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.

Overview of tasks needed to be completed before the announcement of the candidate to the congregation.

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.

Overview of Phase 4 Calendar, from ranking your choices after pre-candidating until the offer date.

Property and Casualty (P&C) Insurance Coverage

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.

Announcement: UUA Property Casualty Replacement Program 2026–2027

Starting in mid-January, the search team will be discerning which applicants will be invited to be their pre-candidates, both by interviewing the ministers and checking their initial references.

Well-equipped staff provide consistent, skilled, accountable leadership, which in turn builds capacity and ownership among the laity. We provide guidance on hiring, paying, supporting, and structuring your staff team while helping you ensure that your congregation is legally compliant, as well.

Once the list of applicants is received, reviewed, and additional materials exchanged, the search team is ready to start the initial screening, which will take about a week. A few more applications may be received during this window of time.

Finish and submit the congregational record by mid-November so that you can polish your search profile by the December 1st release date.

While your congregational profile is being viewed by potential applicants, there is a lull in the search team's work aside from these two important tasks.

All of the work so far has led to this phase of the search team's work. The team is aware of the congregation's gifts and challenges, they've noticed historical patterns in the congregation’s life, and they understand that good ministry is shared.

Along with completing your search profile in MinistrySearch, there are other considerations and tasks for search teams filling contract positions.

After the release of interested applicants in January, the search team should send an acknowledgement, then start the screening and review process.

A visual calendar and list of frequently asked questions during this phase.

This is a turning point in the search process, finishing up the materials that potential ministers will see, waiting patiently through the winter holidays, then getting access to the ministerial records of potential candidates during the first two weeks of January.