“Ministry happens wherever individuals embrace the belief that their good works, their volunteerism, their acts, can help serve the mission and vision of their congregation.” This is Shared Ministry — all of us doing ministry together.
It’s easy to write a definition. Ministry is hard, and I still receive questions about Shared Ministry. I can tell you that if ministry weren’t hard, then the world would always be just, the environment and humanity would already be in harmony, children and youth would simply download all relevant experience passively from computer terminals, government would be superfluous and church – well, church would be pointless! Instead, the world we dream of requires our creativity, our passion, our commitment.
So one aspect of Shared Ministry is reflected in recent changes to the church’s daily business, in large part because Shared Ministry requires more institutional formality. You, as a people, entrust each other with these ministries you do – teaching children, mentoring youth, planning Sunday worship and music, caring for each other, welcoming newcomers, building a just world, and creating a sustainable way of life… all this ministry! All this takes a lot of communication and building-scheduling… which you have to entrust to staff, for example, and this trust then enables more members to plan more events and focus on ministry itself.
With your church having already grown beyond the ability of one minister to meet all your church needs, additional staff are part of what sustains your ministry as a congregation. Which is why the Church Council, through its Personnel Committee, established Personnel Policies last January. As the next step in this institutional work, the staff is now assisting the Church Council in an update of its building-use policies (the building and its many users are a significant social justice ministry of the church to the North Country).
The Church Council also has studied current best practices for UU congregations, and out of those studies has written and adopted policies on disruptive behavior and the proposed bylaw changes you will be considering at this Annual Meeting.
Shared Ministry is what we do together – and that “we” can mean the people of a congregation, but it can also mean the people of a group of congregations. I’ve been working with other Upstate New York Unitarian Universalist ministers on how our congregations can share ministries and resources – much as there was a time when St. Lawrence County had dozens of Universalist congregations that shared many resources, especially through the local Universalist theological school that was once part of St. Lawrence University. I am hopeful about your congregation partnering with other North Country Unitarian Universalist congregations in the coming years.
You are a vibrant and exciting congregation, and I’m delighted to be your Interim minister. I would love to be around to see what you will be doing in your next 180 years of ministry in the North Country!
Rev. Joel’s report to the congregation, presented at the October 2015 annual meeting.