How to Find a Minister in 34 Easy Steps

A. J. Heidkamp (lay led)
UU Church of Wakefield
December 12, 2004

When I got home from work a week ago Friday, there were 2 messages on my answering machine.  The first one was from Vicky.  She said in her friendly voice, “Hi A.J., just a reminder that this Sunday it’s your turn to take out the trash after coffee hour – thanks for your help”.  No problem I thought to myself – I can handle that.   

The second message was from Serena.  In her soft voice she said “Hello A.J. The worship committee would like you to give the sermon next Sunday – you can talk about your experience on the search committee.”  Well I was pretty sure I COULDN’T handle that.  So I called her up right away and said no.  I told her that I’d never done anything like that before and that it would be too much of a stretch for me.   

After I hung up, I knew she was disappointed, and to be honest, I was disappointed with myself.  Being on the search committee has been a very positive experience for me.  I’ve gotten to know the members of the search committee really well, and I’ve learned a lot about the church and its members.  And most of all, I’ve had a real sense that as a member of the search committee I was doing something of value.  Not that taking out the trash isn’t important.

So on Saturday morning I called Serena back and told her I would do it – and here I am….

As some of you know I was born and raised Catholic.  I’ve been coming to this church for about the past 2 years.  Before that I hadn’t been to church in almost 15 years.  But there was a time when my wife Barbara and I were active members at a Catholic Church in Boston.  In fact that’s where we met, and later got married.   At the time, it was probably the most liberal Catholic Church in area.    It was very open and welcoming, intellectually stimulating, involved with social action projects, had a great music director who did all kinds of music – well maybe not compared to Jeff - I don’t remember any songs about farm animals or nymphs - but what was particularly attractive to me about the church was the fact that they didn’t recite the creed.    In a lot of ways, it was very similar to this church.  It also had a very innovative RE program and when our kids were young, they took part in that also.  We were happy there for about 18 years.  

But after Cardinal Medeiros died and Cardinal Law came to Boston things began to change.  We had to start saying the creed every Sunday.  Then, no more secular music - only approved liturgical hymns.  Next, a new pastor was assigned to the church and finally, a new music director.  And it was all done without any input from the congregation.  

The changes caused a great deal of disruption, and the congregation became very divided.  Then, after almost a year of struggling with the powers that be, trying to preserve some of the things that were important to us, everything came to a head…

Barbara and I were told by the pastor that we were no longer trusted members of the community and were forbidden to speak publicly at the church.  We were stunned and hurt, and not surprisingly, never went back.

It was a very painful experience for us.  To this day, there is still a sense of loss in our family because we’ve never again been able to find a church where we all feel comfortable.  At first we tried several catholic churches in the area but didn’t find one that suited us.  We even came here to this church one Sunday 15 years ago.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get off to a great start.  After attending 1 service, Barbara slipped on some ice and broke her leg.  In the ambulance on the way to the hospital she said “I knew we shouldn’t have gone to that damn UU church.”  Now you need to understand, I was raised Catholic - Barbara was raised Irish Catholic.  And that takes it to a whole ‘nother level.
   
The reason I’m telling you all of this is because it’s that experience of becoming outcasts that inspired me to volunteer for the search committee.  I know first hand how difficult change can be for a church.  And I’ve seen how much damage a new minister can do when they are not a good fit.  So when Edmund announced that he was leaving, I knew I wanted to help in whatever way I could to find his replacement. 

I was excited a few weeks later when Beth told me that I had been selected for the search committee.  But as it turned out, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  I figured we’d put an ad in UU World, read a few resumes, do a couple of interviews.   Simple.  It wasn’t until the first committee meeting that I learned the truth about what was in store for us.  It was there that I found out that there’s a 34 step process to finding a new minister.  And that it often takes up to 18 months.  

There was a representative from the UU District office at that first meeting, and right off the bat I realized I was in over my head.  I work in IT and I can throw around acronyms and jargon with the best of them.  But it was quickly apparent that this was a whole new world that I didn’t know anything about. 
		
“What kind of minister are you looking for”, the rep asked – and I’m thinking “there are different kinds?”  Turns out you can have a “Settled minister” who is someone you hire permanently.  And while you’re looking for a settled minister – you know, going through the 34 step process - you can select an Interim minister who’s only temporary, but if it turns out that you like them, that’s too bad because you can’t convert an interim minister into a settled one.  Or maybe we’d like to try a new style consulting minister, who’s also only temporary, but if you like them, it’s OK, because you CAN settle them – go figure.  

And there was other lingo too.  “Do you have your packet ready yet?” our rep wanted to know.  “And what about the minister’s package?”   Packets???  Packages???  WHAT is she talking about?  “Oh, and what’s your budget – it’s recommended that a congregation set aside $8,000 for the search process.”   We all laughed at that one.

Then she gave us the 49 page settlement handbook for ministers and congregations, the 66 page resource guide for Ministerial search committees, a sample congregational record, PLUS a URL where we could find additional info on the web.  And then she headed off to her summer home in California and said “call me if you have any questions”.

At our next meeting, we spent some time getting to know each other.  For the most part, the committee members barely knew each other.  But in no time Kurt, Serena, Mandy, Bill, Del, Peter and myself became a great team.  We are pretty representative of the congregation.  We cover the age and gender spectrums, we have members with young kids in the RE program, older kids, and no kids, we have some life long UUs and some newbies.   During the whole process everyone has really pitched in and played an active part.  Best of all, even though we were doing serious work, we managed to have some laughs along the way.

The first thing we tackled was doing a survey of the congregation to help us better understand what we are about.  We found that in some ways we are all a lot a like.

Like the reasons we attend this church.  The top answers were for:
o	Community
o	Celebrating common values
o	Intellectual stimulation
o	UU beliefs

And likewise, there was a lot of agreement about which parts of the Sunday service are most important to us:
o	Sermon
o	Sharing joys and concerns
o	Music and the choir
o	Coffee hour

And then there were the ways in which we are different.  This is where things really started getting interesting for me. I had no idea of the diversity of beliefs in this church.
In a catholic church, you know what everybody believes – or at least what they’re supposed to believe.   In fact every Sunday, you stand and say the creed together 
We believe in one God, 
the Father Almighty, 
maker of heaven and earth, 
of all that is, seen and unseen.   And so on and so forth…

They don’t give you a whole lot of options.

But on OUR survey, there were lots of options: 
The top choice was Humanism – which was selected by almost half the congregation. That was followed by all the “theisms” – regular theism, non-theism, Atheism, and Pantheism – the nuns never taught us about any of those except Atheism – and it was a BAD thing - then there was agnosticism – which would have been the second place choice if it weren’t for the fact that it comes in 2 varieties - Open agnosticism and Strict agnosticism – not surprisingly, we have more opens than stricts – but it was pretty evenly split. 

These were followed by mysticism, earth centered spiritually and feminist spirituality.  Then down at the end of the list there was Deism, and God forbid – Paganism.    I don’t remember exactly what the nuns told us about Pagans, but I KNOW it wasn’t good.  In fact, I think they told us the Pagans were even worse than the atheists. But then I read the description on the survey - “inspired by the interconnection of all life – natural and divine.”   Sounds OK to me…

And that’s when I realized how special this place is.  And what a great idea the UU “principles” are.    When our common bond is based on values and not a creed, atheists, humanists, agnostics, pagans and even recycled Catholics can sit in the same pew and get along just fine.

“Love is the doctrine of this church, the quest for truth is it sacrament and service is its prayer.”   That really IS all you need.

Then there was the question about Ministerial preference – The survey listed a whole bunch of characteristics and asked how you would feel about having a minister with each of those traits.  It showed that on the whole we are a very tolerant group – we’re OK with a minister who is young or old, man or woman, gay or straight, white or non-white, rich or poor……..But there was one thing, and only one thing, that the new minister couldn’t be -- CONSERVATIVE.  I guess even UUs have to draw the line somewhere.   

Once we had the info from the survey, we were ready to go to work on the congregational record, which is a description of the congregation, the staff, our history, and the like…

And we also filled out the ministerial profile, which describes what we were looking for in a minister.  With input from the surveys, and help for the BOM we came up with this description:  We are looking for a minister who will be the spiritual and intellectual leader of the congregation, a warm and compassionate care giver, and someone who can nurture and support the many volunteers who do so much of the critical work of the church.  Specifically, we are looking for someone who will: 
•	Lead a compelling Sunday Service and deliver a strong sermon
•	Foster a sense of community and fellowship within the church 
•	Provide Pastoral counseling, including hospital visits and support to small groups
•	Be a presence in the wider Wakefield community

And then we posted the position on the UUA web site. 

While we were waiting for some responses, we began to work on our “packet”.  A packet is like a glossy overview of the church that a prospective minister can review to see if they might be interested in us. It’s like a big personal ad in a 3 ring binder – it has everything we put together in the congregational record plus a whole lot more, including the annual report, bylaws, Gleams, orders of service, candid photos of our members, info about our social events, and info about Wakefield.  

And at the same time, Kurt worked with the BOM on our “package” which by now I knew referred to the church’s contract for the minister and includes the salary and benefits we are offering. 

We kept working right through the summer, pretty much meeting every week.  If someone was on vacation or had a commitment at work we met with whoever was available.  And when Mandy didn’t have a babysitter we met at her house.  And when Serena was stuck at home because her elevator was being repaired, we all climbed up the 5 flights of stairs to her condo and met there.

At the end of August, we were thrilled to find that a total of seven ministers had expressed interest in our position, and that 5 of them had actually submitted a formal application. 

We had quite a variety of applicants in our pool, and we spent several meeting pouring over their applications.  We spent a lot of time discussing each one, trying to figure out their strengths and weaknesses.   Then we each individually ranked them, and were happy to find that we all had the same 2 applicants at the top of our lists.  These 2 became our “pre-candidates”.

The next step was to exchange “packets” with them.  Just like we have a packet for the church, each minister has a packet, too – sort of like a resume on steroids. 

We made arrangements to meet with each of our pre-candidates for an afternoon here at the church.  We gave them a tour and then spent a couple of hours asking questions and getting to know them better.

We also went to hear each of them preach at a “neutral” pulpit.  A neutral pulpit is exactly what it sounds like - not our church, and not the pre-candidate’s church.  It is a way to maintain confidentiality about the whole process.  You guys don’t get to see who we have under consideration, and the minister’s congregation isn’t tipped off to the fact that they are looking at another church.  

After the interviews and the neutral pulpit services, the committee members once again compared notes.  And this time we unanimously agreed on which one of them most closely met our needs.  So that minister has now become our candidate.  

Our candidate has since met with our negotiating team and they have been able to work out mutually agreeable terms.

Sooooo, on behalf of the search committee I am pleased to announce that the Rev. Holly Baylies is our candidate.  

Holly is a 5th generation UU.  
She studied Art, Physical Education and elementary education at Salem State College. 
For 18 years, she was the program director of an adult mental health rehabilitation center called “Our Place”.  

She then completed her ministerial degree at Manchester College in Oxford England in 1989.   

Holly was an interim minister at the Westborough church for 2 years.
A settled minister at the Beverly church for 3 years.
And a part time minister in Saugus for 5 years.	

And just to round out her background, she’s also been a hardware store manager, worked on a tug boat in Boston Harbor and is currently working at a funeral home, where she plans to continue to work on a part time basis. 

The search committee is really excited about Holly.  We have all felt comfortable with her right from the start.  We have also talked to many of her references, and they all recommend her very highly.  

She seems like a very good match for our congregation.

BUT - we don’t want you to take OUR word for it.  We want you to make up your own mind.  This IS a UU church after all.  And that’s what the next step is all about.  It’s called “candidate week”, and is probably the most important step of all.   

Think of the search committee process as being the primaries.  And candidate week as the election.

We haven’t had a chance to work out the details for candidate week yet, but it is scheduled to run from Wed Dec 8 to Sun Dec 12.  So please mark your calendars.  During that time, we will arrange for Holly to meet with the various boards and committees, and meet with the staff.   We’ll also have some type of social gathering where everyone will get a chance to meet her, followed by a group conversation where you can ask questions and get to know her better.  The week will end with Holly conducting a Sunday Service on Dec 12th.   After the service we’ll have a congregational meeting where we all get to vote on whether or not to call her as our new minister.  

So we urge you to get involved as much as possible during candidate week.  The search committee has made a sincere effort to find the right person and we think Holly is a really strong candidate.  But at this point, it’s what YOU think that’s important.   

Looking back, it’s interesting to see that even though our focus has been on finding a new minister, it has also provided us a chance to do some soul searching about who we are as a congregation.  I was a little worried about what church was going to be like this fall without a minister, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised – in fact impressed.  What a great testament to this congregation that it’s been able to carry on without missing a beat.  We have an incredibly creative, resourceful, dedicated and resilient group of people here.

In closing, I’d like to say that the search for our new minister has been a wonderful journey, And as UUs, we know that it’s the JOURNEY that’s important. It’s the QUEST for truth that keeps us going.  This church has had 39 ministers up until now, and if the congregation votes to call Holly, she won’t be the last.  As Edmund likes to sing, “we’ll share the road a while.”  

So in that spirit, let’s continue on with our journey…