Hello friends! Jeannie Baker and Lisa Larson, members of your Board of Trustees, are here to tell you about the next steps in our search for a settled minister.
You may be wondering why we need to start the search process when the new settled minister would not start until August 2024. That date seems far away, but our church needs to start forming the Ministerial Search Team (MST) now.
Why so early? First, our bylaws require us to elect the Team, much as we elect our Board of Trustees at our June Annual Meeting. Second, the Team will have work to do this summer. For example, they will likely have a meeting with UUA to discuss the search and the needs of our church and will begin surveying the congregation for our views. The actual interviewing of candidates doesn’t happen until spring of 2024 – a year from now – but the preparation for that job must start this summer. An entire timeline of the search process will be available for all in the Community Room in March.
How is the Team selected? That’s where you come in! The Ministerial Search Team will be nominated by the congregation. You’ll be asked to submit your recommendations in one of two ways: (1) You can give your response to an online form that will be available in the e-news in the middle of March. (2) Alternatively, a member of the Board of Trustees or the Nominating Committee will contact you in late March and ask for your recommendations.
These recommendations from both sources will be tabulated and a short list of candidates will emerge. The Board will nominate a slate of candidates based on this survey. The Team will likely have about seven members
Who should you recommend? This is completely up to you and reflects who you think could represent our church effectively and faithfully. Think about the qualities that would be most important in a Ministerial Search Team member and think about who in this church has these qualities. Some qualities that come to mind are: (1) strong identification as a Unitarian Universalist and with our shared values, (2) commitment to our desire to increase and understand diversity, multiculturalism, and antiracism, and (3) practical experience with personnel and hiring issues. Of course, no one has all the qualities we need. That’s why the Team has multiple members!
You’ll hear more about this process in the next few weeks. Questions or comments? Call or email either of us or any other Board of Trustee member.
Jeanne Baker, Board of Trustees Vice President
Lisa Larson, Past Board of Trustees President
