TJ Connection - Fall 2002

At the Service of the Living Tradition at General Assembly 2002 in Quebec City, CA, the following ministers were recognized for major milestones:

Ministers Receiving Preliminary Fellowship:
Parish:
Hope Johnson*
James Howard Macomber
Karen J. McFarland
Jon K. Reid

Community:
Brian P. Clougherty

Ministry of Religious Education:
Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley*
Lori Louis Staubitz

Ministers Receiving Final Fellowship
Parish:
Helen Christine Brownlie
Jeffrey G. Jones
Thomas A. Rhodes

Ministers Completing Full-Time Ministries:
Anne R. Buehler

*Friends of the Thomas Jefferson District

Rev. Dr. Whittemore Elected

Congratulations to Holston Valley UU Church's minister, Rev. Dr. Barry Whittemore, on his recent election as Vice-President of the Universalist Convocation at their annual convention held this year on May 4th in Westfield Center, Ohio. The Universalist Convocation advocates for the traditional values and heritage of the former Universalist Church of America within the post-merger Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Hickory Welcomes Rev. Robert MacDicken

The ½ time minister Rev. Bob MacDicken's home is in Hendersonville, where he and his wife Eileen attended the Hendersonville UU Church. Raised a Baptist, he spent the Viet Nam years in the California Bay area. He was a pastor of a Presbyterian Church, served as spiritual leader at a Jewish fellowship, married Eileen in a Quaker ceremony, was associate minister of a Progressive African American Baptist Church, and developed a handbook for military chaplains. His most recent years were spent in the Fairfax, VA area and at the Mountain. We look forward to his continued leadership and welcome him to the Thomas Jefferson District.

Newberry Welcomes Rev. Francesca Hughes

The Rev. Francesa Hughes has been hired as the new Interim Minister the the Clayton Memorial UU Church in Newberry, SC. Rev. Hughes is a 201 graduate from the Pacific School for Religion. She completed UUA Interim Ministry Training in July 2002. Prior to being hired at Clayton Memorial, Rev. Hughes was the Resident Chaplain at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. We welcome her as the District’s newest Interim Minister.

Community Ministry

Information from the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee and the Ministry & Professional Leadership Staff Group, June 2002

What is a Community Minister?
Unitarians and Universalists have long understood the term ministry to refer to the religious leadership and services that our ordained clergy offer the members of congregations, including worship, pastoral care, administration, and religious education. In recent years, our understanding of ministry has grown to include the religious leadership and service offered by ordained Unitarian Universalist ministers in settings 'beyond the walls' of our local congregations.

Unitarian Universalists use the term Community Ministry to recognize and affirm the work of ordained ministers whose primary locus of ministry is in a community or other extra-congregational setting. Unitarian Universalist Community Ministers often work for and among people who are not and may never be Unitarian Universalists, but who may benefit from ministries that incarnate our Unitarian Universalist principles and values in the larger world.

What do Community Ministers Do?
Unitarian Universalist Community Ministers offer many different kinds of ministries, in many different settings, serving many different populations. Currently, Community Ministers are serving...as chaplains in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, jails and prisons...as campus ministers and professors of religion in universities, colleges and seminaries...as ministers of music and the arts in the wider community...as pastoral counselors and pastoral psychotherapists in interfaith counseling centers and in private practice...in educational and advocacy programs to further peace and social justice efforts, protect the environment end racism, work for economic justice... in street ministries and other community programs serving poor people, immigrants, people with disabilities, and other marginalized persons in our midst...as military chaplains.

We anticipate other kinds of community ministries will emerge in the future.

How Do Community Ministers Benefit Our Congregations?
In addition to all they bring to our wider communities through their work in ministry, Community Ministers also have a lot to offer our own congregations, as they help us to envision and incarnate ministry in new and exciting ways. They are already bringing their community experience to strengthen our congregations' worship, social justice, pastoral care and religious education programs. They often work closely with their parish-based ministerial colleagues, helping to network programs between local congregations and further district-wide and continental initiatives.

Endorsement is a Way Our Congregations Recognize and Support Community Ministers.
Congregations and Fellowships can recognize and support Community Ministers in many ways. At minimum, however, the Unitarian Universalist Association requires that Community Ministers be formally endorsed by a local Unitarian Universalist congregation or other denominational body in order for the Community Minister to remain in full and active ministerial fellowship with the UUA. Community Ministers must "maintain ties with and receive endorsement by one or more of the following: a UUA member congregation, authorized District Body, UUA Associate Member organization, or the UUA. Endorsement includes a pledge of continuing relationship and support and affirmation that the work is recognized by the endorsing body as a ministry" (MFC rule 18, section 3). The endorsement must be reaffirmed every three years.

What is Meant by ‘Continuing Relationship and Support?
It is up to each Community Minister and endorsing congregation to decide what 'continuing relationship and support! means to them. Some begin with fairly simple, basic agreements, expecting that the relationship will grow and evolve over time to reflect the temperaments, gifts and needs of the particular congregation and Community Minister. Often, these agreements include recognizing the Community Minister by name and title in orders of service, newsletters, and other congregational documents and publications, and offering the Community Minister a chance to share their ministry with the congregation by participating in worship services, writing for the newsletter, offering workshops, and if appropriate including interested congregants in the work of the community ministry.

When the congregation lists the endorsed Community Minister on the Annual Member Society Certification it files with the UUA each winter, the Community Minister can then vote at the annual General Assembly as a ministerial delegate, along with the other ministerial and lay delegates regularly allotted to the congregation.

It is up to each Community Minister and endorsing congregation to decide whether (or when) financial support will be part of their understanding of endorsement. Unlike their ministerial colleagues who are called to serve our congregations as parish ministers or ministers of religious education, many Community Ministers receive their primary financial support from their community ministry (often an institution or agency in the community that employs them).

How Can We Learn More About Endorsement and Community Ministry?
You can contact your District Executive or the MFC Assistant at the Ministry and Professional Leadership Staff Group to find out which Community Ministers are working in your district/area, and which congregations have endorsement relationships with Community Ministers. Often these more experienced congregations and ministers can serve as exemplars and mentors for congregations new to community ministry and congregational endorsement.

You can also check the UUA Ministry and Professional Leadership Staff Group's Community Ministry page at www.uua.org/ministry/settlement/commmin.html for more information.

Please call the WC Assistant at 617?948?6406 with any questions.

Thanks to the Rev. Patty Fran and the Rev. Leslie Westbrook, who compiled this information for the UUA Ministerial Fellowship Committee May 14,2002