music and Faith Development Ministries. It is important that our minister be respectful of our history and traditions.  S/he should take the time to learn what we do, what we are about and why, and then journey with us to see if those things still serve us and, if not, how we might go about changing them together.

Finally, we seek someone who will respond professionally and collaboratively to the myriad non-Sunday issues of all congregations – from thoughtful pastoral care and counseling to effectively leading and managing the business of the church office.

Provide your profile of your congregation:

Located in the city center, First Unitarian is a vibrant, mid-sized Unitarian Universalist church community with a rich history. The congregation became certified by the UUA as a Welcoming Congregation in 2011.

People are drawn to First Unitarian because of our liberal religious practice. Our worship service, music and programs are spiritually and intellectually enriching, and appreciated by people from many faith traditions.  People stay because our community is engaging, inclusive and caring.

Our services are considered “high UU”; we appreciate a predictable liturgy with the use of Biblical and other sacred or spiritual readings, modern or ancient, from other religious traditions or from our own.  The robed choir and organ music set a formal tone. We recite the Lord’s Prayer as part of our liturgy. Our congregational covenant is: “In the love of truth and in the spirit of Jesus, we unite for the worship of God and the service of all.” The congregation joins in hymns from the grey UU hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition. Our traditional Christmas Eve service is highly attended, and our entire collection from that service is donated to the Interfaith Hospitality Network.

We are a well-educated congregation. Of our survey respondents, 87% hold a Bachelor’s degree, and 60% have earned a Masters, J.D., M.D., or Ph.D. Among those who took the survey, our median household income bracket is $70-100k. We range widely in age, from young singles and young families to seniors. Over 60% of survey respondents have identified as UU for more than 15 years, but most grew up in other faiths.

In the words of one of our Search Committee members, “we must be careful not to give the impression that we are a crotchety bunch of over-60 sticklers, inextricably set in our ways.  This place oozes with history and tradition and it’s not an impediment, but a source of enormous strength for the next minister to tap into; not an obstacle but an asset that s/he can use to build something new.   We are intelligent, worthwhile people of all ages who revel in the diversity of viewpoint we find here and the opportunity to be free in our search for what is good, what is uplifting, and what is true.”

Our active and participatory governing board, the Prudential Committee, is led by our elected Moderator and Vice Moderator. Pru Com is comprised of church officers and chairs of various committees and is responsible for overseeing the business of the church, maintaining the building and managing the funds, including the endowment and the annual stewardship campaign.  Our Lay Leadership Program Council oversees all church programming with the aim of continual improvement and imaginative change.  The LLPC is made up of the chairs of the Membership Committee, Faith Development Committee, Social Justice Committee, Worship and Music Committee, Pastoral Care Committee, and Caring Circles.

The church has effective communications.  Our web page is inviting and contains vital church information.  Each week three email communications are produced: first, upcoming activities at the church; second, the minister’s memo; and third, Sunday’s service overview.  We use social media and services are broadcast locally on the radio.

We are visible and active in Worcester.  Our church hosts a popular coffee house, and on Monday nights we host an affordable dinner.  We are members of the Interfaith Hospitality Network, which serves and nurtures homeless families with meals, shelter, hospitality, and support services. We teamed up with First Baptist Church in 2009 to found Jericho Road Worcester, a non-profit that provides skilled volunteers from our churches and the community to help local non-profit organizations.

We are in a period of transition. Our Senior Minister served for 26 years; our Associate Minister/Minister served for 13. We were once a congregation led and financially supported by a handful of affluent families; now we are a much more diverse and democratic model of stewardship, leadership, and funding.

While we remain committed to our deeply held, diverse traditions – both faith traditions and liturgy - we are also prepared for and looking forward to crafting a new vision for our Church.