The Future of Professional Ministry at CUUC

At the February, 2010 meeting of the Board of Trustees of CUUC, the board charged the Committee on Ministry, under Reverend Barbara’s consultation, with guiding the congregation in the process of discussing the question of the Future of Professional Ministry at CUUC in the coming months . This conversation will be both mentoring and exploratory in nature, the goal being to engage the membership as much as possible in understanding the difference between interim, consulting and settled ministries, in order to make as learned and careful decisions as possible. These conversations will be especially important for those who have joined CUUC since the question of ministry was discussed prior to August 2008.

A few examples of differences in ministry are:

1. Interim ministry usually occurs “in between” settled ministers, allowing the congregation to do the transitional work necessary to be ready for the next settled minister. Interim ministers from the UUA may not be called by the congregation they are serving and may not stay at a church more than 2 years.

2.  Consulting ministry is conducted through a contract with the church board. Consulting ministers usually have a set of goals stated in this contract. Unlike interim ministry, consulting ministry may last any amount of time and consulting ministers may be called. Reverend Barbara is consulting minister at CUUC.

3.  Settled or called ministry is fulfilled through a covenant with the congregation. The duration of this ministry is not defined, however, settled ministries in the UUA average 6 to 8 years in length.

 CUUC is currently in the middle of a three-year consulting ministry (August 2008 – July 2011). The question is what will CUUC choose to do after July 2011. It is primarily about the role of the minister, but clearly this question impacts the rest of the staff: Lifespan Director of Religious Education, Choir Director, and Administrator.

The original plan for a professional minister, as expressed in the five-year plan, was for one year (2008-09) of three-quarter-time consulting ministry, followed by two years (2009-11) of full-time consulting ministry, with a goal of transitioning the congregation to being able to consider the option of full-time settled ministry. Financial conditions have changed causing the consulting ministry to remain at ¾-time this year and will probably remain so next year (similarly, the Lifespan Director of Religious Education remains at the half-time position as it was in August 2009). Under current conditions, by July 2011, the congregation will not have had the full opportunity originally planned for experiencing full-time professional staff.

The Committee on Ministry, the Board and the Council all talked with Reverend Barbara about the differences between interim, consulting and settled ministry. The discussion centered on the general “theory” and reasoning for these types of ministries rather than on Reverend Barbara personally or on her specific professional ministry at CUUC. If we know the general facts then we will be able to make specific informed decisions about the future of professional ministry when the time comes. Also under consideration for our future is factoring in the actual rather than originally intended time-frame of the current consulting ministry (as outlined above).

In the coming months, congregational conversations will be held to help everyone become more informed about these categories of ministry. In meantime, please feel free to ask questions of Reverend Barbara, the Board and/or the Committee on Ministry.

More information about consulting and settled ministry can be found at
www.uua.org/documents/mpl/transitions/transitional_ministry.pdf

In Service,

Your Committee on Ministry
Laura Scott, Chair
Karen Cody-Hopkins
Bob Pinkham