by Judie Hansen
Danville Unitarian Universalist Church
Danville, Indiana
We have a half time minister
who also serves another church one Sunday a month.
Previous to his being here,
we had another half-time minister who lived about 125 miles away.
We rented him an apartment and when he came to town
he kept office hours three days a week (twice a month)
and presented lectures on comparative religion, Jesus seminar, etc.
When the first minister resigned, we held an all church retreat
and decided to give ourselves about 18 months
to prepare for more professional ministry leadership.
To reach that goal, the congregation voted
to set aside $800 a month
so we would get into the habit of devoting more money to ministry.
With our present set up we pay all ordained ministers
who speak $150 per appearance plus mileage.
We also pay a local UU minister
to come and meet with our New UU Class about six times a year.
The half time minister we have now
is basically available only on Sunday mornings
because he lives an hour's drive away.
We have certainly had excellent quality
in the ministers we have had,
but we have suffered by
not having that person live in our community,
being available on short notice,
being a presence in the community.
We have passed the end of our 18 months,
and now what has happened
is that folks have decided they like having the variety
and that perhaps a half time minister is about right.
Of course they aren't the people
who are picking up all the areas of
pastoral care, adult religious education, etc.
We find no conflicts in sharing our minister with
the other church.
We have been in conversations with them
about the possibility of hiring him on a full time basis,
and the sharing his services.
At this point they are not in a position
to pay for more than one Sunday.
I suspect it makes it a little easier for him
because he can recycle sermons that way.
Right now he is not keeping office hours at either church.
I hope others will write about
how they are handling not having full time ministerial leadership.
Judie Hansen, Danville, IN 65 members
<birdsong@surf-ici.com>
March 2001
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