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About the Search Process
Reverend Pat Guthmann Haresch will be leaving our congregation next summer, after completing her 3-year term as First Unitarian’s Developmental Minister. The Settled Minister Search Committee has been tasked by the Board of Directors to find our next settled Minister, who will begin in August 2021. This year-long process started in Spring 2020, and involves many steps (see below for a list of these steps and their status).
If you have any questions about the settled minister search process, please email MinisterSearch@firstunitarianottawa.ca.
New FirstU Campus / Building Video
The Search Committee is pleased to announce that it has completed a short video to share with prospective ministers, highlighting the beauty and functionality of our building and campus.
The 3-minute video (First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa: A Campus for All of Life) captures many scenes from inside and outside the building, framed by the late autumn foliage. We appreciate the efforts of the Video Steering Committee (Mary Ella Keblusek, Jodi McIntosh, Chuck Shields and Jen Brennan), along with videographer Fred Brown and narrator Evelyn Algar.
Updates on the Search Process
About the Search Committee
Selected by the Nominating Committee, the Search Committee is made up of 7 members. We are blessed to have a diverse group of women and men, younger and older, retired and working full-time, from various walks of life. The work of Search Committee will represent a team effort. Below is a picture taken at our weekend retreat on July 10-11, 2020.
Left to right: Phil Nagy, Mary Ella Keblusek, Mike Lloyd, Jodi McIntosh, Jane Lindsay (chair), Amy Bérubé (holding baby Evan who also attended our retreat!), and Lena Talback
The retreat was facilitated by Rev. Stephen Atkinson, a retired UU minister assigned to us as a Transitions coach by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Goals of the retreat included getting to know each other better, building trust, learning about members’ respective skills and interests, developing a basis for making decisions, and planning how to seek input from the congregation.
11 steps of the Minister Search
Reverend Pat Guthmann Haresch will be leaving our congregation next summer, after completing her 3-year term as First Unitarian’s Developmental Minister. The Settled Minister Search Committee has been tasked by the Board of Directors to find our next settled Minister, who will begin in August 2021. This year-long process started in Spring 2020, and involves many steps (see below for a list of these steps and their status).
If you have any questions about the settled minister search process, please email MinisterSearch@firstunitarianottawa.ca.
New FirstU Campus / Building Video
The Search Committee is pleased to announce that it has completed a short video to share with prospective ministers, highlighting the beauty and functionality of our building and campus.
The 3-minute video (First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa: A Campus for All of Life) captures many scenes from inside and outside the building, framed by the late autumn foliage. We appreciate the efforts of the Video Steering Committee (Mary Ella Keblusek, Jodi McIntosh, Chuck Shields and Jen Brennan), along with videographer Fred Brown and narrator Evelyn Algar.
Updates on the Search Process
- Congregational Record: One of the main ways for us to describe ourselves – both who we are, and what we are looking for in a minister - is a document called the ‘Congregational Record.’ On December 1, this in-depth document was made available to prospective ministers throughout the US and Canada. We believe it is important for our members to know the information we have shared, which was gathered through surveys, focus groups and interviews. The Congregational Record is available on the members' page of the FirstU website.
- Report on the Congregational Survey: In September and October, the congregation completed a detailed survey to help guide the Search Committee in what the congregation is looking for in their next minister. The summary of the survey results is available on the members page of the FirstU website.
- Applications: During the month of December, prospective ministers are preparing their applications. We will receive those in early January, and will spend the remainder of the month reviewing the applications and conducting initial interviews with those applicants in whom we are interested.
- Spire articles: Each quarter, we publish updates on the Minister Search process in the Spire.
About the Search Committee
Selected by the Nominating Committee, the Search Committee is made up of 7 members. We are blessed to have a diverse group of women and men, younger and older, retired and working full-time, from various walks of life. The work of Search Committee will represent a team effort. Below is a picture taken at our weekend retreat on July 10-11, 2020.
Left to right: Phil Nagy, Mary Ella Keblusek, Mike Lloyd, Jodi McIntosh, Jane Lindsay (chair), Amy Bérubé (holding baby Evan who also attended our retreat!), and Lena Talback
The retreat was facilitated by Rev. Stephen Atkinson, a retired UU minister assigned to us as a Transitions coach by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Goals of the retreat included getting to know each other better, building trust, learning about members’ respective skills and interests, developing a basis for making decisions, and planning how to seek input from the congregation.
11 steps of the Minister Search
- Settled Minister Search Committee selected completed
- Search Committee meets with Transitions Coach and plans its work completed
- Search Committee holds retreat (this year done in combination with #2) completed
- Congregational Survey distributed and tabulated completed
- Focus Groups held with various groups in congregation completed
- Beyond Categorical Thinking workshop held with congregation completed
- The extensive Congregational Record and information packet about our congregation are completed and made available to ministers in search completed
- Search committee begins considering potential candidates begins January 2
- Search committee interviews 3-4 “short list” candidates in more depth
- Search committee recommends one candidate
- Candidating week in which congregation meets and votes on the proposed candidate / minister
