Ask a trusted colleague or two to review your record and make sure its ready on January 2. In December review congregational profiles and express interest.

This Contract Minister Search Guide provides the process and recommendations for ministers interested in full-time or part-time contract ministry positions, and are not designated as either short-term, interim, or developmental ministries.

Ministers interested in settled ministry positions will be interacting with a search team who has spend the better part of a year synthesizing the congregation’s hopes into their congregational record.

Some congregations and some ministers do not find a match. The UUA Transitions Team is available to offer care, guidance, and perspective.

Most congregations are unaccustomed to sharing staff and it can take a little getting used to. Here we address a few areas that you may find tricky. These should not be seen as barriers, but as opportunities for the kind of intention that we hope you show in all of your employment relationships.

There's more than one way to share administrative talent across congregational lines. An administrator can even "mix and match" these approaches. What might make sense for your congregation?

These are the important dates and milestones for settled ministry searches, for ministers, search committees, and governing boards.

Here is more detail about what to expect during candidating week, and afterward.

After the official start date, the minister starts to focus on fostering relationships and building trust, the cornerstones of a successful ministry.

After the vote to call, candidating week is complete, but there still a few important tasks for the search team, governing board, and ministers.

The vote to call a minister is one of the greatest responsibilities and privileges of the congregation's membership. Bylaws provide the rules, trust-building shapes the outcome.

Candidating week is not just a time for congregational leaders, staff, and members to spend time with the candidate. It is a time for the congregation to experience the candidate as their minister.

The first chapter of the new ministry is candidating week. Along with being a chance for minister and congregation to learn about each other, it sets the tone going forward.

The announcement of the candidate’s name can be made when all four conditions are met, contract finalization, background check initialized, former congregation informed, consent to make the announcement.

All congregations should do a criminal background check on their candidates, if for no other reason than consistency in hiring practices and the ability to honestly report they have done their due diligence. Receiving the report can take anywhere from one to four weeks. The background check only

As soon as the candidate minister accepts the verbal offer on offer day, the candidate may be turned over to the full negotiating team for confidential talks.

At this point, your search team has made an offer and your candidate minister has accepted it! But there are few essential tasks before the offer is finalized and the candidate is presented to the wider congregation.

The search team takes at least a week to discern who they would invite to be the final candidate using a "yes," "maybe," or "no" ranking.

The next stage in the search process are the pre-candidating weekends, which will help you learn more about each minister and how they might match.

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