September 21 ,2021
Meg Hoke – Communications
Greetings, from the Settled Minister Search Committee
Hello again from your Settled Minister Search Committee. We wanted to give you an update on the Congregational Survey and what comes next.
The Survey is now complete. We received 87 responses, which we are fairly pleased about (although, of course, we really wanted 100% of members and friends). There weren’t any real surprises, and we all felt that it gave a fair representation of our Fellowship and what we have heard discussed and expressed by members and friends in various conversations. The committee has developed a summary of the survey and this will be submitted as part of our “Packet” that various ministers will be able to review to decide if they want to apply to our position. One of our goals is to be as transparent as possible with you all, so we are also making this survey accessible to you all to review. You can review the results in two documents. One document reflects the UUFH Settled Minister Survey Monkey Data The second document reflects the Tally of Comments of Specific Questions
If you have questions, please contact your Settled Minister Search Committe Team;
Bill Elder, Chair billelder73@nullgmail.com
Ron Partin, Survey developer rpartin@nullbgsu.edu
Meg Hoke, Communication hokemeg@nullhotmail.com
MC Gaylord, Finances mckgaylord@nullgmail.com
Mary Highberger, Cottage Meeting/Focus Group Coordinator
mkhigh141@nullgmail.com
Our next project will be to meet with everyone in the Fellowship through Focus Groups and Cottage Meetings.
Focus Groups are groups that have their own identity, culture, and specific concerns. Members of these groups often identify the group as their primary connection to UUFH. At this time, we have identified those as the Board, Religious Education, SJOT, and the Choir. Each focus group should be about 8-10 people, and if you belong to one of these groups, you should have already heard from your leader. These focus groups will be meeting the last couple weeks of Sept, so most of these dates have already been set.
If you don’t belong to one of those groups, or can’t go to that focus group? Don’t worry! The Cottage Meetings will have the same opportunities for conversation, sharing thoughts, concerns, and dreams. We will have a variety of dates and times for cottage meetings the 2nd and 3rd weeks of October. You will be able to choose which one suits you best. These will primarily be done via Zoom, but we are open to holding these in person as long as we can plan for them to be held safely and in line with UUFH’s current COVID guidelines.
We only want folks to attend ONE of these group meetings, whether it’s a “focus group” or “cottage meeting”.
And finally, please put OCTOBER 30th on your calendar for an important workshop called Beyond Categorical Thinking, which is a UUA-led mandatory workshop for all congregations in search. The Beyond Categorical Thinking program is designed to promote inclusive thinking and help prevent unfair discrimination in the search process for a new minister. It is scheduled for October 30th in two 90-minute Zoom sessions.
You will be hearing more about all of this.
Thank you for your confidence in our team, for your support, and, especially, thank you for YOUR commitment to and engagement in this process. Meg Hoke