Save the Dates: April 24—May 1: Meet and vote for the Candidate Minister
If we reach a mutual decision with a candidate minister in April then they will lead the worship services at East Shore on April 24 and May 1. On May 1 the congregation will have the opportunity to vote to affirm them as our new Minister immediately after the worship service.
The Hopeful Home Stretch
Our Search for a new Settled Minister for East Shore is drawing toward its close. We are halfway through our pre-candidating period of February and March, during which time, each of our precandidates will spend significant time over a weekend meeting with the Search Committee, learning more about East Shore, relaxing over shared meals, participating in more in-depth interviews, and giving a sermon at a Neutral Pulpit. Beyond the fact the precandidate process is currently ongoing according to plan, everything else about the process is entirely confidential.
By the end of this month, we surely hope to have selected the minister we believe is the best fit to lead our congregation into the future. If that minister were to be mutually inclined, we would announce the candidate to the congregation in the first part of April. Then the candidate would visit us for 8 days, scheduled for April 24-May 1. They would be on campus to meet our congregation and lead a service at either end of their time. Immediately after that last service, the congregation would vote on calling them to be our next settled minister.
Should the congregation vote to affirm the calling of our new minister, the Women’s Perspective ministry team will be compiling a binder wherein our members and friends can each introduce themselves in their own words. As always, we will provide an update in the next Beacon. Meanwhile, you are welcome to contact us by emailing [email protected].
Our Search So Far, By The Numbers
We thought it might interest you to see some of the numbers we’ve gathered from our congregation and the UUA.
- 357: members of East Shore Unitarian Church
- 7: number of Ministerial Search Committee members
- 1: number of MSC retreats
- 20 (since September when Julie joined): number of chalices we have lit during our MSC meetings since our first meeting – not counting the cottage meetings, focus groups, minister interviews, etc.
- 85: members and friends who took the Ministerial Search survey.
- 4: cottage meetings for East Shore members and friends
- 14: focus groups for East Shore members and friends
- 48: participated in the BCT workshop.
- 24,011: Words used to capture the history, character and desires of our church in our Congregational Record
- 24: UUA congregations in search for a full-time settled minister this year; 2 of those in Washington.
May our hearts be open, our minds keen, and our spirits welcoming as we evaluate all our potential next ministers and move to our final number — One — our new settled minister.
Welcoming the New Minister
Let’s welcome our new minister with a binder filled with pages which introduce ourselves to the minister in our own words! These contributions could be a huge help as the new minister gets to know their new flock. Women’s Perspective has created a form that will be useful and you may add your own narrative and photos as well. We will announce when the form becomes available. Ultimately the binder, both in physical and electronic forms, will be presented to the minister for their private use in getting to know us. Completing this small project is, of course, entirely optional but as a gift of sharing ourselves, we hope you will participate.
by David Langrock, Ministerial Search Team