Casual Comments for December 1, 2011
For the month of December we will start to examine a new theme of the month by exploring some of the world religions. The statement of the Unitarian Universalism seven principles includes the quote that Unitarian Universalists “draw from many sources” such as “Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life. “ So in the month of December we will explore this theme by looking at three major world religions: the Judeo-Christian tradition, the Buddhist tradition and the Pagan tradition. I look forward to engaging in this exploration with you.
Someone asked me “What is the difference between an Interim Minister and a Settled Minister?” In the following remarks, I will try to answer this question.
A settled minister has a long term relationship with a congregation. Their role includes preaching, pastoral care, administrative leadership, and teaching. An interim minister acts as a “settled minister” to a certain extent, in that the interim minister performs the ordinary tasks of a settled minister, such as preaching, pastoral care, administrative leadership, and teaching. But the more significant and important role of the interim minister is to prepare a congregation for its next settled minister. One might define this as a “consulting” role vis-à-vis their “ministerial” role.
One way of describing this “consulting” role is that the interim minister looks at several dimensions of church life to get a sense of its readiness to move on toward its next stage – the introduction of its next settled minister into the life of the congregation. In a broader sense, this “consulting” role of the interim minister engages the congregation in the opportunity to look at the long term goals and needs of the congregation and the community.
An interim minister seeks to engage church leaders about the long term goals and aspirations of the church. This is often a substantial change from the habit of a congregation’s leaders being immersed in the details of day to day management of the church and not looking beyond that. Some, but not all of the “dimensions” of church life examined by the interim minister are the following:
1. Does the congregation have a mission statement that is in alignment with where the congregation actually wants to go and is able to go? Does the congregation have a mission statement that is exciting to a majority of the congregation? This is a very important issue for a number of reasons. In the process of trying to match the congregation with a settled minster the people of the congregation need to carefully define what it wants and therefore what it needs in a settled minister. Prospective ministers will want to “hear” that a congregation has a clear sense of direction. Ministers will want to match themselves with congregations with compatible goals. Furthermore, a clear, compelling mission statement provides all church leaders – minister, DRE, staff, and lay leaders- with a clear sense of direction. Without this, everyone makes up their own “mission.” In a very fundamental sense, for UU congregations, a mission statement provides the “authority” and legitimacy for all that ministers, staff, and lay leaders do; without it, a congregation is rudderless.
2. Do the policies, procedures, by-laws, and other governing documents reflect where the church wants to go institutionally? Are these documents outdated? Do they reflect prevailing wisdom in UU congregations regarding best practices? Do they reflect where the congregation wishes to go, and specifically, what the congregation’s mission requires? In healthy congregations, the policies support the mission. This too, is very important because it is imperative that the Board, Minister, staff, committee chairs, and anyone else involved in leadership in a church are reading from the same playbook. If there is not a common set of rules, then everyone makes up their own. That is not a situation the church will want to be in as it seeks a new settled minister.
3. Are a congregation’s finances healthy? More specifically, a congregation needs to analyze if they will be able to absorb the costs of a new settled minister, while maintaining the financial obligations they are already committed to. A point will come in which the church will commit itself to a specific salary package for the new settled minister. This figure is very likely to be higher than what it has been in the past. It is important that a congregation be certain they can sustain the level of financial commitment it will be making. Some of the areas to look at are: the annual canvass, special fund raisers, and whether or not there is an effective endowment development program in place. There is another issue at play. Prospective ministers will be looking at OCUUC and asking the question “What is the church’s level of commitment as reflected in its level of giving?” and what the answer is will be important to ministers making a decision about where to engage in ministry.
4. Are there programs to support the mission of the church? The most important aspect of this issue is does the church have a covenant group or small group ministry in place to support the growth and development of the church. In a broader sense, a church’s mission determines what programming goals will be most important for the church.
5. Are there programs for leadership training adequate to the needs of the church? Being a leader in a UU church is very challenging and deserves and requires adequate training. One of the roles of an interim minister is to engage in leadership training, and to bring in persons from the district or national level who can provide needed leadership training. Most importantly, it is imperative to make sure the church leadership will have training in the future adequate to its needs.
It is important to address the tasks described above while a congregation is in its interim ministry period because a congregation will want its settled minister to focus on the basic tasks of ministry, i.e., preaching, worship, pastoral care, teaching, etc. and be less associated with administrative and organizational changes. Change and experimentation are natural aspects of the processes mentioned above, and change can be stressful. A congregation does not want its settled minister to be entangled in the discomfort that change evokes; however, an interim minister, who will be with a congregation for a specifically defined period of time, can be more easily associated with the opprobrium of change without creating problems for the church.
I hope these comments are helpful. If you have any questions about my comments please do not hesitate to contact me.
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