One of the many tasks that Bob Waterman had taken on was recruiting and chairing the ministerial search committee. After his sudden death, I have tried to pick up the pieces. We now have six search committee members: Lois Aldrich, Adrian Gunn, Dave Kraemer, Andrea Priest, Vi Fairweather and myself (Jim Bonnar).
I contacted the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Transitions Office and learned that none of ministers who were looking to become settled ministers in the past few years had chosen a church smaller than 125 members.
Andrea, Vi, and I met with Christine Purcell, director of the contract ministry program, via Zoom. She assured us that our chances of finding a minister were infinitely better if we applied for a contract minister. In fact, given that we have improved our minister’s salary and benefits, and have a good record with ministers and have a good location, we stand a very good chance of finding a minister. We can apply for a contract minister with the option to call the minister to a settled ministry after we have worked together for a year.
The committee met on August 8th and began the process of finding a new minister. The absolute deadline for our application is December 1, 2023. We plan to conduct a survey of the congregation to find what people are looking for in a new minister in September. The survey will be done on the internet. We will have someone with a computer available during coffee hour if anyone would like assistance filling out the survey. In October we will host cottage meetings to refine the survey results, and benefit from group discussion. We then plan to finish our application by mid-November.
Jim Bonnar, president
