Senior Minister Seach Committee
The Calling of a New Senior Minister
We believe the Senior Pastor of First Congregational Church must understand and be able to build upon our past, our present condition and, most importantly, our hopes for the future. Our history is long and our congregation is complex. Leading our congregation in accordance with God's will, and helping us become a more vibrant, committed Christian community, will require a Senior Pastor who has a mature, secure personal faith foundation and great skill in working with the congregation and its lay leadership in fulfilling God's will.
During our interim period, we are engaged in a process of congregational discernment. This process has included a variety of tools and techniques, including cottage meetings, a comprehensive congregational questionnaire, historical discussions, reference to denominational and other external resources, individual and corporate prayer. This process is ongoing, and will continue to challenge the congregation to address differences in constructive, Christian ways.
As a result, our understanding of leadership in ministry is clearer and we can state with greater confidence that our ministerial requirements are aligned with God's will and the needs of our congregation, and not just an accumulation of our individual likes and dislikes.
September 23, 2007 - Senior Minister Search Committee Update
The Senior Minister Search Committee wants to thank the congregation for keeping us in your prayers, for giving feedback and input, and for giving your support. The search process is time consuming however we have and are continuing to review many ministerial profiles (resumes) received from UCC along with referrals by members and friends of First Congregational. Further, we are listening to sermon tapes and in some cases conducting telephone interviews. If after a telephone interview we want to move forward with a particular candidate, we will then hold a face-to-face interview.
Our request to the congregation is that you continue to keep us in your prayers and know that we are always focused on the needs of the congregation as a whole. In addition we are asking for some further support. Looking forward, we plan to meet with candidates that may require some long distance travel and ask if you are able to share some frequent flyer miles. We are trying to keep the cost of the search to a minimum. Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.
We are truly blessed with a wonderful church community. With continued hard work and God's guidance, we will be blessed with a wonderful senior pastor to guide us as we minister in the name of Jesus Christ
August 2007 - A Quick Update
Much has happened during the past 18 months towards calling a new Senior Minister. You can learn more about "What's Happening" in our Profile Supplement.
June 2007 - The Church Profile
The Senior Pastor Search committee has completed the preparation of our Church Profile. This profile describes the life of our congregation, its vision for the future, and the specific leadership needs it expects the Senior Pastor to meet. We have used the results of the survey and the cottage meetings as inputs as we prepare the Profile
You are encouraged to review "The Church Profiles" and learn about whom we are and what we hope to achieve.
March 2007 -- Transitional Activity Reports Are In!!!
Part of the effort leading up to the creation of a Senior Search Committee and the eventually calling of a new Senior Minister has been to gather feedback from our Church members and friends. We held a series of small discussion Cottage meetings, gathered data through a "Long Range Planning Survey" and joined for an evening of recollection at the Congregational History Gathering Event
You may review the "Transitional Activity Reports" which outlines the background of these reports and provides the actual survey data.
January 2007 -- An Update from the Senior Pastor Search Committee
The Senior Pastor Search Committee appointed by Church Council has been meeting since early December. We have gathered information and defined how we will proceed. We want to communicate with the Congregation regarding the general process we will follow and regarding one specific issue which we recognize is of importance to the Congregation.
Soon after the Search Committee was formed, the committee issued "An Update from the Senior Pastor Search Committee" as the first in many communications that it has made to the Congregation.
February 2006 - An Interim Time
Few topics around First Congregational have been so talked about as the "interim". Why do we need it? What is it? What are the rules about what happens when a minister leaves?
To help us all better understand the process that was about to unfold, our Assistant Minister gave us a perspective on "An Interim Time".