Important Ministerial functions

This Fellowship is clear that it wants a minister who will preach, while at the same time acknowledging that ministers fulfill many functions. Although preaching has a clear majority, most members also  say three other functions are important: building community within the congregation, personal interaction, and promoting UU principles.

This Fellowship wants a minister who can help us get along with each other. This clear message was shouted out by 97% saying that building community within the congregation would be a very important or somewhat important function of the minister.

Several other functions are also important to many members. These include personal counseling, social justice leadership, community outreach, and religious exploration (RE) for adults as well as children.

The function ranked as least important for the minister: committee work/participation. It’s not that members don’t want the minister involved in day to day affairs. They do, although more as an inspiration, guiding light, and team builder, than as an administrator or commitee member.

Survey question: How unimportant or important are the following ministerial functions?

The crucial skills and enthusiasms we want in a minister

Members have voiced a clear message about what they want in a new minister.

We want a minister who will draw together and build the UUFSD community, a minister who will guide and enhance its leadership, and offer uplifting worship.

There’s a saying that if you give someone a fish, they will eat for a day. If you teach them to fish, they will be empowered to eat for the rest of their life. 97% of members said that “building community within the congregation” is a somewhat or very important skill in a minister.  They want someone who will help us see our own talents and strengths, to rally us to effective action, all in a framework of mutual support and trust.

Spiritual leadership was ranked at the top of the list of priorities by 89% of the fellowship, while Administration, Interfaith activities, and Denominational activies were ranked last.

This fellowship wants an articulate, strong preacher with leadership skills, as acclaimed by more than three-fourths of the fellowship. At 84% of the fellowship, they strongly favor a minister with a personality that is ”authentic, genuine, ethical, candid”, in stark contrast to the 18% who prefer “energetic, driving” or 4% preferring “confident, poised.” It’s not about action and energy and motion, it’s about sincerity.

Priorities – where the minister should be spending time

Just as the Fellowship wants a minister who inspires, they understand this takes time in preparation. Most of the members consider spiritual leadership to encompass the minister’s time.

They also expect a minister to be spending some time in social justice activities, pastoral functions, and some facilitation of the UUFSD community and its committees and programs.

At the other end of the scale, members do not expect ministers to be spending much time in the details of running the fellowship, with other congregations and faiths through interfaith activies, nor with UUA affairs in denominational activities.