A post about pending Staffing Changes for Sanctuary United Church of Christ.
Rev. Tom Hathaway has ended his employment with Sanctuary UCC as he transitions over the next year to become the lead pastor at North Prospect Union. Our partnership with NPU will continue as we share Dinner Church, Wednesday Worship, Youth Ministries and Mission Opportunities.
Save the Date: We will recognize this transition and celebrate Tom’s ministry with us at Dinner Church on September 27 at 6:00 pm at NPU!
Based on a decision by the Leadership Circle designed to respond to the ministry experiment to which we have committed, Rev. Tom’s departure, and the experiences staff have had to date with our ministry model, Sanctuary UCC has initiated a hiring process that will combine the staff positions previously held by Rev. Tom, Rev. Fred and the unfilled position of Community Organizer.
We are seeking a full time Community Minister (clergy) who will collaborate with staff and lay leadership to focus full time on building Sanctuary’s mission, ministry and presence in Medford. For more about the position see the web site and the link to the position description on this page: http://sanctuaryucc.org/employment-opportunity/
Our draft implementation plan is for staff to collect candidates through August 20 (we have 11 already!); screen for compatibility and a balance of gifts, graces, and skills with other staff; present 2—5 candidates to a subcommittee of the Leadership Circle on Sept 1 for interviews through Sept 20 and have a decision by Sept 30. We hope to have the candidate in place by October!
It is a very hopeful schedule—driven by a sense of urgency and immediacy that is atypical in church decision making., We believe this is appropriate to our situation as a result of
- the urgency of our start-up model of ministry, the extra effort required when you are experimenting with something, and good stewardship of our resources—we have no time or money to waste;
- the need to fan the little flames of success we are experiencing to insure the fires grow;
- the recognition that some of our core ideas for new mission and ministry need more staff attention until they can be built out with lay leadership (such as formingfaith.net, circles of care and more)
- and the need for leadership development and one-on-one engagement in the city of Medford such that we are building geometrically our capacity to tell the story of our faith and our mission and invite others to share in our ministry. Right now, this work is very limited by the capacity of our very small congregation. Staff will have to both do this work and build leaders to do it too.
The Leadership Circle will meet next Sunday, August 9 at their regular monthly meeting and review and further flesh out this plan. We welcome your input to our LC members: Paul Roberts, Bruce Roberts, Amanda Coughlin, Carvina Williams, Karen McCune Barca or one of our pastors (Rev. Fred, Rev. John, Rev Wendy).
