Early in my time here, I gave an introduction to the concept of interim ministry in a Sunday service called “What Is This Interim Thing, Anyway?” Since not everyone was present for that service, I thought I’d offer a blog post on the highlights of that conversation. It’s particularly relevant right now because sometime in the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing my first Interim Ministry Report with y’all. So, a good time for a reminder of where we started.

Here’s an excerpt from the sermon. If you’d like to view the whole service, here’s the recorded service: What Is This Interim Thing, Anyway?.

As a congregation, you have entered into a time of transition and change. A time of experimentation, of curiosity, and recommitting to your core values. And your work is to tell the story of your past and fully inhabit the story of your present so that you can create the story of your future.

Rachel Freed told the Huffington Post, “Telling our stories is not an end in itself, but an attempt to release ourselves from them, to evolve and grow beyond them. We tell our stories to transform ourselves; to learn about our history and tell our experiences to transcend them; to use our stories to make a difference in our world; to broaden our perspective to see further than normal; to act beyond a story that may have imprisoned… us; to live more of our spiritual and earthly potential.” (from In the Interim, p 43)

It’s important to know that I arrived here without a specific agenda. I don’t have a list of things I’m expecting need to be changed, updated, or done differently. I’m here to learn who you are, to review and assess, to reflect back what I observe, and give you my best suggestions for possible ways forward. That’s one of the things you’ll see in the upcoming report.

Ultimately, the church belongs to you, and so does its mission, vision, and future. Your minister is a guide, a partner, a leader in the ministry you share. And as interim minister, I have an additional role – I act as a kind of consultant, working with you for a finite period of time on some specific goals, preparing the way for what’s next.

According to the interim ministry handbook, “There is no single “recipe” for interim ministry and, of course, each minister brings their unique strengths and style. But generally, in addition to carrying out customary ministerial duties, interim ministers help congregations explore five areas, called focus points:

  • HERITAGE– Reviewing how the congregation has been shaped and formed.
  • MISSION– Defining and redefining sense of purpose and direction
  • LEADERSHIP– Reviewing member needs and the congregation’s ways of organizing and developing leadership
  • CONNECTIONS– Discovering and nurturing the relationships a faith community builds outside of itself
  • FUTURE– Preparing for the next era of leadership
  • It sounds like a lot – but the work is being led by me, the board and the staff, supported by the transition team, and shared by all of you.

In that early sermon, I asked you to remember and contribute three things:

The first is a willingness to show up. Margaret Weis says in her reading The Church Has Left the Building, “The church is not just a set of doors open on Sunday morning, but the commitment day after day, and moment after moment, of our hearts creaking open the doors of welcome to the possibility of new experience and radical welcome.”

The second is a spirit of curiosity. I’m going to be asking a lot of questions and we’re going to be trying new things. You’ve done great at this so far! It’s been fun to experiment with things like Community Sunday and switching up the order of service. Let’s keep that up.

And the third thing I ask of you during this interim period is that you read the emails you get from UUCC. That’s where you’ll find updates to this blog announced, for one, in addition to info from the board and the transition team, and SO MUCH MORE!

Thank you for your gracious welcome and steadfast participation these past months, and for being open to doing the work of the transitional period. I look forward to what’s next.