The Interim Minister Search Committee* has been hard at work preparing our Congregational Interim Record. This Record will exist in a Transitions database maintained by the UUA Transitions Office. The survey many of you filled out in February has provided a lot of useful content for our Record, and we think we can project a reliable picture of our Fellowship. We hope to share this document with the Fellowship when it is finished.
The earliest date for those Records to be posted so interim ministers can view them is April 7, a deadline we hope to meet to create positive first impressions as early as possible. The deadline for the latest publication of Congregational Records is April 21. The UUA interim search timetable is available on the Minister Transition page of our website: uufbozeman.org/members-friends/minister-transition. (Check the 2022 tab at the bottom.)
Getting our Record published early will help prospective ministers meet their deadline for submitting their interest in specific congregations. We should get those names on May 2—and we do hope for the plural! We then have two weeks to study those ministers’ records, check references, do Zoom interviews, etc. before telling the Transitions Office by May 16 our “yeses/nos/maybes.” We can make our first offer on May 18, at noon Eastern Time. (There’s clearly the possibility of competition between congregations!)
We will keep the Fellowship informed as best we can, though we will need to keep some information strictly confidential. The cohort of Interim UU ministers is small, and the Interim Search Calendar lists a meeting of the Transitional Ministers Chapter. So we need to respect their privacy—a minor breach of confidentiality for any applicant may quickly become known by others, to our detriment. So, curious though you may be, please don’t ask us for details. And expect (virtual) busy signals if you try to contact us between May 2 and 16!
*Neil Schwarzwalder, Diane Knipfer, Mary Maifeld, Peg Wherry
Settled Minister Search
At its meeting on March 14, the Board voted to create a Search Committee and begin the process to call a settled minister to serve with us starting in August 2023. The Board also approved a Minister Search Committee Policy. That policy is posted on the Minister Transition page on the UUFB website: uufbozeman.org/members-friends/minister-transition. Keep checking back to this webpage for additional updates on all search activities.
A call has gone out to UUFB members and friends to nominate individuals to serve on this Minister Search Committee, and the form is on the website. The deadline for nominations is April 10. Nominators will be held anonymous; every member or friend can make multiple nominations. And the same person can be nominated more than once. The most important qualification for serving on the Search Committee is deep commitment to the health and future of the Fellowship; Committee members must have the trust and respect of the congregation.
In Fellowship, Peg Wherry