The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

Search Committee News

May, 2010

Minister Called!

Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur was called as the ninth settled minister of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica on May 9, 2010, having received approximately 95% of the votes cast at a Special Meeting of the congregation.

April, 2010

Candidating Week and Special Congregational Meeting

Members and friends will have an opportunity to meet our candidate for settled minister, Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, and to hear her preach during candidating week.

Rev. Bijur, her husband Jonathon Bijur, and their daughter Miriam Bijur, age 11 months, will be in Santa Monica from May 1 to May 9, 2010. Candidating week will conclude with a special Congregational Meeting after the 11 a.m. service on May 9, 2010, where we will vote on whether to call Rev. Bijjur as our Settled Minister. Rev. Bijur will preach at the 9 and 11 o'clock services on May 2 and May 9. Rev. Bijur prefers to write sermons which are addressed to the congregation to which she is preaching, and we are no exception. The titles of her sermons will be announced in next month's newsletter, upcoming weekly announcements, and on uusm.org. During Candidating week, Rev. Bijur will be meeting with church members and staff. The schedule will be posted on UUSM.org, included in upcoming weekly announcements, and mailed to members and friends. The Bijur family will also be spending time familiarizing themselves with the Santa Monica area and meeting with other UU clergy.

Please save the date of May 9, 2010, for our Special Congregational Meeting. There, the congregation wil vote on whether to call Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur as our Settled Minister. The meeting will be held shortly after the 11 o'clock service. Our bylaws call for a quorum of one-sixth of our membership to be present in person at this meeting. With our current membership at 370, a quorum is 62. Full details will be provided in the May newsletter and by mail to church members.

March, 2010

Minister Candidate Announced

The Settled Minister Search Committee is pleased to announce that Rebecca Benefiel Bijur is our candidate for settled minister for the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. The Search Committee is very enthusiastic about Rev. Bijur, and is excited that she accepted our offer to candidate with us.

Rev. Bijur is a 2009 graduate of Harvard Divinity School, and is currently Acting Assistant Minister at First Parish in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Previously, she served for two years as a part-time Intern Minister for The First Parish Church of Stow and Acton in Stow, Massachusetts. She also served as the student sabbatical minister for that congregation when the settled minister was on leave.

Described by her preaching professor as “an uncommonly promising young preacher,” Rev. Bijur was named a Hopkins Shareholder, an award bestowed by Harvard Divinity School faculty on six ministerial students annually in recognition of their demonstrated ministerial promise. Prior to entering the ministry, Rev. Bijur was a grantwriter at The Food Project, a youth development and teaching farm in Lincoln and Roxbury, Massachusetts. The Food Project brought together youth from inner-city and suburban communities to grow food for homeless shelters in the Boston area. Rev. Bijur graduated with honors from Yale University in 2002. A history major, she focused on urban studies and the history of suburbanization in the modern United States. She sang with the Yale Glee Club and a co-ed a cappella chorus. Born in Tokyo, Japan, while her family was posted with the U.S. Foreign Service, Rev. Bijur spent her childhood in Japan, India, Israel and Washington, D.C.

Rev. Bijur is married to a fellow a cappella chorus alumnus, Jonathan Markowitz Bijur. Jon is a science educator at the MIT Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They are the proud parents of Miriam Elizabeth Sutton Bijur, born on May 31, 2009. In addition to her love of music, Rev. Bijur enjoys reading current fiction and memoirs. Her interfaith farm wedding celebration featured intergenerational games and contra-dancing. She has published two articles in Cult/ure: The Graduate Journal of Harvard Divinity School, "How to Be Alone: Ministry between Solitude and Community" (2008) and "Ethics on the Borders: Moral Formation in the Songs of Kabir" (2009). She wrote her graduate thesis on lullabies as a spiritual practice.

-- Katie Malich for the Settled Minister Search Committee: Karen Canady, Cynthia Cottam, Rebecca Crawford, Ian Dodd, Par Gomez, Karl Lisvosky, Katie Malich and Jacki Weber

January, 2010

Minister Search Enters New Phase

The new year marks a new phase of the settled minister search process: REAL MINISTERS HAVE APPLIED!

Last fall, the Search Committee received a confidential list of names of ministers interested in being considered. The Search Committee spent the month of December reading ministerial records and packets, listening to sermons, watching the occasional DVD or web video of sermons. The committee invited some applicants who seem particularly well-suited for our congregation to participate in telephone interviews, which concluded on January 3, 2010.

Committee members and several intersted ministers are currently in a phase of continued dialogue and discernment. Check the our newsletters' Splinters From the Board column for summaries of Search Committee monthly reports.

If all goes well, the settled minister candidate will be announced this spring. During Candidating week, the candidate will preach on two consecutive Sundays, and meet with congregants and friends in a variety of settings during the week. After the second Sunday's sermon, there will be a special Congregational meeting to vote on whether to call the Search Committee's recommended candidate team. The exact date will to be determined, but Candidating week will probably be in the mid to late part of April, 2010. Please check with the Search Committee before scheduling any significant events during that period of time.

Search Committee members are happy to answer questions about the procedure. Look for those blue Search nametags or email search@uusm.org. There's an overview of the entire search process on the search news on our website, uusm.org. For detailed information on the search process, look at uua.org/transitions.

Katie Malich for the Search committee: Karen Canady, Cynthia Cottam, Rebecca Crawford, Ian Dodd, Pat Gomez, Karl Lisvosky, Katie Malich and Jacki Weber.

December, 2009

Search Committee Reviewing Candidate List

The Search Committee has received a confidential list of names of ministers who are interested in being considered for the settled minister position.

Right now committee members are busy reviewing the initial ministerial profiles on the confidential UUA Transitions website. At the same time, ministers contemplating settlement are reviewing the UUCCSM Congregational Record which was posted on same confidential site.

After a period of initial screening and review, the Committee will contact candidates who seem particularly well-suited for our congregation and exchange more detailed information. Your elected Search Committee will conduct the confidential reviews and interviews over the holidays and early next year.

If all goes well, the candidate or candidate team will be announced next spring. During Candidating week, the candidate or co-minister candidate team will preach on two consecutive Sundays, and meet with congregants and friends in a variety of settings during the week. After the second Sunday's sermon, there will be a special Congregational meeting to vote on whether to call the Search Committee's recommended candidate/candidate team. The exact date will to be determined, but Candidating week will probably be in the mid-late part of April, 2010. Please check with the Search Committee before scheduling any significant events during that period of time.
Search Committee members are happy to answer questions about the procedure. Look for those blue Search nametags or email search@uusm.org. There's an overview of the entire search process on the search news on our website, uusm.org. For detailed information on the search process, look at uua.org/transitions.

Katie Malich for the Search Committe

November, 2009

Save the Date!
Beyond Categorical Thinking Workshop
Sunday, November 8, 12:30-3:30 p.m.

UUA-trained facilitators will challenge us to look outside our automatic preconceptions of what we would consider "the ideal minister."

This workshop is another opportunity for everyone in our congregation to be a part of the ministerial selection process. It will provide guidance for the Search Committee in its work. Light lunch available by donation.

A Great Big “Thank YOUU!” from the Search Committee.

Over 200 people submitted their Congregational Surveys by the October 4 deadline, and about a hundred people participated in the nine Cottage Meetings. Seven month old Charley Duckman joined the Culver City conversation at the Dodd/Page house, and 86 year old Len Harris discussed our congregation and measures of ministerial success at one of the Sunday afternoon Cottage sessions. The YRUU class members took the survey and presented the Search Committee with their illustrated vision of an “ideal” minister.

We've “crunched the numbers” and reviewed all the Cottage Meeting contributions. The Survey results and Cottage Meetings summaries are posted on UUSM.org, the portable wooden bulletin board in the courtyard, and (until remodeling starts) in Forbes Hall. A large print paper copy of this information will also be available in the church office.

The results will be included in our Congregational Record, posted at the end of October on the secure UUA Transitions website, and in the Congregational Packet we'll be exchanging with interested ministers. The thoughtful, candid and honest responses were read with great interest by Search Committee members, and will be read with just as much interest by ministers participating in the search process.

Special thanks to Abby Arnold, Ian Dodd, Liz Fuller, Dan Kegel, Phyllis and Robert Kory, and Margot Page for hosting the neighborhood meetings.

We'll be continuing the conversation on November 8, 2009, with UUA-trained Beyond Categorical Thinking facilitators as guest speakers and workshop presenters. Join the Search Committee, Board Members, lay leadership, members, youth, guests and friends at the three hour afternoon workshop. This engaging and informative session will be one of this fall's highlights. Don't miss it!

-- Katie Malich for the Search Committee

October, 2009

Calling All Congregants: Come to a Cottage Meeting

The UUCCSM Settled Minister Search Committee wants to hear from you. We will be soliciting your input in various forms, one of which will be cottage meetings. These will be hour-long group discussions held in late September and early October. We will divide our time between two questions: (1) How would you describe this congregation to its prospective ministers? And (2) Looking back one year after our new minister has arrived, what will be your measures of success? These discussions will help us reflect together on how we want to present ourselves to prospective ministers, as well as on thoughtful considerations of what we are seeking in a new settled minister.

Several cottage meetings have already been held. The remaining meetings are scheduled for October 4, just after the early service, in the courtyard, and again after the late service, in the cottage. We hope you will choose one that works for you.

September, 2009

Settled Minister Search Committee Asks for Input

On September 20, the search committee will be launching the congregational survey and a series of cottage meetings. They’ll take place between September 20 and October 4. The cottage meeting schedule is in the accompanying article. You’ll be hearing more details about both in pulpit messages, weekly announcements and on the church website (uusm.org).

Your survey responses and meeting participation matter—to us, to our new minister/co-ministry team, and to our entire church community.

The congregational survey and cottage meetings offer everymember and friend the chance to express their needs and wishes for the congregation’s future ministry. A high survey response rate, along with active and engagedmeeting participation, gives the search committee vital information about the congregation’s make-up and direction.Meeting and talking together in community helps all of usmove beyond the past to think about our congregation’s future and wishes for ministry.

Search committees do not simply look for available ministers. They engage withministers in a thoughtful, mutual exploration, which considers the identity, hopes, and direction of the congregation in search. For aministry to be effective, both the congregation and theminister/ co-ministry teammust sense a “call.” Bothmust have a felt conviction that thismatch is right for them and for the church community.

The search committee has been working hard all summer on a congregational profile, called the congregational record. This fall’s busy search schedule required great teamwork, headed up by Karl Lisovsky (record), Ian Dodd (survey) and Karen Canady (meetings).

Your survey responses and discussion at the cottage meetings will be included in the congregational record profile. In October, we will be posting the profile on the web for interestedministerial candidates to review.

What we say about ourselves in the congregational record makes all the difference in who becomes interested in our church community. That’s why a high response rate and wide participation in the cottage meetings are so important. Also, later in the search process, the search committee will be guided by your survey responses, comments, wishes, andmore as we try to find the bestmatch for ourminister/co-ministry team.

So, please, attend a cottagemeeting, complete the congregational survey, and talk to the search committee members. You can find us on Sundays wearing our blue search committee nametags. There will be several of us at each cottagemeeting, too. Don’t be shy.We want to hear fromyou and answer any questions you have.

—Katie Malich for the search committee

Save the Date!

On November 8 the search committee will present a “Beyond Categorical Thinking” (BCT) sermon and early afternoon workshop. Lunch and childcare will be available. This dynamic, three-hour BCT workshop presented by a team of UUA-trained presenters is designed to help participants come to terms with their own, often involuntary, “categorical thinking.” The BCT weekend programs are designed to promote inclusive thinking and help prevent unintended discrimination in the ministerial search process.

August, 2009

Settled Minister Search Committee Process, Step-by-Step, Part 2

The most important part of the ministerial search process will be launched at special Sunday services on September 20: the congregational survey and cottage meetings. Your Settled Minister Search Committee (SMSC) will host the service and give the sermon at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. services.

The importance of the survey and cottage meetings cannot be over-emphasized. The more we know about our congregation’s current make-up, needs, and wishes, the better profile we can create to show prospective ministers. And the more we know about ourselves, the better our chances of finding the best possible match among the ministers seeking a full-time settled ministerial appointment at this time. And if that’s not enough to inspire a good turnout, consider this: the higher our participation rate is, the more attractive we’ll appear to prospective ministers we want to attract.

Here’s a continuation of the step-by-step process of calling a new settled minister. (See July 2009 newsletter (below) for part 1 and the SMSC bulletin board in Forbes Hall or uusm.org website for a complete overview.)

SMSC plans congregational survey and cottage meetings taking place this fall.

• “The purpose of the congregational survey and cottage meetings is to offer every member of the congregation the chance to express needs and wishes for the congregation’s future ministry.” (Settlement Handbook)

• The Settlement Handbook notes that the survey responses often reflect the congregation’s feeling about the previous minister. “People who liked the last minister sometimes want his or her twin. Other people’s first wish is for the next minister to be strong where the last was weak, while taking the last minister’s strengths for granted. This rear-view outlook is normal, but it is the search committee’s job to move beyond the past to think about the congregation’s future.”

“Beyond Categorical Thinking” workshop scheduled.

• This weekend program for the congregation is designed to promote inclusive thinking and to help prevent unintended discrimination in the ministerial search process.

• SMSC begins compiling informational packet for exchange with interested ministers.

• Negotiating team presents recommended compensation package and draft agreement to Board; Board tenders approved compensation package and draft agreement to search committee.

Your SMSC will be in high gear during the fall, analyzing the results of the congregational survey and other information-gathering, completing an online Application for Minister and online Congregational Record, and making plans for review of ministerial records and other information about potential ministers.

• SMSC prepares informational packet, including draft agreement and survey results, for distribution to potential candidates; it is reviewed by our district’s ministerial settlement representative.

• Online Application for Minister completed by October 31, 2009.

• Online Congregational Record (profile of UUCCSM, its history, community, congregation, etc.) completed by October 31, 2009.

• The Congregational Record, with SMSC’s approval, will be “unveiled” on the UUA Transitions Office’s secure website by October 31, 2009.

“Open for Business!” That’s how the UUA Settlement Handbook describes late fall–early winter. The UUCCSM profile will be posted on a secure website and ministerial records will be available online for initial review.

• SMSC members telephone interested ministers and exchange packets with those whose interest it reciprocates.

• “Beyond Categorical Thinking” workshop held.

• SMSC reviews packets, conducts group phone interviews, interviews named references, narrows pool of interested ministers to three pre-candidates. 2009 7 SMSC continues with more extensive review of pre-candidates.

• The SMSC has pledged to keep pre-candidate information and identities confidential. The process, however, is similar to many executive-hiring processes — with one caveat: no headhunters.

Qualified ministers submit their ministerial records to the UUA Transitions office, not executive search firms.

• Under UUA guidelines we are also precluded from calling ministers who have recently served as interims or guest preachers for our church.

Spring, the season of new beginnings, brings the selection of a proposed candidate.

• The SMSC decides — by consensus — to extend an offer to a proposed candidate, contingent on satisfactory criminal record background check and interviews of developed references in current congregation/employment.

• SMSC conducts background check and reference interviews.

• Negotiating team concludes ministry agreement with candidate, including compensation matters, subject to successful background/current reference checks.

• Board and candidate execute ministry agreement subject to extension of call by congregation and acceptance by candidate.

• Board announces candidacy.

Candidate Week is the climax of the ministerial search.

• With the terms of the ministry agreement complete, the Board announces the ministerial candidate.

• Planning for Candidate Week includes travel and lodging for the candidate and his/her immediate family, arranging many opportunities for church members to meet the candidate as well as a Congregational Meeting to vote on the candidate. Congregational vote on motion by search committee to call the minister on the terms proposed.

• Results of vote conveyed to minister. (Short delays in the minister’s acceptance of a call are a normal part of the search process.)

• The congregation is informed of the minister’s response.

We all want a happy ending to our ministerial search. Our church has had great success in calling ministers who have served us capably and well with a deep commitment to UU principles. Some people may wonder what happens if our committee does not find a strong, compatible pre-candidate among the pool of ministers currently available. Or what happens if the proposed candidacy is one of the very rare candidacies that do not succeed. Believe it or not, we’ve faced that situation before, and weathered it just fine. Our last search committee decided that none of the available candidates were a good match for our church. They extended the search another year and ultimately extended an offer to the Rev. Judith Meyer, who served our congregation for fifteen years.

— Katie Malich and the Settled Minister Search Committee: Phil Bonacich, Karen Canady, Cynthia Cottam, Rebecca Crawford, Ian Dodd, Pat Gomez, Karl Lisovsky, and Jacki Weber

July, 2009

Settled Minister Search Committee Process: Step by Step

Calling a new settled minister is a milestone event in our church. Your Settled Minister Search Committee has been hard at work.We’ve met with the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) district transitions representative, reviewed the UUA transitions and settlement handbooks, and jumped right into work. This summer we’re working hard, laying the foundation for an exciting and active fall.

For many, this is the first time we’ve gone through a settled minister search. Luckily, the UUA’s Transitions Office works with congregations and ministers in transition. Our democratic principles, a hallmark of our faith, mean that the membership chooses its next settled minister.We hope to present a candidate for approval during a CandidateWeek next spring.

How do we get from here to there? The process started over a year ago, when Minister Emerita Judith Meyer notified the Board President and the UUA Transitions Office of her retirement plans. Since then, we’ve said farewell to Judith, welcomed the first of our one-year interim ministers, Roberta Haskin, and completed a search for our second interim minister, Stephen Furrer. In March, the congregation chose the nine members of the Settled Minister Search Committee.

What are the steps in the ministerial search process?We’ve already completed seven and are working hard on the eighth:

1. Board and Pacific Southwest District (PSWD) Ministerial Settlement Representative (MSR), Rev. BetsWeinecke, discuss the announced retirement and provide information to MSR.

2. Board plans search committee selection process. Board appoints separate search committee for interim minister and follows bylaws in planning for election of Settled Minister Search Committee (SMSC).

3. SMSC election is announced, interested members are invited to submit applications to Nominating Committee; Nominating Committee reviews applications and announces proposed slate of candidates. Our UUCCSM bylaws require a nine-member committee. After the Nominating Committee's slate was announced, two of the candidates withdrew from consideration. Our church allows nomination by petitions as well as nomination by the Nominating Committee. A total of 13 candidates were nominated.

4. On March 17, 2009, the nine members of the SMSC are elected.

5. SMSC meets with PSWD MSR in day-long retreat on April 4. Committee members get to know one another and start planning. Officers and areas of primary responsibility are chosen, a time line is established, and internal SMSC organizational issues are addressed.

6. SMSC budget is approved by 2008–2009 board.

7. Negotiation team is appointed by 2009–2010 board. They will recommend a ministerial compensation package and draft agreement.

8. Information gathering, drafting descriptive and historical portions of congregational profile, planning survey and cottage meetings. (in progress)

What’s next?

Self-study. The more we know about our congregation’s current make-up, needs, and wishes, the better profile we can create to show prospective ministers. And the more we know about ourselves, the better our chances of finding the best possible match among the ministers seeking a full-time settled ministerial appointment at this time. And if that’s not enough to inspire a good turnout, consider this: The higher our participation rate is, the more attractive we’ll appear to prospective ministers.

September and October will bring an intensive period of congregational involvement. The SMSC will be conducting a survey of all members and friends, as well as holding cottage meetings open to all. Look for details in the August newsletter.

For more information on this process, complete copies of the Settlement Handbook for Ministers and Congregations, along with supplemental materials, are on line at uua.org/transitions.

— Katie Malich, and the Settled Minister Search Committee: Phil Bonacich, Karen Canady, Cynthia Cottam, Rebecca Crawford, Ian Dodd, Pat Gomez, Karl Lisovsky, and JackiWeber.

SMSC Responsibilities

SMSC member responsibilities Settled Minister Search Committee members and primary areas of responsibility: The selection of a candidate will be done by consensus. But many of the steps along the way will be the primary responsibility of individual members and smaller groups of committee members.We’re all pitching in and backing each other up to divide the load and meet our deadlines, so the names below reflect the point people on these tasks/responsibilities.

• Co-Chairs: Phil Bonacich and Cynthia Cottam

• Treasurer: Rebecca Crawford

• Secretary: Katie Malich

• Packet Editor and Distributer: Karl Lisovsky, Ian Dodd, and Karen Canady

• Survey Coordinator: Ian Dodd, Karen Canady, and Karl Lisovsky

• Cottage Meetings: Karen Canady and Karl Lisovsky

• Arranger: Pat Gomez, JackiWeber, and Rebecca Crawford

In Praise of Interims

In praise of interims In keeping with our faith’s democratic tradition, Unitarian Universalist churches call their own ministers. Like any important job search, this takes time. Meanwhile, there’s work to be done, sermons to give, marriages and memorial services to conduct, members to counsel, meetings to attend. The life of a congregation goes on, and interim ministers help us live it.

The interim period at the end of one settled minister’s term is very important to the search process, too. It gives members of the church a chance to look at where we are, who we are, what we believe in, and how we relate to each other within our community and to those outside of our church and community.Where would we like to be in one year? In five years?What skill sets and capabilities would be desirable in a new minister? What is less important to our current and projected needs?What does our church and our location offer a prospective minister?What challenges or obstacles might a new minister face?

The interim period allows time to consider these and other questions. It also provides us with a chance to experience different ministers first hand, with their own unique attributes. Our church is a rarity in fast-paced 21st Century America, with its increased mobility and frequent job/career changes. Few UU churches have a recent history of long-tenured ministry. Minister Emerita Judith Meyer served for 15 years. Her predecessor, Minister Emeritus Ernie Pipes, served for 35 years. Thus, most of our congregation has become accustomed to the ministerial style, strengths, and weaknesses of just one or two ministers. The comfort with and longing for the familiar may keep us from being open to other possibilities and good matches for our current needs and future growth. Having a period of time between settled ministers allows us to process our complex emotions and focus on the future with an enhanced clarity.We owe a debt of gratitude to the Rev. Roberta Haskin and the Rev. Stephen Furrer for joining us for this portion of our journey.

May, 2009

Settled Minister Search Committee Update

The Settled Minister Search Committee (SMSC) met with Pacific Southwest District Representative Bets Wienecke on April 4. SMSC Co-chairs Cynthia Cottam and Phil Bonacich, along with SMSC Treasurer Rebecca Crawford, presented a proposed budget for the search process to the Board on April 14. The proposed budget was approved by the Board. The SMSC hopes that the final expenses for the search will be $10,000 or less. The final figure depends upon currently unknown variables such as candidates’ travel and lodging expenses. The SMSC commenced its weekly meetings on Sunday, April 26, and will continue to provide updates of the search process.

— Katie Malich

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