The Board met last night and will continue our Board activities together, but not in person for a while.  We are fortunate that our interim ministers have previous experience with online ministry and online worship to help us all stay connected as a community in these unprecedented times.

The Minister Selection process continues without interruption.  We are addressing this question today:

In “developmental minister”, does the word developmental refer to the development of the minister or to the development of the congregation?  Both!   Developmental ministers are not trainees.  They are highly experienced, often with decades of experience.  Developmental refers to the shared ministry of both the congregation and the minister.  It’s a mutual effort, with the congregation making a commitment to growth in the goal areas identified.

The first Stewardship Gathering took place last Sunday and there was a lively question and answer session about the selection of a new minister.  Here are two of those questions:

Is developmental ministry a category of ministry?  Is developmental ministry recognized by the UUA?  Yes and Yes!  Developmental ministry is a recognized category of ministry by the UUA and we are working closely with the UUA Transitions staff during the selection process.  Developmental ministry is a newer model of ministry which is why many in the congregation may not have heard of it before.  The decision to move forward with the developmental ministry model was made after much reflection by the Board including what we learned from the Congregational Listening Sessions, with support and input from our current interim ministers, and in discussion with and approval by the UUA Transitions staff.

If you have not already done so, please plan to attend a Stewardship Gathering.  We welcome your questions.

This week, we are addressing several questions:

Do we have any candidate submissions yet? When does the submissions deadline close? What are the next steps after that?  We are working closely with the UUA Transitions staff and they will forward qualified candidates to us.  We don’t expect candidate responses to our posting before mid-March.  The Board Minister Selection Task Force will then interview and evaluate them.  Offers will occur in April.   

 Can we see the posting that candidates are responding to?  Yes, you can!  We do not plan to post it publicly but ask any member of the Board and they can email it to you.  The document is nineteen pages long.

Keep the questions coming!

This week, we are addressing the question “What can we expect from a developmental minister?”

Developmental ministers have the following in common:

They are very experienced ministers.  They have usually served in multiple locations, positions, and capacities.  They have been successful in a variety of ministries.  They have a strength in one or more areas that is a good fit for the congregational goals, in addition to the normal ministerial functions.

The Board Minister Selection Task Force has been working closely with UUA staff, and our involvement with UUA staff will continue right through the developmental minister’s tenure at UUCM.  This is a shared ministry – both the congregation and the minister are going to be learning and growing through this process.

Keep the questions coming!

We have been hearing some questions about our process for selecting a new minister so we decided to address a couple of them in this Board Update, and we’ll keep progressing through the Developmental Goals and many other aspects of our minister selection process in future Board Updates.

The Board Updates have focused on Developmental Goals.  Are there other qualities/attributes/skill sets which the Board is looking for in a new minister?  Yes, of course!  Not only do we want to see in a minister alignment with the developmental goals but also (and these are in no particular order) excellence in sermons, CEO skills, people skills, pastoral care, spiritual leadership, alignment of their values with our values, and more.  In future Board Updates, we will share more about our selection criteria.

Are there applicants?  Our position was posted on the UUA website last week, so we don’t have applicants yet . . . but we will!   We have a vibrant church in a major metropolitan area that will be desirable for candidates.  Also, we are the only UU church in all of MN seeking a minister, so if someone wants to be in MN, we are the only option!

Keep the questions coming!

And now we have a request of you: If you have experience or interest in fundraising or finance, talk to Fred Hulting or any UUCM Board Member about the opportunities that are available.

Last week, in our Board Update, we started looking at the four development goals the Board has identified as the most important in selecting a developmental minister to partner with in implementing those goals.  The goal that we are exploring further this week is “Leadership Development” which is also an essential aspect of our next goal “Imagining the Future.”  If we don’t do leadership development well, we won’t be able to execute well our other goals in the future.

Read on to learn more about our current leadership situation, future vision and next-steps!
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