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In my annual report to the congregation (page 13 of the 2010 Annual Report, 6/3/2110) I mentioned that the Board of Trustees is actively exploring the possibility of hiring a consulting minister for the 2011-2012 church year. Now, four months later, I’d like to report that the exploration continues. The UUA Transitions Office and the Thomas Jefferson District Executive have been informed of our intentions. As a congregant, or interested patron, of UCN you will want to know some of the history that got us to this point and why a consulting minister seems like a reasonable choice for us. To that end I offer the following review of our recent past and information regarding the mechanics of obtaining a consulting minister.
Our search for a settled minister has been an on-going process since Reverend Danny Reed left in the spring of 2005. We are very much aware of a long term search that didn’t lead to a good match, a settled ministry that lasted just one year, and four interim ministers that have served us admirable over these past few years. With those things in mind, and after consulting with our District Executive as well as becoming somewhat familiar with the Consulting Ministry program, your Board of Trustees determined that the flexibility inherent in this new approach is the direction that will best serve our congregation.
Facts considered were these:
- A search for a settled minister takes at least one full-year and is an exhausting process
- The cost of a third such search in five years is not compatible with our budget.
- An interim search is very brief, distressingly so for the people having responsibility for making the decision.
- We have been very fortunate to have had excellent Interim Ministers but, sadly, the prescribed process limits their tenure with no possibility of extending beyond two years.
With these things in mind your Board continues to consult with Annette Marquis, Thomas Jefferson District Executive, and Keith Kron, Director of the Transitions Office of the UUA. They are well aware of our needs and challenges and continue to help us through the decision making process. Needless to say, but I will anyway, Reverend Phyllis and Reverend John continue to stand at our sides and give valuable advice at every step.
When the time is appropriate the Transitions Office will provide us with the names of ministers that would be eager to serve as a consultant for our Board and Congregation. The Board will appoint a small task force to make the selection based on the usual printed materials, reference checks, and interviews, with guidance from the UUA. This part of the process is much like selecting an interim minister except that the candidates will understand their association with us as consulting minister can last up to five years. However, at anytime during those five years, if it is mutually determined that there is a good fit between minister and congregation, the Consulting contract can be terminated and a Settled Ministry contract put in its place. It is also true that, at anytime during those five years, by mutual consent, the contract can be terminated.
The following is an extract from the UUA website regarding some particulars of the role of a consulting minister. Bear in mind that this is a relatively new addition to the possible collaborations between a minister and a congregation. As such, it is a work in progress and has sufficient flexibility to accommodate the needs of congregations at various stages of their evolution. Reverend Keith Kron is eager to tailor the program to fit specific needs of congregations that have had limited success with other avenues. That would be us!
A Goal-Oriented and Consulting Ministry
It has often been said of called ministry that during the first year the minister’s job is to change nothing, but instead, to become deeply acquainted with the people and to learn to love them. Acquaintance and love are essential dimensions of any ministry, of course. In consulting ministry, they are present primarily in the context of the consulting minister’s commitment to consult: to help the congregation progress toward the achievement of its key goals. Over time those goals will change, no doubt, but it is the present goals that matter, such goals as: “to grow in membership and service to members,” “to fulfill our mission in the larger community,” “to establish a trusting relationship with an ordained minister,” “to learn to allow our leaders to lead.” A consulting ministry that does not have a largely congregation-determined direction cannot be deemed a success. Thus the ultimate collaboration in consulting ministry is between the consulting minister and the congregational leadership. As the foregoing vignettes show, however, collaboration is not limited to the consulting minister and the congregations s/he serves. Unitarian Universalist congregations are relational beings—related to their District and related to the 1,000-plus other UU congregations in North America. Representing the congregations of the District and Association of Congregations, the District staff and the UUA Transitions Office work together and with consulting ministers to create the conditions that will enhance congregations’ abilites to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
The virtues of a consulting minister for the right congregation are these:
- A consulting minister is hired by and works for the board of trustees, not the congregation as a whole
- A consulting minister is hired to coach the board and congregation on fulfilling specific, stated objectives, such as:
- engage the board and congregation in trust-building
- work with the congregation on leadership issues, with the goal that the elected leaders be empowered
- conduct a ministry in which trustworthiness is a leading characteristic
- A consulting minister is not held responsible for all aspects of congregational life: as some issues are musts, other issues are simply not part of the ministry, and the consulting minister is not accountable for them
- A consulting minister may work closely with the District Executive; in that event a covenant is recommended among consulting minister, District Executive, and lay leadership to work together on issues of trust-building, leadership, and congregational health
- A consulting minister, because of the accountability to the board, does not have the vulnerability to nay-sayers that a called minister has; not to say that s/he is invulnerable, simply that the consulting minister’s vulnerability is reduced. The result of the minister being held hostage on extraneous issues is thus minimized.
- And finally, a consulting minister can be called. It is generally that calling the consulting minister be contractually deferred until the ministry has been in being for thirty months at the least, so that there is a good long time during which the call is not the issue.
One prominent church consultant calls such a ministry a “developmental ministry.” Other metaphors: a “conditioning” ministry, or a “capacity-building” ministry. Often but not always, its purpose is to enable the next search committee, to be elected three or more yearsdown the road, to go into search on behalf of a congregation that knows in its bones who it is and what ministry it needs to write the next chapter in its history.
Finding and Hiring a Consulting Minister
The scale of consulting ministry varies considerably: everything from one-quarter time service on the low end to full-time service on the high. District staff are key players in determining congregations’ needs, identifying potential consulting ministers for them, and placing them. The UUA Transitions Office seeks to be as helpful as possible both to congregations and the District staff. Congregations are most welcome to apply for a consulting minister on the UUA’s on-line Ministerial Settlement System (see Appendix A), and thereby to gain access to the Ministerial Records of ministers the District Executive recommends to them as potential consulting ministers. The District Executive and the Transitions Office often work together to provide the search committee with a number of ministers who have the skills and the maturity and the commitment that the congregation needs.
This may seem like a lot to digest and you probably will have questions. Please direct questions to any Board of Trustees member or either minister.
In service,
Jeremy Slosser, UCN President
Updated March 30, 2011, with the following:
What's in a Name?
The term Consulting Ministry has been replaced by two other terms, Developmental Ministry and Contract Ministry. We have known that certain changes were coming, so there is no surprise in this announcement. The descriptions of these types of ministries are:
- Developmental Ministry--a minister hired by the congregation to work on specific tasks outside of interim ministry, often a longer process. Usually the tasks come from recommendations of outside consultants (e.g. Alban Institute, Healthy Congregations Task Force, etc.) or a specific set of longer term problems (e.g., building decisions, scope a congregation really wants in relationship to its minister). This is usually a time-framed ministry where there is a time to re-evaluate the ministry to the end of the time frame with an option to call the developmental minister if the fit of the person and the new type of ministry are very good.
- Contract Ministry--a minister hired by a congregation to perform specific typical functions for a congregation, usually on a yearly basis which can be renewable. Often seen in part-time ministries, the contract determines the services provided, sets the time frames, and the kinds of ministry needed by the congregation.
The part of the original Consulting Ministry that we viewed as beneficial to our congregation is embodied in Developmental Ministry.
Please contact me with questions or comments.