Minister Search Committee Selected

Dear Members and Friends of First Church,

On behalf of the newly commissioned Search Committee for First Church, I wish to thank the Trustees and the congregation for this opportunity to serve.  Every member of this extraordinarily talented committee is greatly invested in the life and future of this church and all that it does to serve our community.

So, here we go!  The committee has been named and officially commissioned by our Covenant to Serve as recited at the service on October 15th.  Now what happens?

We begin by developing our Church Profile, the document submitted to potential candidates with a wealth of information regarding who we are as a church community and what we are looking for in our new settled Minister.  The Profile is far more than the dry statistics of how many people attend our church on Sundays and what the average pledging unit is – the Profile will show our candidates the many aspects of our faith community and service at First Church, as well as relay our goals, our hopes and what we need to maintain a healthy congregation going forward.  You will be hearing from us regularly while the Profile is being drafted; not only to keep you posted on our progress but also to elicit the necessary information from you that we will need to ensure this document is candid, complete and faithful to our community.  Once the Church Profile is posted, we will review the Candidate Profiles of any potential ministerial candidates and move towards a process of selection and call as soon as we can.

PLEASE, find us before or after a service to talk about the process.  PLEASE do not hesitate to give us your thoughts and ideas about our church and what you think we need to help grow our congregation and further our mission.  Your input and opinions are crucial to this process.

Our committee includes: Rob Backus, Matt Bushey, Janice Claypoole, Jeff Comstock, Libby Elder-Connors, David Grace, Cyndy Hall, Mike Knauer, James LaPierre, Mary McKearin, Cleophace Mukeba, Ann Vivian and myself.  We welcome your thoughts and input.  I can assure you that every member of this group is dedicated to moving this process along as efficiently as possible.   We are all mindful of this congregation’s great desire to look up into the pulpit and see the person called to serve First Church Burlington for the next many years.  On behalf of this Committee, I am asking you all for your prayers and support as we move towards that day.
Susan
Susan Ellwood, Chair