The Committee on Ministry (COM) will be writing a report to be submitted to the Unitarian Universalist Association at the end of June. This report will be the final report for Rev. Nicoline’s three-year Preliminary Fellowship. At the end of her year with us at the UUFP, Rev. Nicoline will move to Full Fellowship.
You may remember the newsletter article in our April Chalice, which explained that the COM would put into place a process to get input from the congregation. The COM now has developed a process to get input from the congregation about our professional ministry in context of our shared ministries of the congregation.
This is a new process for us at the fellowship. And we know that it will be important for the congregation to collaboratively assess how we are doing with all of our shared ministries.
Rev. Evin Carvill Ziemer (Congregational Life Staff of the Central East Region of the UUA) states: “A minister should be assessed within the context of the congregation’s ministry.” Rev. Carvill Ziemer reminds us that “a minister alone cannot achieve a congregation’s goals! . . . [T]he Committee on Ministry reviews the functions of a COM with Nicoline and in context with the existence of your Committee on Shared Ministry . . .”
To that end, the COM has scheduled several Cottage Meetings—small focus groups and conversations with a representative sample of members and friends. By the time of the publishing of the May Chalice, the COM will have already met with the Council on Shared Ministry on April 4 and a group attending the sandwich lunch on April 22, hosted by Forget Me Nots.
If you haven’t already provided your input at one of these Cottage Meetings, please try to attend one of our upcoming Cottage Meetings:
- Sunday, May 5, noon-1:30 p.m. A light meal will be provided.
- Tuesday, May 7, noon-1:30 p.m. Walk-in at 4 Palmer St.
If you cannot attend any of these Cottage Meetings and would like to pass on any feedback to the Committee on Ministry, please contact Jessamyn Neuhaus at neuhauj@plattsburgh.edu or 518-324-3390.
Although our conversations will be open-ended, the COM does have some questions for the congregation to consider:
What specific feedback can you offer us about Rev. Nicoline’s work in the following areas since beginning her contract with the UUFP in May 2018?
- Leading worship
- Officiating rites of passage
- Providing pastoral care and presence
- Encouraging spiritual development
- Witnessing to social justice in the public sphere
- Church administration/operations/system
- Pursuing her own personal renewal and professional development
- Serving the large Unitarian Universalist faith
- Leading the faith into the future
Is there anything else you’d like to add or didn’t get a chance to give us feedback about? Please speak with a member of the Committee on Ministry: Megan Morrissey, Margaret Schwartz, Jo El Miano or Tom Morrissey.