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The Committee on the Ministry 

Committee Purpose:

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Members:

Term expires June 2007: Anne Madden, Chair
Term expires June 2008: Forrest Speck
Term expires June 2009: Mike Dorsey
Term expires June 2010: Gillian Chatfield

Meeting Schedule:

Third Tuesday, 6:30 - 7:30,

e-Mail Contact:

Anne Madden

Recent Reports:

2005 Membership Survey | 2002 - 2003 Annual Report; 2001 - 2002 Annual Report; 2000 - 2001 Annual Report; February 2000 Membership Survey; 1999 - 2000 Annual Report

Recent Minutes:

Meeting Notes -- Meeting , April 10, 2007

Present:Harold Babcock, Gillian Chatfield, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, and Forrest Speck

The Committee on the Ministry met on April 10, 2007 at 6:30 to consider the following:

We received Harold's Minister's Reports of November 8, March 14 and April ll. These reports continue to enumerate the many ways that Harold serves individuals, small groups, and our entire church community, in addition to his participation in the very busy governance work of numerous committees. The reports also outline his extensive outreach to the wider community via his work as "on call chaplain" to the local hospital and with community groups such as the Clergy Association of Greater Newburyport and the Newburyport Community Needs Task Force, professional and denominational groups such as the Mass Bay District Chapter of the UU Ministers Association, the UU Partner Church Council, among many other activities.

He also briefly reviewed his recent two-month sabbatical which gave him opportunity for reflection on his work with the FRS and beyond and to learn further about the Hungarian language.

Harold shared that the attendance at the Easter service was an FRS record of 480 plus the choir.

We reviewed the recent successful canvass reports which will allow for the Ministerial Intern Program to proceed. The church will formalize the program's reality by vote at the upcoming Congregational Meeting. The Intern Committee is then scheduled to meet in order to begin work on introducing and welcoming our intern to the congregation in advance of the fall when her work will actually begin.

The Committee on the Ministry approved a transfer of several hundred dollars from the Minister's Auto Allowance Line to his Professional Education line, per request of the Minister, the Finance Chair.

We discussed a recent request from Cyd Raschke, Chair of the Parish Committee, for the Committee on the Ministry to submit plans for next year's minister's salary goals in the fall, in advance of the Human Resources Committee budget -cycle process for full consideration.

We were reminded of our Vision Workshop with the Worship Committee scheduled for 4/21/07 at 9am.

Our next meeting of the Committee on the Ministry is scheduled for May 22nd, at 6:30 pm as some were not available for our regular 3rd Tuesday May 15.

For the Committee

Anne Madden
Gillian Chatfield
Mike Dorsey
Forrest Speck
Harold Babcock, ex officio

Committee on Ministry Meeting Notes - 17 October 2006

Present: Harold Babcock, Gillian Chatfield, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, Forrest Speck

The Committee on Ministry met on October 17th at 6:30 to consider the following:

Formation of the Intern Committee

We discussed our recruiting efforts. We have five strong members who are either committed or very likely to commit to service on the committee. We have two others that to date we have not been able to connect with. We have one youth member, and will recruit another youth so they can share the opportunity. We agreed to work over the next week or two to confirm these commitments and report back to the chair by email.

Gillian and Mike agreed to share service on the Intern Committee as representative from the Committee on Ministry.

We set two possible dates for the first meeting of the Intern Committee, November 2nd or 7th at 7:30 pm. The committee will meet with Harold for an overview of the Internship Program and role of the Intern Committee and to begin to organize next steps for review of applicants and selection of the intern. Our goal is to have the selection completed before Harold leaves for his winter Sabbatical.

We briefly discussed the budget for the intern which is estimated to be $15,000 to $20,000. Depending on the specific needs of the selected intern, we may need to assist in arranging for a room or apartment. Mike offered to do some research on the topic of housing.

We agreed to meet again on November 21st, 2006 at 6:30 pm.

For the Committee

Annie Madden, Chair
Gillian Chatfield
Mike Dorsey
Forrest Speck
Harold Babcock, ex officio


Meeting Notes -- October 10, 2006

Present: Harold Babcock, Gillian Chatfield, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, Forrest Speck

The Committee on Ministry met on October 10th at 6:30 to consider the following:

Formation of the new Intern Committee

With applications for the ministerial intern due on November 1, 2006, we discussed the role and makeup of the Intern Committee which will assist Harold in vetting and selecting candidates this fall, and then serve next year as a supportive and evaluative group that will meet regularly with the intern, working with him or her on her skills and development in the ministerial role.

The section in the UU Ministerial Internship Manual on the Intern Committee, pages 18-22 informed our discussion.

We agreed that the Intern Committee would function on an ad hoc basis until such time as the Congregation might decide to regularly support the internship program. We agreed that the budget for the intern should remain under the Committee on Ministry. We agreed that the initial committee should be nominated and appointed by those of us on the Committee on Ministry, who are elected officers of the church and are at this point most familiar with issues related to the ministerial function and with the internship program. We agreed that the committee should have preferably 7 members, 5 to be appointed by us, and 2 to be selected in the fall by the intern after he or she has been with us for a month or two. One of the members will be a Committee on Ministry member, in order to facilitate communication. Our goal will be to have a representative group of members, one of whom will be active in the RE area. We will also extend an invitation for one youth to be involved as an associate member.

We discussed the qualities of a good intern committee member and drew up a list of strong nominees. These were delegated to members of our committee, to be contacted this week. Annie will speak with Julie Parker Amery for her recommendations on engaged RE parents who might serve, and request that she discuss the associate membership with one of several youth nominees.

We agreed to meet again in one week, on October 17th, Tuesday, at 6:30, to review the fruits of our recruiting efforts.

For the Committee

Annie Madden, Chair
Mike Dorsey
Gillian Chatfield
Forrest Speck
Harold Babcock, ex officio


Committee on Ministry Meeting Notes - 14 February 2006

The Ministry Committee met at 6:30 p.m. On 14 February. Present were Anne Madden, Laura Roberts, Rev. Babcock, and Forrest Speck. Michael Dorsey had a family exigency that prevented his coming.

Expanded Ministerial Staff -

Most of the meeting dealt with our continuing effort to provide assistance for our Minister, Harold Babcock. The Ministry Committee, the Parish Committee, and many in the Society have recognized the developing need to expand the ministerial staff as we have grown to a mid-sized church of 350 members and church school enrollments approaching 190. There is simply not enough time available for a single-member ministerial staff to attend to all the duties demanded by a church of our size.

Ultimately, we are proposing to have an assistant or associate minister on at least a half-time basis. Recognizing that this goal cannot be reached or afforded immediately, we have adopted a plan to take some intermediate steps to help the church and the Minister adjust to the idea. The steps we have planned and will be seeking continuing approval for are as follows:

1. Propose the hiring of a field service divinity student in the fall of 2006.

A number of years ago, we had a very good and productive experience with this program with Frank Clarkson. Frank was popular among church members, provided important assistance for Harold, gained valuable experience for himself, and involved us more directly in the broader UU movement.

2. Propose the hiring of a Intern Minister in the fall of 2007.

The UUA operates a formal program for the education of ministers by which societies in the denomination provide part of the practical training. Unlike the field service program cited above, this is a much more organized and essential part of the final preparation for an aspiring minister to gain fellowship status as a UU minister. The participating society takes on a very serious role in the final preparation and evaluation of the individual.

As we participate, we will need to establish an observation and evaluation committee - the Intern Committee - that will meet regularly with the Intern, work with him or her on skills, and generally help with the development of the candidate's education. Direct supervision of the Intern is the responsibility of the minister.

As should be clear, the Intern also provides some level of assistance to the minister and helps the church adjust to the idea of an expanded ministerial staff. It also give us a chance to participate more directly and helpfully in the life and development of the Unitarian Universalist movement.

3. Propose the addition of permanent assistance for the minister, perhaps by the fall of 2008.

It is our belief that we will need at least part-time and perhaps full-time assistant ministerial staff by then, if we don't already. We will be communicating regularly with the parish as we continue to develop the plan and the budget implications.

Progress to date -

We have contacted a number of churches about their experiences with Intern ministers, the latest in a report from Laura Roberts about Arlington Street Church's continuing program of many years. Laura will be following up with further contacts with folks on their Intern Committee.
Michael Dorsey has begun the drafting of an agreement that will set out the terms and conditions of an Internship at our church.

Harold's experience with student ministers here and at former pulpits he has held give him a strong understanding of the nature of the Learning Agreement.

Anne Madden has a fine start on the research and development of the posting of the Internship to the UUA website.

Student Minister Proposal -

The Parish Committee has approved a motion to present to the Parish a proposal for a field service student to join us in the fall of this year. The motion recommends allocating $3,500 in surplus funds from last year's budget for the purpose. This may be enough for the purpose. We need to verify. The motion will be on the warrant for a special parish meeting to be held after church services on 12 March 2006.

If this motion is approved, we will go ahead with the posting, with recruitment falling to Harold.

Vision Committee -

We spoke briefly of the work of the Vision Committee and the upcoming presentation by Marie Murphy, Chair of the Committee, to the Parish Council meeting on Wednesday, 22 February. Marie hopes to be able to talk about a proposed communication plan and a schedule for focus groups to collect the thoughts of the Parish. As members of the Ministry Committee, we are all especially encouraged to attend these Council meetings.

For the Committee:

Michael Dorsey
Anne Madden
Laura Roberts
Forrest Speck

Harold Babcock, ex officio


Committee on Ministry - Meeting Notes - Meeting - 17 January 2006

Canvass

  • As has been our custom, we agreed to participation by all in the annual Canvass. I will be responding to the Finance Committee's request for program information that could be helpful for the creation of the Canvass literature, as we discussed and outlined.

  • We spoke about the Canvass primary goal to bring compensation of all staff up to at least the mid-point of the UUA recommended levels. We are told that this step may relegate to a lower priority our planned request for funds to be set aside for our Internship proposal, although there are indications that as much as $3,500 may be available from current funds. In response to the request from the Finance Committee for “reach” goals, we will request $10,000 to be allocated toward an Internship in the 2007-2008 budget planning, to be spent in the following fiscal year.
Update on Future Committee
  • We spent some time talking about the purpose and activities of the Visioning group for imagining the future of the Society. How can we become a great church? What should or could we look like in 15 years and what is necessary to get there? How can we make this idea known to the many constituencies of the Society and how can we engage them in the visioning process? We should all think on this and generate ideas to help organize and execute these tasks.
Intern Proposal Tasks
  • Schedule – we recognized the improvement in our schedule resulting from setting our planned timing for an Intern in 2008-2009. To meet this goal, we need to have our proposal package complete in the Fall of 2007. I would like to see us substantially finished by the end of September. Finished means not only having the proposal together but also having approval and support of the membership and the Parish Committee.

  • Laura will be contacting more churches for information on their experiences, tips, etc., about having an Intern. This should include information sample budgets, sample agreements, learning plans, as well as particular experiences.

  • Michael will be using resources available to help draft Terms and Conditions agreement.

  • Harold will prepare a draft Learning Agreement.

  • The Committee will work with Harold to develop a list of preferences we will have for our intern.

  • Forrest will work on a multi-year budget for Intern support leading eventually to adding an Assistant Minister position. If we are planning to request support from the UUA, we need to have a very complete package together, including a substantial 5-year plan for the Society, by November 2006 at the latest. On the positive side, our status as an Honor Society and a Fair Compensation Society should enhance our position for a grant. We could also apply for a Mass Bay District Woburn Grant.

  • Anne agreed to perform periodic communications to the membership on progress we are making. She also took on the task of drafting a notice of the Internship with the UUA.

  • We recognized we will need to establish an Intern Committee but felt this could wait until later, perhaps even until we have selected an Intern.

  • Forrest will be responsible for compiling the results of our efforts into a final proposal for Parish Committee and UUA.
For the Committee:

Michael Dorsey
Anne Madden
Laura Roberts
Forrest Speck

Rev. Harold Babcock – ex officio


Committee on Ministry - Meeting Notes - Meeting - 18 October 2005

Present: Harold Babcock, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, Laura Roberts, and Forrest Speck

The committee on Ministry met on 18 October 2005 at 6:30 p.m., considering the following:

Identification -

We agreed we should take more noticeable steps to identify our selves and our role to the Parish. To this end, we agreed to re-run a notice in the newsletter inviting folks to talk to us with anything on their minds to do with the Minister; to let all know of our eagerness to listen to any suggestions, complaints, praise - any comments. We want to provide two-way communications that both the Minister and the congregation feel comfortable with. I'd like to see us take Anne's suggestion of making our home telephone numbers available to all for the purpose.

We also commissioned Mike Dorsey to create identifying name tags for us to wear at coffee hour of a different color.

Intern Minister -

We planned an effort to prepare the parish for the concept of an assistant minister, most likely an Intern at the beginning but perhaps working toward a permanent, full-time assistant eventually.

We discussed steps to be taken:

Prepare an outline of the tasks -
- Research procedures, first with the UUA. Here's the link I found tonight. Possibly talk with other UU churches about successes.

- Prepare:

o Argument for the need
o List of issues (lodging, office space, budget, schedule, Internship Committee, etc.)
- Present our ideas to the Parish Committee

- Publicize and promote to the Parish.

- Get into the budget cycle for the next canvass and Annual Meeting.

Other -

Annie agreed to send to the Church Office a notice for inclusion in the newsletter asking committee chairs to send the agenda for their meetings in advance and to indicate to Harold their need or not for his presence at meetings.

Our next regular meeting will occur on Tuesday, 15 November at 6:30 p.m. in the Lower Church.

For the Committee:

Members: Harold Babcock, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, Laura Roberts, and Forrest Speck - Chairman First Religious Society of Newburyport Unitarian Universalist Committee on Ministry


Committee on Ministry - Meeting Notes - Meeting - 20 September 2005

Present: Harold Babcock, Mike Dorsey, Anne Madden, Laura Roberts, Forrest Speck

The committee on Ministry met on 20 September 2005 at 6:30 p.m., considering the following:

Goals -
We reaffirmed our primary commitment to our charge to assist the communication process in both directions between the Minister and the parishioners. We will strive to be available and obvious as we perform this function.

Our other important charge to this group is the general and particular support of the Minister and his family, a task made very easy by our affection for these folks.

We are also convinced we should honor the commitment the parish made to keep the minister's financial package competitive, as recommended by the UU Minister's Association and the UUA.

We also affirmed our long-term, "stretch" goal of establishing awareness in the Parish of the need for an assistant minister. We have found that Harold's work-week is formidable. With the great growth of the membership and its equally great vitality, there has been a resulting great growth in his tasks. He attends literally hundreds of daytime and evening church group meetings every year, makes a similar number of pastoral visits, conducts many wedding, dedication, and committal services. This, in addition to his conducting adult education courses, pursuing his own education, and attending many denominational meetings make a very busy schedule and one that makes it sometimes taxing on his own family. We on the Ministry Committee would like to see the reduction of some of this load.

We think an assistant minister could help with a number of specific tasks:

  • Assisting with certain special programs
  • Assisting with pastoral counseling
  • Assisting with the assimilation of new members
  • Assisting with pastoral calls
  • Occasional preaching on the monthly occasion of Harold's week out of the Pulpit
We, along with Harold, see this as a goal that will take some time to accomplish but we want it not to be lost. It could take the form of a student intern minister that would have the added benefit of assisting with the education of new UU ministry. Ultimately, however, we think it should develop into a regular position, at least half-time.

We would like to get this discussion started within the Parish, starting perhaps with the Futures Committee. We think the strong endorsement and approval shown in the Every Member Survey last year indicates this will not be a difficult case to make. Watch for more from us during the course of the year.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 18 October 2005 at 6:30 p.m. in the lower church.


Committee on Ministry - Meeting Notes - February 15, 2005

Present:
     Harold Babcock
     Stan Cecil
     Laura Roberts
     Anne Madden (acting chair in Forrest Speck's absence)

The committee on Ministry met at 6:00 pm, considering the following subjects:

Committee Commitment to Annual Canvass-
Stan, Laura and Anne all agree to participate as canvassers this spring.

Minister's Compensation -
After a discussion of Harold's outstanding service to our community over the last decade, and of the highly favorable preliminary results of the 2005 Survey regarding the Minister's performance and contributions to the Society, the committee makes the following recommendations regarding the Minister's Compensation Package.

We recommend that his combined salary and housing allowance line of $72,644 be raised to $77,002.64 representing a 6% increase. This recommendation is consistent with our previously stated goal (2003) to raise the compensation of the Minister from the mid range of the appropriate UUA salary range ($76,100) to the maximum range ($ 91,400) over the next 10 years, assuming continued outstanding performance. With a very modest increase last year, this year's more generous increase will keep him just above the mid range.

We recommend a $500 increase in the Minister's Professional Development line ( to $4,550) and an increase to the Auto Allowance line of $175 ( to $ 1200) to assist the Minister with increased costs associated with books, courses, and expenses associated with travel to various meetings, conferences, etc.

As was past practice, we recommend the addition of $1000 for a Sabbatical Leave Account, to build needed funds for guest Minister services at the time of the next Sabbatical.

Lastly, in keeping with the goal of deepening the spiritual life of church members and increasing opportunities for participation and connections, and in recognition of the very positive experience with Frank Clarkson, we recommend the inclusion of $3,500 to fund a Field Education student (Student Minister) for the next year, if a suitable candidate is available.

We understand that these increases will depend on a successful canvass. In the event that the Canvass results in a tight budget, we understand that these increases will require adjustment. On the other hand, in the event of a very successful Canvass, there is sentiment that an even more generous increase in the Minister's salary line would be appropriate, which would move him further along the way from the mid-point to the maximum as per the UUA guideline for a mid- sized II church community of 250-499 members.

Member Survey-
A total of 144 surveys have been received. Cyd Raschke is in the process of entering and analyzing the quantitative data. Annie Madden has compiled the narrative responses. Cyd and Annie will be getting together in the next several weeks to compile the results and draft the report. As we would expect, the preliminary impression is that the Society is in very fine shape.

We agreed to plan our next meetings as follows:
March 8th, Tuesday, 6:30 pm to review draft Survey results
April 19th, Tuesday, 6:30 pm to review final budget after the canvass


Meeting Notes - 6 April 2004

Present: Harold Babcock, Stan Cecil, Anne Madden, Forrest Speck

The committee on Ministry met on 6 April at 6:30 p.m., considering the following subjects:

Joys and Concerns element of the Worship Service - We discussed the occasional use of Joys and Sorrows by parishioners for expressing political opinions. We observed that others in the congregation often disagree with the position taken and if inclined to argument, may wish to respond. We do not believe this to be the purpose of the Joys and Sorrows element nor of the service. Harold spoke very eloquently of this recently in a "sermonette" delivered from the pulpit. We also believe there are other fora provided by the church for their discussion.

We are recommending to the Committee on Worship a general policy of avoiding sensitive political issues in Joys and Sorrows.

Minister's Compensation - In the face of grim predictions of the financial health of the Church for the coming year, we discussed what we would recommend to the Human Resources Committee for economizing measures. We felt strongly that we would like to see our recommendation of a compensation increase for Harold, based on his splendid performance. However, Harold offered to accept flat funding for his own compensation and the forgoing of the assistant/student minister program for the year. The Committee resolved to accept these measures if necessary but to affirm our strong recommendation against diminishing any element of the benefit package.

Survey - We recognized the need to get started on the development of a new survey document for use next year. I will ask the church office to forward the text used for the last survey which I will distribute to all of you. We should all work at assessing the questions asked to test their relevance currently and to suggest additional items. This is a very important evaluation exercise for the church and one of our most important charges.

Statement of Charge - During the discussion we felt it would be appropriate for us to restate the charge to the Committee to remind the parish of our purpose. See the following:

COMMITTEE ON THE MINISTRY
This committee shall provide a communications channel between the Minister and the membership, seeking to hear concerns without judgment and passing them on to the minister or the membership. The committee shall be responsible for periodically surveying the congregation on the state of the Society. Annually the committee shall evaluate the Minister's performance, set goals, and make recommendations for changes in compensation. The Committee shall consist of four members, each serving a four-year, staggered term. Annually the nominating committee will present a new member for election from a list of three submitted by the minister.
Next meeting - We set the next meeting date for 6:30 on 18 May in the lower level of the Meeting House. I will be putting together an Annual Report for the Committee and would appreciate any comments of our accomplishments prior to my joining in February.

Thanks,
Forrest


Meeting Notes - 10 February 2004

Present: Harold Babcock, Stan Cecil, Anne Madden, Laura Roberts, Forrest Speck

The committee on Ministry met on 10 February at 6:30 p.m., considering the following subjects:

Member Survey - We understand we are charged to develop and conduct the every-member survey to gauge the attitudes of the membership and to help in planning. Happily, this a project scheduled for next year so this novice Chairman can postpone.

Minister's Goals - We reviewed the Minister's goals, which were last year's goals with Harold's comments on progress. As with all thoughtful and complicated goals, they continue for the coming year. We discussed a number of them at some length, as follows:

  • Assimilate new members - Harold pointed out that many new members go away within 1-2 years of joining. He described the Small Group Ministry program as a mechanism to develop a spiritual base for new members as well to stimulate new friendships and associations, to the object of assimilation and retention.
  • Continue to strengthen the committee structure of the church - Harold distributed a written piece that addressed the question and suggested some committees ought to be allowed to go dormant occasionally if they are not attracting members and activities. Often such committees get revived later when new members feel a need for activity on the subject. Alternatively, we could move to a "Task Force" concept to deal with particular issues but avoid the requirement for a continual meeting schedule. This is a suggestion we would like to take to the Parish Committee for consideration.
  • Encourage the Parish Committee to delegate more of its work - We think the Parish Committee could improve its effectiveness and disburden itself by forming sub-committees and possibly recruiting members and other standing committees to address particular issues.
Minister's Compensation - We approved the recommendation of the Human resources and the Finance Committee to include in our budget recommendation that the Minister's compensation package be raised to $77,470. We also recommend the addition of $500 to the Minister's professional development allowance. We recognize these as financial goals to keep us at the salary mid-point recommended by the UUMA and the UUA. We also recognize, as does Harold, that these are conditional on the success of the Canvass. However, we agree that this is an important specific goal that we sincerely hope can be achieved.

Canvass - Consistent with the above item, I am happy to report that all of us will be participating as canvassers this year.

Other items -

  • We would like to recommend to the Parish that all committees publish, in advance via the Steeple Bi-weekly, the planned agenda for their meetings. This will help the membership know the activities of the committees and possibly encourage members to attend as observers or commenters. It will also help the Minister decide if he needs to be present, particularly when meeting times conflict. We would also like to recommend that committees similarly publish brief, summary notes of their meetings to help us all understand their activities. I have attached a sample summary of our meeting as an example. Members please comment on the form and substance to meat the above address.
  • We want to encourage members and attendees of the church to contact any of us on the committee with suggestions, comments, or complaints about the services or the performance of the Minister. This is a liaison committee that has as a primary purpose to facilitate communications from and to the minister.
  • We resolved to meet as needed and to do so on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. Our next scheduled meeting is 6 April.
Proposed item for Steeple Bi-weekly Ministry Committee Meeting Notes - 10 February 2004

The Ministry Committee met of February 10th. Among items discussed were:

  • Plans for a second every-member survey to be taken in the next fiscal year. This is a device to discover the thought of the parishioners and to help us plan for the future. We have approved a plan to conduct such a survey once every five years.
  • We discussed goals for the minister for the coming year.
  • We approved a recommendation for a Minister's compensation package and forwarded it to the Finance Committee. We continued the Parish's stated goal to maintain the mid-point level of this package as recommended by the UU Minister's Association and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
  • We all agreed to join the canvass effort as canvassers.
  • We recommended all committees publish their meeting agendas in advance of their meetings and summary meeting notes shortly after each meeting.
  • We encourage all church members and attendees to contact any one of us with comments on the services and the performance of the Minister. We have a primary purpose to serve as a communications resource for the parish and the Minister.
  • Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 6 April. All are invited to come and observe or comment. Please contact one of us if you would like to attend so we can provide space.

Meeting Notes - June 17, 2003

Present: Harold Babcock - Minister, Susan Ricker - Chairperson, Stan Cecil, Laura Roberts, Max Russell, and Frank Clarkson - Student Minister

Opening Words - Harold shared a spiritual reading.

Minister's Report - We reviewed Harold's minister's reports of May 14th and June 11th.

Next Year's Committee/Leadership - Max Russell agreed to serve as next year's chair of the Committee on the Ministry. This is in keeping with the tradition of having the member in the last year of his or her term serve as the committee chair.

Minister's Contract - It was reported that Harold's contract for 2003-04 has been signed.

Student Minister's Compensation - We confirmed that Frank has received the agreed upon stipend for 2002-03.

Worship Service - Joys and Concerns (follow-up) - Harold shared that the Worship Committee plans to continue with joys and concerns. They are keeping an open mind as to what will work best for us. Thoughts among those on the Worship Committee are mixed as to who should read these - Harold or a lay person. Max suggested they consider having the ushers read these.

Worship Service - Church Calendar - We should somehow emphasize the church services that take place over the summer in Hampton Falls. Max recommends these services and has, on occasion, attended.

Worship Service - Ushers - We have received feedback, in the form of a concern, about the frequency with which the head usher, Jim Dyer, serves as usher. Thoughts discussed were that this should be something more folks are participating in. The question was raised as to whether or not Jim is having difficulty getting ushers, and for what reason. Max suggested consideration of an actual usher committee or formal group of trained ushers. Harold will follow-up with discussions with Jim and/or John Mercer.

Church Attendance - We revisited our Fall observation of church attendance and noted:

  • Median of 168 for the year, up slightly from 163 and 161 for the prior two years. Harold felt comfortable with these levels and expressed the need for some short-term stability as we assimilate folks and adjust to our transition from a pastoral to program church. He and Frank stressed that we need to provide adequate programming with a church of this size - something we should continue to work on.

  • Peak services for the year were 12/15/02 with 275 (the holiday service, including youth in attendance) and Easter, 4/20/03, with 319.
Survey of the Congregation - We discussed the committee's stated responsibility to "periodically survey the congregation on the state of the society." This was last accomplished on a formal basis in February 2000. We discussed what may be appropriate timing for the next survey - Fall 2005, with survey preparation to take place in the Spring of 2005. The thinking here was that we would be in our new space by then and things would have settled in.

Susan is to provide Max with her file on the survey. Student Intern - We all shared how grateful we have been for Frank's participation in the life of our church community, and his participation in our committee discussions over the year. He has left us with nothing but good feelings about the benefits of having a student intern. Our only concern is that we will miss him, and all he has shared, next year.

At this point, we have no candidates for a student intern for next year. Harold shared that the Harvard Divinity School fair is in the Fall, and that he will attend, if necessary.

Canvass Feedback - from LAST year (2002) - Susan shared feedback that was passed on to this committee at the conclusion of the canvass conducted in Spring 2002 (and apologizes for the tardy sharing of these). Comments included: positive feedback on Harold; the need to improve upon the care and storage of church artifacts; desired improvements for the joys and concerns; the desire for the church to be open in the summer; feedback on the sabbatical-leave speakers in that they were thought to be too political; difficulties for parents with special needs children; a request for a public tour of the basement; that consideration be given to having a musical coffeehouse; and that there not be personal contacts made during the canvass.

In discussing each of these, we felt they have been addressed, or are presently being addressed. We felt we should continue to seek such feedback and keep our ears open regarding these and any other issues/opportunities that may exist.

To Do's

  • Harold to follow-up on usher discussion.
  • Susan to deliver package to Max for next year, including past surveys.
Prepared by S. Ricker
Take me home!