Speakers: Qiyamah Rahman, District Executive for the Thomas Jefferson District,
and Rev. David Huber, Ministerial Development UUA Director
This lively workshop was structured around a quiz. Sometimes we agreed on the answers; other times, our various answers led to interesting discussions.
Question 1. What is the purpose of a Committee on Ministry?
a. to be a support group for the minister.
b. to strengthen the church's ministry.
Answer: b; A Ministerial Relations Committee focuses on the minister, a Committee on Ministry, COM, focuses on ministry.
Why the difference? Doesn't a minister do ministry? Rev. Robert Latham defined it this way: "Ministry is anything a congregation does in pursuit of its own membership and the wider community." In other words, a lot of people do ministry. Instead of focusing on the minister, the COM oversees the shared ministry. For example, lay members might be trained in pastoral care. The COM supports all forms of ministry, and allocates resources.
Question 2. How are the COM members selected? By the
a. Congregation
b. Minister
c. Board
The most popular answers were "all of the above" or "both b and c." At some churches the congregation, the minister, and the Board each appoint a member. At other churches, the minister and the Board appoint the COM.
The next four questions are easier to answer.
Question 3. The COM handles all the lay problems and issues while the minister
handles all the ministerial problems and issues. True or False?
Question 4. At least one of the COM members should be anti-cleric to bring
diversity to the COM. True or False?
Question 5. The best time to conduct a ministerial evaluation is when there
are conflicts with the minister because the issues are very clean and transparent
and you might as well strike while the iron is hot. True or False?
Question 6. Since everything that the COM talks about is in strictest confidence
it is not necessary to be in communications with the Board. True or False?
The workshop attendees had no problem concluding the answer to all four is "False!"
The last two questions generated lively discussion.
Question 7. Since it is awkward for the minister to personally advocate for
an equitable salary recommendation, it becomes the role of the COM. True or
False?
In response to question 7, most attendees agreed some committee should advocate for the minister, but this should be a Ministerial Relations Committee rather than a COM.
Question 8. Because conflict is inevitable in any congregation, it is important that complaints not be anonymous. True or False?
Most attendees answered "True" and concluded members should own their complaints.
More information is available at http://www.tjd.uua.org/comreader.html
and http://www.uua.org/cde/handbook/.
UUA and Thomas Jefferson District staff hope to have a revised version of "A
Guide to Review and Renewal of Ministry in UU Congregations" available at http://www.uua.org/ministry
by the end of June 2001or soon after. Meanwhile, an older version can be obtained
by sending $10 to Jean Hartman, jhartman@uua.org.
Reported for the Web by Mike McNaughton; photos by Holly Hendricks; formatted for the web by Kasey Melski.
General Assembly 2001 · Program Grid
