May, 2009
Dear Friends,
The following article, which I quoted briefly on April 19th, appeared in the Keene UU Church’s newsletter last year, just before the week their candidate for ministry spent with the congregation.
The Perfect Minister
“The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect minister preaches exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sins but never upsets anyone. She works from 8:00am until midnight and is also the janitor. He makes $50 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $50 weekly to the poor. She is 28 years old and has preached for 30 years.
He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all of his time with senior citizens. The perfect minister smiles all the time with a straight face because her sense of humor keeps her seriously dedicated to her work. He makes 15 calls daily with church families, shut-ins, and the hospitalized, and is always in his office when needed.
If your minister does not measure up, simply send this letter to six other churches that are tired of their minister, too. Then bundle up your minister and send her to the church on the top of the list. In one week, you will receive 1,643 ministers, and one of them will be perfect. Have faith in this procedure.”
Soon your Search Committee will ask each of you to fill out a survey which will guide them in their search for the Perfect Minister for you. The survey is the best tool the Search Committee has for getting it right…what you think is most important, and what is less so. No minister can be all things to all people all the time. I know you know this. Yet we all hope the new minister will be just right for us anyway.
A wonderful question came up in our Church History Conversations: what would we want the new minister to be able to expect from us? Do we have a concept of shared ministry in this church, and if yes, what does it look like, feel like? How does it sound? What kind of support do you want to give to your new minister? What kind of a covenant will you share with him or her?
The Search Committee Survey results will articulate the answers to these important questions. Please, please take the time to respond to each question thoughtfully, assured that this is a critical chance for every single voice to be heard.
Your response to this year’s Stewardship Drive is an amazing testament to your commitment to this church and your vision for it to be funded by your own efforts, at a sustainable level. I am in awe of your success. Bend that commitment now toward your answers to the Survey’s questions, give the candidates for your next ministry your best sense of what you need in them, and who you want them to find you to be.
In faith,
- Olivia |
