We want to remind all First UU Austin members and folks attending our worship services about the online Congregational Survey and to encourage everyone who hasn’t filled it out to do so today or at least by the deadline next Sunday, August 13. If you haven’t received an online copy of it, please visit Ministerial Search Committee members in Howson Hall this Sunday, and we’ll give you a paper copy of the Survey.
The Congregational Survey is one of three ways you can inform us of the qualities our First UU Church needs in a Settled Senior Minister as we use your information to discern what our congregation wants and needs.
A second way we want to hear from you will be for you to attend a Search Party and/or Focus Group meeting. We’ll share more about these meetings soon, and the Search Committee will rely heavily on the information we gather from these activities.
The third way you will give us feedback will be by VOTING if you are a member! We want to stress this because you may not know that in our UU faith, the only way a candidate becomes settled minister is through an affirmative vote of the voting members of our congregation present and voting at a congregational meeting, which will be called by our Board.
The Search Committee will complete its discernment and have conversations with Rev. Chris, our Inside Candidate, the first week in October. If both the Search Committee and Rev. Chris mutually agree that he is a good match for the congregation’s needs in its ministry, the Search Committee will ask the Board to announce a congregational meeting to vote to call Rev. Chris as our Settled Senior Minister. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, October 29.
If Rev. Chris receives 90% of the vote, he will be our settled senior minister. If he does not receive 90% of the vote, it will be considered a failed search. The church will extend its interim ministry. The search must start all over, a new search committee must be formed and the earliest we can expect a settled senior minister will be 2025. As is the case with all Inside Candidates, Rev. Chris will resign.
Your elected Ministerial Search Committee will share a FAQ with you online and in Howson Hall this Sunday and future Sundays to help you understand more details in our effort to be as transparent and informative as possible. Thank you for your full participation as we all work together to find what our congregation wants and needs in a new Settled Senior Minister.
