Settled Search Newsletter

2024 Search Updates for Ministers and Settled Search Committees—March 13, 2024

Greetings from the Transitions Office!

In this email:

1. Important Dates
2. Developmental Searches
3. Last Minute Reminder about Getting your Yes/Maybe/No Lists In
4. Bias

Important Dates

• Monday, March 25th (11:59 PM) List of yeses/nos/maybes due to Transitions Staff from ministers, settled search committees, developmental search committees.
• Tues/Wed March 26/27 Update from Transitions to Ministers and Search Committees about what will happen.
• Thursday, March 28th at noon EDT, 11 am CDT, 10 am MDT, 9 am PDT offers may be officially extended and excepted.
• Thursday, March 28th at 12:01 pm EDT/11:01 am CDT, 10:01 MDT, 9:01 am PDT, candidates may be turned over to full negotiating team and search committees may begin background checks.
• Monday, April 8th The continuation of settled search begins for those still searching.
• Monday, April 15th Applicant names are released to search teams in the continued search process.
• Friday, April 19th last day for interested ministers to submit interest for congregations that continued in search.
• Transitional Minster UUMA Chapter Meeting April 22-26th
• Monday, April 29th Interim Ministry Search Begins

Developmental Ministry Searches

A reminder that developmental ministry selection is now on the same timeline for yes/no/maybe as settled congregations. Developmental ministries should not assume their applicants are only looking at them.

Last Minute Reminder about Getting your Yes/Maybe/No Lists In

A gentle reminder for all searching ministers and congregational search committees to submit their lists of yeses/nos/and maybes by Monday, March 25th. You may submit your list ahead of time if/when you’re ready.

This year we ask all search committees (settled and developmental) and ministerial applicants to use the forms below to submit responses.

• Ministers (both for developmental and settled positions)
• Settled Search Teams
• Developmental Search Teams

Making Decisions: When a Yes Really Isn’t and What Does Your Yes List Mean and Do

When both search committees and ministers make their final decisions on their choices, we’ve asked people to list their yeses, maybes, and nos.

And only at this point, do we ask people to list their yeses in order—as first yes, second yes, third yes, and so on.

The Transitions Office gets these lists and has trusted them over the years. In some cases, we get good additional information from the search committee with things like:

• We’d be delighted with all of our pre-candidates. It was hard to make this decision.
• We have a clear number one. We agree our second yes would be fine though we have concerns about (name the area of ministry they have concerns about).
• We have two top yeses and a distant third yes.

Most often we don’t get that nuance though. And now that the system has been in place for some years, we have a couple of reminders and wonderments.

Reminder #1—If you don’t get your first yes, we circle back to you to confirm your next yes. And so on.

Reminder #2—If we get to Maybes, we’ll reach out and offer time to talk to us. Maybes more often seem to be a leaning toward no, but we don’t want to be empty-handed in the process.

Reminder #3—We don’t meddle with the lists. If a computer could generate the matches from these lists, like the medical schools, we might use that. Though it could take the human connection element out of the work. You all have worked hard to get to this point and we’d rather check with you personally on your lists and engage, than have it be automated. Still, we wonder if people might submit their lists differently knowing it’s automated.

Reminder#4—Have your lists in by 11:59 pm (your time zone) on Monday, March 25th. You can submit earlier. This allows us to serve everyone well. If you can’t make a decision on something, let us know as soon as you know. ( transitions@uua.org)

Are second and third yeses really yeses? Or does the fear of being empty-handed win out?

This is our biggest wonderment. We have seen a higher number now of lower yeses where the ministry ends earlier. The minister leaves. There’s a negotiated ending. Did the ministry start out in a dejected, less than enthusiastic way? Did even the congregation unconsciously or even consciously sense a disappointment or reluctance from either the search committee or the minister?

Ultimately, we want search committees and ministers to be enthusiastic about their opportunities and throw their full support toward a successful settled ministry.

In reality, we know everyone has invested a lot of time into the process. The potential disappointment of not having a settled ministry after a year of hard work is real.

We also know that sometimes the better option is to not go forward with something that doesn’t feel right and hopeful. Everyone is ultimately better served with another year of searching than a shorter, disappointing settled ministry. It’s costly not only in terms of money but also time and energy. Congregations seem to rebound better after an additional year of transition than a short-term, less-than-happy settled ministry. Both are hard, but the latter is harder. This is also true for searching ministers.

The world needs more joy. Be sure you can lead with it as you make these decisions. We won’t make the decisions for you, but we’ll support you as you make these decisions.

Make sure your yeses are really yeses! And if you need to talk, let us know!

Bias

Several recent conversations have prompted us to remind you of the lessons of Beyond Categorical Thinking/Break Barriers, Build Beliefs (BCT/B4). As committees, do ask yourself how much gender is a part of your deliberation, even unconsciously; the same goes for race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, and neurodiversity.

If your congregation has experienced ministry from a minister of one gender for a long time, a minister of another gender may, even unconsciously, cause some difficulty for some congregants. This should not prevent you from selecting someone, but you should be prepared. It’s always wise at the discussion of potential candidates to ask if sexism, racism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, sizeism, and/or ageism might be at play.

Finally, do not leave your fellow congregants behind! Now is the time to remind them of what you explored together during BCT. Remind them of one or two insights you gained as a Search Team. In this way, regardlessof the identities your candidate holds, you will be in support of the dreams and hopes of our denomination to be a radically welcoming faith.

Ministers:. The UUMA now has a Good Offices Contract/Call Negotiation Support Team. Use this Support Request Form to ask for assistance with new ministry agreements.

Again, in these hard times, good can happen. Your good work to get to this point is an example. We are honored to be partnering with you as we figure out how to support you in these next transitional steps.

Please feel free to reach out to us at transitions@uua.org. This is the fastest way to get to us.

Keith
Rev. Keith Kron :: he/him/his
UUA Transitions Director

Patrice
Rev. Patrice Curtis :: they/she
UUA Transformational Interim Ministries Director

Christine
Christine Purcell :: she/her/hers
UUA Transitions Program Manager

Amy
Amy Szen: she/her/hers
UUA Transitions Administrator

Thursday, February 29th, 2024

Search Newsletter: Leap Day Edition

We are glad to reach the mid-way point of pre-candidating visits. We hope they are going well and leading to good discernment and choices.

A few reminders:

• You may reach out to a pre-candidate after your weekend visit with follow up questions and information. You may not make offers or hint that this you are the others’ top yes. We want this to be a fair process for all.
• Please be sure that a conversation about the agreement and compensation has happened before you submit your lists of yeses.
• Every year a few ministers and search committee make incorrect assumptions. These have included assumptions of not being liked or selected, assuming the other is an obvious first yes, even little things about weekend visit expenses and timing have come into play. Please check yourselves on your assumptions, and when you can, confirm realities.

Developmental Ministry Update

• The deadline for ministers to apply for congregations is March 4th. 
• The Transitions Office and Congregational Life staff will meet and release names of ministers to congregational search committees soon after. In some cases, given the tighter timelines, not all names will be released.
• The developmental search committee will have until Monday, March, 25th, to interview, check references, deliberate, and submit their list of yeses to the Transitions Office. This is the same date for the settled search deadline of lists to the Transitions Office.

Beyond Categorical Thinking and Break Barriers, Build Beliefs (BCT and B4)

• As April approaches, the month of March is a good time to remind the congregation of the work they did with the UUA's BCT or B4 programs. Use this next month to remind the congregation they seek the minister who has the gifts, skills and talents that align with their congregational record.
• Over the next month, each week share one of the biases listed at the end of this newsletter along with a simple reflection question. For example, consider sharing one bias during worship announcements, in orders of service, in the newsletter, as a Coffee Hour tabletop topic, on the Search bulletin board in the Social Hall, the search webpage. If you have questions or need help, please contact Patrice Curtis, t pcurtis@uua.org.

New Opportunities 

There are new opportunities listed in the contract ministry position. These include new assistant ministry positions in Devon, Pennsylvania, and Newburyport, Massachusetts. The congregation in Ruthven, Ontario (Olinda, south of Windsor ON and Detroit Michigan will be posted by the end of the week. There are also other contract ministry positions open.

Interim Search

We have begun to open up congregational records for interim search committees to work on and complete. These will be released in early April. We don’t expect all interim opportunities to be available until mid to late April.

ADDENDUM

BIAS TYPES

Being aware of bias types is the start toward removing their ability to dictate our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Take a few minutes to consider this question: which of these biases have shown up or are showing up in your life?

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.

Belief Perseverance

Belief perseverance is about believing what we think, rather than thinking about what we believe. It is the tendency to maintain one’s beliefs even in the face of evidence that contradicts them. When belief perseverance is high, we are likely to respond to new beliefs that contradict us by rejecting them outright.

Contrast Bias

Contrast bias is when we compare things that are similar or adjacent to each other and rank them relative to the previous rather than relative to the whole or the standards we have set out. A candidate can seem superior or inadequate simply because of how they were compared to the adjacent packets. Contrast bias can also be that the comparison among candidates might enhance differences, creating a disproportionate experience of either candidate.

Halo Effect

The Halo effect is perceiving someone through what they do best and extending that feeling of success or competence to everything they are and do. For example, people who are considered more attractive are assumed to also be more intelligent, more likable, and better leaders even before there has been any interaction.

Horn Effect

The horn effect is when an experience or personal characteristic that is considered negative disproportionately impacts our overall perception of a person.

Stacked Biases

Biases can combine in ways that give them more power to limit accurate perception.

Tuesday, January 30th, 2024

Precandidates and What’s Next

Pre-candidate Notification to UUA

If you have not done so, please email transitions@uua.org with the names of your pre-candidates, the dates they will visit you, and the location of the neutral pulpits. We need this information to schedule the generation and distribution of interpretive file summaries.

If You Do Not Have Precandidates…

Know you are not alone. We expect that there will be more than one search team in the continued search this cycle.

The next round of search will begin in April. Search committees should confirm their interest in the continued search by April 5th. (Chances are you already have.) Review our You can find the full calendar for the continued search.

If You Do Have Precandidates…

This is a good time to remind yourself of what the congregation told you it wanted in its next minister. It should help frame the weekend visits.

Please be uniform in your preparation, greetings, and accommodations for each visit. We’ve had ministers learn from each other that search committees treated them differently and clearly had a favorite. Ministers should do the same for each congregation they visit.

Best practices for Search Committees with Pre-candidates

• review your team covenants
• remember your BCT or B4 training
• remember to treat one another and all pre-candidates with respect and care in this new phase of the search

This is sacred work—not just a hiring process. Consideration goes a long way.

File Summaries

The Transitions Office provides a summary of a minister’s credentialing file to search committees of their pre-candidates. Each one takes about an hour to research and write. They are then shared first with the minister to review and ask questions. These are usually based on evaluations provided by congregations to the UUA, more often in the form of exit interviews, fellowship renewals for new ministers, and internship evaluations. Often the language from these exits are words and quotes provided by the evaluating congregation. The minister has 48 hours to ask any questions or clarification. At the end of that time, the file summary is sent to the search committee. We strive to get these out the week of the visit to you, no later than the Thursday before, and ideally before that, as time allows. While these summaries often don’t contain surprises, you are free to discuss anything search committee members have questions about with the minister. The file summaries are to be kept confidential by the search committee.

Developed References

Now is the time for the second round of references (or developed references).

Developed references are of your choosing, with the consent of the pre-candidate. Often they include:

• someone from the minister's current congregation
• someone to address any continued, specific concerns that the search committee has. If your congregation has a history of conflict or needs help doing stewardship better, you could ask for a reference who could reflect more deeply on the subject with you. If there is a gap in how the minister has addressed something--perhaps they never mentioned RE, for example—you could ask for a reference who could help your team complete its understanding.

To obtain consent and request contact information for developed references, you could ask your pre-candidate something like:

• “With whom could we speak in your current congregation about your ministry?”
• “We would like more information about your skills in or approach to ______. With whom can we speak about that?” You aren't limited to one area of concern/interest. You may have multiple reference questions for different people.

The pre-candidate may need to invite your desired reference into confidentiality about their search before providing you with contact info. Please be courteous and give them time to do this.

UUA Staff Research Calls

The search team should set up research calls with UUA regional staff (or CUC, if Canadian) to learn more about pre-candidates. These are not reference calls, as denominational staff do not provide references for ministers. Regional staff are keen to share what they know about pre-candidate ministers to help your search team find a great match.

The search team should ask each pre-candidate minister which staff person knows their ministry best before contacting a regional staff person. If the minister cannot connect the search committee with a regional staff person, the search committee may reach out to the Transitions Program Manager to ask if anyone on staff is familiar with the ministry of the pre-candidate.

Research calls are part of the due diligence of the settled search team. They are one of the three main ways the UUA shares information about ministers with search teams, along with credentialing/fellowship status and interpretive file summaries. There is value in confirming the perception your team has formed about your pre-candidates…or in hearing stories which challenge those perceptions. Ministers and ministries are multi-faceted and cannot be reduced to a single narrative. The view of someone on regional staff can be somewhat limited, and forms only one piece of the puzzle. You may receive a great deal of information from research calls, or you may simply hear, “I have no red flags about this minister for your ministry opportunity.” You may leave the call with ideas about new references to request or questions to ask of your pre-candidate, or you may simply feel more confident in your team’s perceptions of a pre-candidate. Soliciting more perspectives will help your search team select a good match for your congregation.

Before asking questions of the regional staff person, please plan to share a bit about your congregation’s culture, needs, and context, especially if they are not familiar with your ministry. 

Sample questions:

• How do you know our pre-candidate? Have you worked with them directly? In what timeframe?
• These are the priorities for ministry partnership our congregation has identified: [list qualities or skills]. How do you see this pre-candidate aligning with these priorities?
• Should we know about any other great qualities or growing edges?
• Do you have any concerns about their ministry, especially given what we've shared about our congregation? Please note that if you learn something which surprises or disappoints you from regional staff, your team has not made a mistake in evaluating a pre-candidate as a potential match for your congregation. You may hear about behaviors or patterns that could cause concern or make a minister a poor choice for your congregation which do not rise to the level of misconduct, but about which your search team should be aware. Some examples: authoritarian management or communication style, resistance to accountability, poor boundaries, conflict avoidance or lack of skill in conflict transformation. You may also hear about work a minister tried to do in a congregation which was not receptive to their efforts.
• Can you think of a type of developed reference we should be sure to ask this pre-candidate to provide? This could be someone who could speak to the pre-candidate’s approach to a particular element of ministry (worship, pastoral care, promotion of inclusivity, administrative functions, etc).
• Are there others on regional staff we should contact?

Discussing Compensation, Benefits, and Agreements during Pre-candidating Weekends

Part of every weekend should involve a conversation around the compensation, benefits, and agreements. Ministers and search committees should be reminded to review the proposed agreement.A reminder that these were asked to be put in the Documents Packet along with a sheet referring to any differences between the recommended agreement from the UU Ministers Association and the UUA and what the congregational leadership has proposed. There should also be a compensation worksheet with the overall cost of salary/housing and benefits. Also, as a reminder, the salary and housing listed in the MinistrySearch system is the minimum amount.

Time set aside during the visit should discuss these items.

The search committee should begin the conversation by asking:

1. Do you have questions about anything in the agreement, including the compensation and benefits?
2. Are there any must-haves or dealbreakers for you?

The most common questions from pre-candidates that a search committee should be prepared to answer:

1. Why does this differ from the UUMA/UUA recommended agreement?
2. Have you budgeted or thought about relocation costs? (Note: this is now considered taxable income.)
3. Why is this benefit(s) not included?
4. Are there expectations around when vacation time and study leave is taken that I should know about?
5. Where are affordable places to live in the area that are within ______ minutes commute?
6. Does the minister receive any of this at the expense of other staff members (therefore creating resentment)?

Most common concerns from congregations:

1. We are worried about our budget. We have a top limit we are forced to share.
2. We are not sure of the size of our congregation now.
3. We did not have to pay this before (usually benefits)
4. There are congregants who already believe the minister is paid too much.

For those anxious about this conversation, think of this as a necessary time to get information.Ministers can and should ask for what they need. Congregations are having to balance being responsible employers with what they can afford.

See the Office of Church Staff Finances page for negotiating an agreement.

Contract and Developmental Ministries

A reminder to ministers in search that developmental ministry profiles will be open for perusal after February 1st. There are continued contract ministries listed on Ministry Search as well.

Updated Settlement Handbook:

Do not worry if you notice a new version date on the Settlement Handbook online! Nothing has changed that will affect search teams at this point in the 2024 search cycle. We changed some information in the first section of the handbook about inside candidate consideration and ministerial eligibility due to new rules adopted by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee and UUA board.[CP3]

Questions: As questions arise, please reach out to transitions@uua.org .

Settled Search 2024 Newsletter #4

1/18/2024

2022-4 Search Updates for Ministers and Settled Search Committees—January 18th, 2024

Some quick notes, plus details for setting up pre-candidating

A Note to Ministers We are likely to have up to four congregations coming open for developmental ministry. These congregational records will be open as of February 1st. If you have specific interest in any of these congregations, please let Keith (kkron@uua.org) know.

Contract Ministries 

We have new contract ministries at Ministry Search. We will soon have a new listing for Olinda ON, South of Windsor ON/Detroit MI. Do take a look for ever-changing opportunities. Others are likely to continue to appear.

Setting up Pre-Candidating 

Decision-Making Advice: Pre-Candidating Offers

Chances are you’ve decided this already. But if not, here are some thoughts on how to do that.

1. Decide on yeses/no’s/maybes first.
2. Then rank order the asks/acceptances.
3. Expect at least one no if you’re a search committee and expect more silence than you’d like if you’re a minister.
4. Remember that search teams may not make or even hint at a pre-candidate invitation before the 23rd. Search teams cannot reserve the ministers they do not invite on the 23rd, as ministers are not likely to hold a slot open for an invitation which may not come. That said, if your team needs more time to decide on the three ministers to invite, let your applicants know about your timeline. Be courteous. You’re not the only congregation/minister in search.

Reminders on Limits

• Ministers may not accept more than three settled pre-candidating weekends.
• Congregations are not limited to the number of pre-candidating weekends they host, though three is most common.

Tuesday, January 23rd 

• Search committees may email/text/call with offers on the 23rd. (No time constraints)
• Ministers may respond with a confirmation of receipt and thanks but may not accept an offer. A minister can decline an offer as a courtesy to the search committee’s selection process if they know they will not accept the invitation.
• Ministers can always say, “I’ll be back in touch tomorrow.”
• We do encourage ministers to give a receipt acknowledgement, so the search committee doesn’t get too anxious wondering if you got it.
• Search committees may also ask in the offer what free weekends the minister has in February and March if they do accept. Do not, however, give away neutral pulpit locations until you have confirmation, ideally from all your pre-candidates.

Wednesday, January 24th

• Ministers can now accept offers. Again, through email/text/phone.
• Search committees, just a note that you may not hear until mid-afternoon or evening.
• Ministers should be ready with their pre-candidating weekend availability and should not ask for specific locations. Ministers should be as generous as possible with free weekends.
• If a minister gives a search committee only one free weekend, or even two for the eight weeks, note the two weeks and then please let the transitions office know.
• We recommend Wednesday as the day to confirm which weekends for pre-candidating.

Questions

Don’t hesitate to reach out! Email will always get you the quickest response.

To Think About for Pre-Candidating Weekends:

1. You should talk about compensation during the visit—salary, benefits, cost of living.
2. You should see if there are any questions about the proposed agreements. This is the weekend to ask. On both compensation and agreements, you’re not necessarily looking at finalizing wording but finding out “must haves” and dealbreakers.
3. Remembering BCT training, are you committed to making them feel welcome? What can you do, authentic to your congregation, to show this?
4. Please consider your needs for how to be safe with each other. Is testing and/or masking required? Where do meals feel safe to everyone?

Once Pre-candidates are confirmed 

Please email transitions@uua.org with

1. Minister’s Name
2. Weekend of pre-candidating
3. Location of Neutral Pulpit

We use this information as requests for interpretive file summaries and to help ministers when there have been problems at neutral sites in the past. (The Transitions Office has had to reach out to neutral pulpits to clarify expectations.)

UUA Staff Research Calls

While it feels too early to mention this, we have heard about some search teams trying to schedule calls with regional staff already. These research calls should be made in the pre-candidate period of search. Here is a guide to UUA staff research calls.

An Offering for Ministerial Colleagues from the UUMA

How to Read Our Contract and Why It Matters

Thursday, February 8, 2-3pm ET/ 1-2pm CT/ 12-1pm MT/ 11am-12:pm PT/ 9-10am HT

Offered by members of the Good Offices Contract/Call Negotiation Support Team

This one hour session will be especially helpful for people who will be in search this year, but all colleagues who would like to build their skills in reading their contract are warmly invited.

REGISTER ONLINE

Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Transitions Office, preferably via email, with questions about the process. 

Keith

Rev. Keith Kron :: he/him/his

UUA Transitions Director

Patrice

Rev. Patrice Curtis :: she/they

UUA Transformational Interim Ministries Director

Christine

Christine Purcell :: she/her/hers

UUA Transitions Program Manager

Settled Search 2024 Newsletter – Update

12/19/2023

Date Clarification on UUA Closure

UUA will be closed for winter break from Wednesday, December 20th, 2023, as of 2 pm EST through Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024. The office will reopen on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024.

Office of Church Staff Finances & Draft Agreements

The Office of Church Staff Finances (OCSF) will be reviewing draft agreements. You may hear from them if they spot any questions or concerns they note when reviewing your compensation sections.

Update on Release of Congregational Records for Settled Search and Don’t Forget there are Contract Ministry Searches! 

Davis, CA’s record is now published!

Previous Newsletters

We’re working on getting our newsletters up on our website! In the meantime, you can find previous issues by clicking HERE.

Important Reminder

We hope that you will all take time during this holiday season to rest and recharge!

Happy Holidays, see you in the New Year!

• UUA Transitions Office

Settled Search 2024 Newsletter #3

12/18/2023

Three Things to Know

Availability of Transitions Office and IT Staff during Holiday Week

Please be advised that the UUA will be closed for winter break from Wednesday, December 20th, 2023, as of 2 pm EST through Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024. The office will reopen on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024. Therefore, Transitions Office staff (Keith) as well as IT/app support staff (Paul and Larry) will not be available to troubleshoot MinistrySearch issues. Please make sure you have completed the bulk of your work by December 18th to ensure that you get the assistance you need. Keith will be checking email once or twice a day but will not have access to fix technical problems.

Update on Release of Congregational Records for Settled Search and Don’t Forget there are Contract Ministry Searches!

Davis, CA’s record will be published soon. All other settled congregations records are up.

January 2nd Name Release Date & Consultations

Names of eligible ministers will still be released during the day on January 2nd—even though it’s a holiday. Each search committee in settled search will have access to applicants’ record sheets by 5 pm Eastern Standard Time. If search committees are going to meet that day, we recommend for your own sake to not expect names before then.

(A note: “Eligible” means the minister is cleared for search by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee. Not all ministers cleared for search have preliminary fellowship or are yet ordained. Some cleared ministers are completing an internship, classwork, or chaplaincy requirements. Additionally, some ministers are restricted from search because there is an ongoing complaint against the minister or is still being held in care following a difficult ending of a previous minister.)

Thoughts on Ministerial Search

Dear Search Team Members,

In a few weeks, you will look at ministerial records and decide whom to interview. It is an exciting, nerve-wracking, joyful, anxious, and hopeful time!

You may find different perspectives amongst you as you discern whom you will invite to that first interview. These differences may signify that each member is taking careful thought, considering what the congregation wishes, and resisting their personal bias, putting the congregation’s hopes first. If you let it, this diversity in thought and feelings will enrich your search process and your choice of candidate.

Most search teams are selected to bring together diverse voices. Groups reach better results when they do not have very similar life experiences. Nonetheless, inviting diverse voices might feel hard when one is being asked to respect a different perspective.

Please resist allowing your Search team members to become just a checklist of identities.

If you find your personal feelings, or verbal or non-verbal actions of the group trending toward drowning out or ostracizing a member, slow the group's process. If you do not immediately or easily reach agreement, slow the process. Make more time to honor each other’s perspectives. Prioritize your compassion for, inherent respect of, and relationships with one another.

Using a process observer is a beautiful way to lean into team reflection (see Resources below); another is pausing. Adopting a practice of pausing between speakers allows listeners to listen rather than simultaneously preparing for what they will say while someone is speaking. Pausing adds spaciousness to a meeting.

You can also just breathe together. Pause and take seven – yes, seven – breaths together when strong emotions arise! Why seven? It appears to calm our nervous system when we take seven intentional breaths with another person.

These techniques are a few that will help center your relationships with one another, help avoid rushing to a fractured conclusion, and illuminate your care for one another. If you have practices like this, Amplify the sacredness of your search.

Sometimes and despite our best efforts, differing opinions harden into entrenched perspectives. Don’t wait: reach out to the Transitions team if you find your team is swimming toward those treacherous waters. We are here to help!

Blessings and happy holidays.

Rev. Patrice

Resources: Process Observer

Regional Staff: Regions

Sample Interview Questions

If you want to begin to look at potential questions you can find a link to last year’s questions on p.79 of the Settlement Handbook. That said, we’re taking a look at possible revisions, and you’ll want to look to the next newsletter for those.

Thoughts on January 2nd and the Release of Applicants to Search Committees

Every year with the release of names, we always have congregations surprised by the number of applicants they did or did not get. Our office won’t know until the morning of January 2nd who has applied and where they’ve applied (ministers work to deadlines for search). Every year many search committees hoped for more (or any names). Some years some are disappointed. Know regardless of what happens we want you to be successful. And a failed search is only about selecting someone who is not a good match out of desperation—where the call to vote does not work or the ministry lasts a very short time and ends in a negotiated ending. Sometimes no match means a good search. It’s important to consider all applicants and to be clear about what you need at the same time.

Common Pitfalls in Search

After 13 years of observing search, I’ve learned a lot. Often, I’m reminded of the writer and humorist Dorothy Parker who once wrote, “Life isn’t one thing after another. It’s one damned thing over and over.”

Search can be like that from the vantage point of the Transitions Office. We want search to go well for everyone. Sometimes it does go well. Sometimes it does not. When it doesn’t go well, we often look to blame ourselves, others, or both. It’s important to know (as my doctor says to me about various health concerns) sometimes you’re just unlucky.

That said, it seems like a good time to talk about what we’ve seen “over and over” and learned from the vantage point of the Transitions Office. One interesting about search is pretty much anything you say about congregations also applies to ministers. And vice versa. Human beings tend act a lot alike.

• Looking for a Unicorn, Settle for Anything Else
  Often in search, we see congregations and ministers looking for very specific things often with significant expectation. Often, it’s so contrived that it’s impossible to find. (That’s actually the better scenario since it may mean the congregation or minister actually isn’t quite ready for a new ministry). In other cases, when the reality exists that perfect unicorn congregation or minister don’t exist, panic sets in and has often been replaced by “anyone will do”—though that’s usually unsaid allowed but lives in the unspoken anxiety and pressure of feeling successful in search and not letting others down.

• Looking for a Clone or Anti-Clone of What Was
  Every ministry is judged by those that have come before it—again, both by ministers and congregations. If humans were satisfied, they often look for what they perceive they had. If humans weren’t satisfied, they often look for they perceive is the opposite of what they had.
  The reality is the same or opposite does not exist. A congregation may get another great pastoral presence, but the “delivery” of that presence is difference. A minister may want a congregation that has more staff but the staff, in fact, the minister discovers the staff have minds of their own about how things are done and what the priorities are.
  Rats.

  Most congregations and ministers are more nuanced, complex, and multi-dimensional to be a clone or anti-clone of what was done before.

  If there is a clone or anti-clone that exists in any way in search, it may be about a theme (good worship) or a value (social justice work) but rarely is inclusive of the varied multiple stories, skills, and challenges a congregation or minister has. In some cases, the ideal is a holdover from not the most recent ministry, but a historic ministry or home congregation that may only be remembered through the retreating lens of rose-colored glasses and nostalgia. No remembered ministry was ultimately perfect or completely awful. Yet all too often that’s what searching congregations and ministers are using as their bellwether measuring stick.

• Looking for What You Need without Remembering What You Had
  “Our last minister was really great but horrible at administration.” So, the search committee looks and finds a minister good at administration and then is stunned they don’t do pastoral care well or the preaching is not up to their previous standards.

  “My last congregation had inadequate staffing and I was doing everything.” The minister finds a congregation with great staff but has no interest in social justice that matches their previous congregation, or the staff is doing pieces of the ministry that the minister wanted to do themselves.

  When a congregation wants what they perceive they didn’t have before and is in search, they often get that missing piece. However, they have to “” pay for it” in some way—either by giving up something else they probably valued but assume would come naturally with every minister, or simply by paying 20,000 dollars more.

  When a minister looks for a congregation that has something they didn’t have and sees it, they can forget this piece has its own history, rules, and norms. Too, the congregation may not be doing something a minister thought would be true across the board.

• Going for Too Much or Too Little Information
  All too often from interim ministers I hear that they’ve not heard from any of the applicants about their experience serving the congregation. This is also true for previous ministers not hearing from ministerial colleagues. Congregational Life and CUC (Canada) staff have also mentioned a lack of outreach to them. (Note to search committees: feel free to ask applicants who they’ve talked to about in their research about their congregation. See who’s done their homework.)

  Yet, the flip side can be true. Searching ministers have reported that search committees have contacted people without permission, including current congregational members or, more frequently, someone who a search committee members knows who knows the minister. We’ve heard that sometimes ministers have reached out to current staff about the congregation.

  All are no-noes.

  Any reference for a minister should be given by the minister. You can ask a minister for a developed reference when they are a pre-candidate (Like a member of their current congregation, a UUA staff person who knows them, or someone who can speak to a particular piece of ministry—see the full guidelines in the Settlement Handbook) but the search committee cannot call up anyone.

  Ministers are limited to reaching out to other ministers who know the congregation and Congregational Life and CUC staff.

  Additional thought: The plus of getting multiple approved references is the listener can listen for congruency. Do multiple references say the same thing (or close to it)? If someone does 4 reference checks and 3 are similar and one is an outlier, trusting the congruency of the three is more likely accurate (though don’t completely mistrust the one, unless it’s obvious they are grinding an axe). If you have only reference check, you may only meet and hear the sharp edge of that axe.

• Getting your Heart Set on One Possibility
  We’ve seen both search committees and ministers decide on the “one”. Only to not get asked or accept a first interview. This has happened every year. Multiple times.

  The guiding question throughout the initial phases of the search process should be as simple as:

  “Could this person be our congregation’s minister?” or

  “Could I see myself doing ministry here?”

  A congregation may be looking at a number of people and be making a 51/49 choice on who to go forward with. The same is true for ministers. And remember there is never a single story that goes into a decision.

  The stories congregations and ministers often tell about why something didn’t happen is incomplete. It’s rarely a single story.

  Also, broken hearts generally are less good at making decisions.

• The UUA wants this minister to go…. this congregation to be served by….
  Nope. We want you to be well served. We also want you to have the responsibility to make the decision and not us. After all, we’re Unitarian Universalist with congregational polity and a free-market search and not Methodists or Catholics who appoint ministers to congregations.
  We root for everyone equally. Including you.

(Coming in a future newsletter: Mistakes in ministry, especially starting a new one)

Best,

Keith

Rev. Keith Kron :: he/him/his
UUA Transitions Director

Patrice

Rev. Patrice Curtis :: she/they
UUA Transformational Interim Ministries Director

Christine
Christine Purcell :: she/her/hers
UUA Transitions Program Manager

Amy

Amy Szen::she/her/hers
UUA Transitions Administrator