Transition Planning Committee
On this page are collected the updates previously published in The Pilgrim from the Transition Planning Committee, which is charged with the task of administering the transition process occasioned by the retirement of the senior minister at the end of 2012.
Envisioning Retreat Roundup
By Cathy Chambers
Thanks to everyone (all 50 plus of you) who participated in the Envisioning Retreat this past weekend. It was a major commitment of time and energy and a lot to ask of busy First Church members; your participation and positive response was and will continue to be greatly appreciated.
After much discussion (and some hilarity -- we ARE First Church, after all), the following six sub-committees/study groups were established:
Discernment
Theological tradition and identity
Members' needs
Needs of local/global community
Financial planning and staffing
Church growth and vitality
All six sub-committees are in the development process and are working on articulating their tasks and figuring out how to go about the research process. More information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks as we settle into our work. Those of you who indicated at the Congregational Meeting in August that you'd like to be plugged into this phase of our process will be hearing from a member of the Transition Planning Committee soon.
The litany we read during the weekend, based on one of the prayers submitted at the Congregational Meeting, asks "Who do we want to be?" And concludes, "So much for so many. God, grant us the wisdom and courage to become all we might be." Amen.
Updage #7
By Cathy Chambers
As some of you know, friends of mine visiting from Seattle were able to join me at church Homecoming Sunday. I was a little nervous about this but I need not have worried. Both were impressed. Pam wished that their daughter, when she was younger, might have heard words like Libby’s when she spoke to the children. After listening to Jerry’s sermon, Suzanne said, “What a great preacher! Why’s he retiring?”
We at First Church appreciate the many and varied ways that our clergy and staff have guided and supported us and our children through the years. Collectively they are an important reason that we experience church as the enriching spiritual and communal experience that many of us do. So it is particularly difficult for us to enter this transition knowing that, not only will we be dealing with the loss of Jerry due to retirement, but the examination of our budget and spending priorities may mean the loss of others on staff as well.
Some general statements, then, regarding concerns raised at the Congregational Meeting in Aug. and the way we’ve been thinking about them on the Transition Planning Committee.
There is no GPS that can tell us where we’re going; we begin anyway.
The envisioning process we’ll begin this weekend is an opportunity for us to build on our strengths as lay leaders. It will help us forge new ways of responding to and interacting with each other and at its best, will help us manage this period of transition and change with grace.
The process will also help us clarify the direction we see ourselves headed. Jerry and Libby and all of our staff care deeply about First Church and how we will survive and grow into the future; all will be important resources for the study groups that begin meeting in October. But at its essence, this is our gig.
Creating the “job description” for our new senior minister will be part of our process; at this point, we don’t know what characteristics we’re looking for and therefore, we just aren’t ready to speculate about possible candidates.
As study groups begin looking at possible staffing restructure, we’ll be looking at the way our staff positions are structured but not evaluating how current staff members have performed.
Study groups may also be exploring new ways of doing church and the process will meet the best success if discussion at every level is as frank and open as possible. We’ll all need to be sensitive to areas where interests collide or where our discussion may cause discomfort and pain. Again, we ALL care about First Church; if we’re able to take full advantage of this opportunity to work together with patience and compassion, our way forward will be clear.
As we read in our service last Sunday, “We covenant with you, O God, and with one another to walk together into the future in your Spirit of Love on the path that is revealed to us.”
Update #6
By Cathy Chambers
Some of the questions asked at the Congregational Meeting August 21 concerned the decision to hire consultant Speed Leas. Folks had concerns about what his credentials are and why the Transition Planning Committee (TPC) and Church Council thought that engaging him to help us through this transition/envisioning process was a good idea.
Speed Leas is a consultant with the Alban Institute, described on its website as “an ecumenical, independent center of learning and leadership development.” Speed earned his B.A. from UC Berkeley and his M.Div. from Yale Divinity School; from 1964 through 1967, he was Sr. Minister at Immanuel United Church of Christ in Watts. Since then, his work experience has included six years as the director of the Center of Metropolitan Mission-in-Service regional Urban Training Center; four years as Director of Training with the Institute for Advanced Pastoral Studies; 15 years as the Director of Consulting Services with the Alban Institute; from 1992 through 2005, when he (semi) retired he was a senior consultant at Alban. Over the years Speed has worked with urban congregations of various denominations in Atlanta, Fort Worth, San Diego and Los Angeles; he’s consulted several times with First Congregational Church of Berkeley; he was even here at First Church a couple of decades ago. More recently, he’s consulted with the West Coast UCC Senior Ministers group, of which Jerry Stinson is a member.
Jerry’s very positive experience working with Speed in that Senior Ministers group led him to recommend Speed and an envisioning process for First Church. Jerry brought a proposal to Council in February and Council voted to form a planning committee to meet with Speed and consider whether the envisioning process and Speed’s consultation would work for us.
The Transition Planning Committee met with Speed in July and considered how we might go about making the transition from one senior minister to another (we DID look at the long-term intentional interim option and discussed it at length). If finding a new senior minister was all that needed doing, we wouldn’t recommend hiring a consultant. But we’re also trying to figure out how we can reconcile our mission with our financial reality now and as we look to the future. That may mean serious changes to the way we “do church” and how we use our building. It will likely mean serious changes to our current staff positions.
These are not changes that the Council, Stewardship and Finance, the Budget or Personnel committees, or the TPC can or should make on their own. For this reason we decided it is important to engage in a Congregation-Wide Envisioning process even though that’s not how we’ve meet these challenges in the past. We decided it’s important to spend the money now and hire Speed Leas to help us through that process even though it means further stressing our budget.
The eight of us on the TPC found Speed to be realistic, insightful and very helpful in our discernment process when we met with him in July. He did not tell us what was best for First Church and that will not be his role as we go forward. The TPC will value his help in making sure that the conversation is as open and broad as possible, that our connection to each other and the sacred nature of our undertaking is a vital part of the process, and that recommendations and decisions made as a result of the process reflect the vision of the whole.
Update #5
Congregation-Wide Envisioning: A Boatload of Possibilities! Find Out More Sunday, August 21
By Cathy Chambers
July 16, the Transition Planning Committee (TPC) met with consultant Speed Leas for a full but informative, insightful and rewarding six hours. We were introduced to three models for an envisioning process that will help us:
- Reach clarity on our vision/direction
- Analyze our financial situation and agree on staffing structure for the future
- At the end of the process, nominate, elect, and install a pastoral search committee
After a week spent considering the three options, the TPC met again Monday, July 25 and was able to agree that the Congregation-Wide Envisioning process would be of most benefit to us and agreed to recommend the engagement of Speed Leas to help guide us through that process; we presented our recommendations to Council Tuesday, July 26. We also recommended that Council call a Congregational Meeting so that the TPC has the opportunity to outline the process for the congregation as a whole. Council agreed and set a meeting for Sunday, August 21 following the morning service.
We realize that summer, particularly August, is a difficult time to meet, but invite those of you who can attend to join us as we take these next steps into discerning our life together.
Update #4
By Cathy Chambers and Harold Sutherland
This weekend, the Transition Planning Committee (TPC) will be meeting with Alban Institute consultant Speed Lees to begin planning for the transition we’ll face with Jerry Stinson’s retirement. Following the initial meeting with Speed, the committee will evaluate the need to engage a consultant on an on-going basis and will make a recommendation to council based on some of the following issues:
- Can we afford to pay a consultant? Is this expense the most effective use of our dollars? What are the costs we might incur (in time as well as our financial resources) if we don’t seek outside, objective guidance?
- Is this consultant someone who has experience with and knowledge of churches like ours, facing the challenges that we’re facing?
- Will we benefit from continued help to:
- focus and stay on task
- ensure that participation in the process is as broadly based as possible
- discern what’s important to us and engage in serious discussion about those issues
- understand our current realities, particularly financial
- bring a broader familiarity of church staffing and administrative structure than most of us have directly experienced
- create a process by which we can move forward
What has been our First Church experience using a consultant? Teri Brewster and Pam Chapin were part of the Capital Campaign organized in 2000 and both found that working with the consultant hired to help us through that process was extremely helpful. Teri remembers that the process was intentionally prayerful and that the participation of everyone in the congregation “evolved like a chandelier,” tier by tier. Pam (after thinking initially that the process sounded like a pyramid scheme) was surprised at how involved and committed the congregation became and believed that hiring a consultant was money well spent.
Inviting your prayers as we embark on the process,
Cathy Chambers and Harold Sutherland
Update #3
By Cathy Chambers and Harold Sutherland
Another thing about change: it’s inevitable. Have you noticed? And our Transition Planning Committee (TPC) has experienced it recently with Bob Kalayjian’s departure. Bob has regretfully decided that with the Peace Cranes and more than a few other projects in the works, he’ll be too busy to be fully committed to the process at this stage. Happily, Robert Stapp has agreed to step in and the TPC* is again ready to get going. Thanks to both Bob and Robert for “everything they do”!
As you may recall from earlier updates, the TPC has been formed to facilitate the transition process we face Jerry Stinson’s retirement at the end of 2012. The committee’s first order of business is to meet with Alban Institute consultant Speed Leas to determine if and how consultation might help us; we now have a meeting with Speed scheduled for July.
Who is this guy? Speed is a nationally known consultant to religious organizations and an educator of church leaders, including pastors, laity and church executives. For more than three decades, he has worked full-time as a teacher and consultant to ecclesiastical groups throughout the United States and Canada. He has an extensive background as a management consultant to churches and has expertise helping congregations with both long-range and short-range planning (from the Alban Institute website).
Do we need a consultant? Hmmm, good question. We’ll get back to you on that!
*The Transition Planning Committee: Veronica Bloomfield, Chris Bobo, Cathy Chambers, Michael Gardner, Alison Mitchell, Deb Moore, Robert Stapp and Peter Wright.
Update #2
By Cathy Chambers and Harold Sutherland
Change is scary but sometimes it seems more manageable when we know what’s going on. As we begin to plan for Jerry Stinson’s retirement at the end of 2012 and the future of First Church, the following suggestions might help keep us up-to-date.
PILGRIM NEWSLETTER ARTICLES
- Transition Planning Updates will be an ongoing series.
- Look for the e-issue of The Pilgrim delivered every Wed. or the print copy in your mailbox later in the week (if you’re not online and need print copies mailed to you, contact Ruth Warkentin in the church office)
- Current and back issues of The Pilgrim are available on the First Church website; click on “Church Newsletter” in the left column; no password is necessary to access the newsletter.
COUNCIL REPORTS AND MINUTES
- Each stage of the transition process will be discussed during Council meetings and recommendations and expenditures voted on.
- If you serve on one of the church boards, remember to ask your Council Reps to report on the proceedings of the previous Council meeting.
- Minutes from Council meetings are available in the “Members’ Area” of the church website (this area is password protected; check with Ruth Warkentin for the user name and password). Print copies of Council minutes are kept in a binder outside the church office.
- Council meetings are open meetings and anyone may attend as a non-voting guest (however, some matters are confidential and those discussions are closed to guests).
MEMBERS-AT-LARGE and OTHERS
- Bob Kalayjian, Jim Snelling, and Jim Deaton are members-at-large this year and they can bring questions and concerns to Council.
- Cathy Chambers, Vice-Moderator, is chair of the Transition Planning Committee (TPC) and can respond to questions about the progress of that group.
- As our process develops, working groups will be established and additional leaders identified.
COMING SOON
- The Woo Hoo bulletin board on the 3rd Street landing will be pressed into service again as the Woo Hoo Redux board. To begin with, print copies of these Transition Planning Updates will be posted; pertinent items and space for questions, suggestions, and concerns will be added as we go forward.
- Informational “Moments” (limited to 3 minutes, of course!) will be presented during the Sunday service.
- A blog? Anybody think that’s a good idea?
Please let us know what other communication options might work for you.
Update #1
By Cathy Chambers and Harold Sutherland
Change is scary!
Our Sr. Minister Jerry Stinson plans to retire at the end of 2012 and, yes, for most of us that’s pretty scary. But he has created a valuable opportunity for us to begin now to shape the future of First Church.
Jerry has laid the groundwork for the possible engagement of Speed Leas, a consultant with the Alban Institute. Speed is an ordained UCC minister and is the consultant chosen by the West Coast UCC Senior Ministers group; as a member of that group, Jerry has directly experienced the benefits that Speed brings to the table.
At its February meeting, Church Council voted both to engage Speed Leas for one session (at an expense of approximately $1,600) and to establish a Transition Planning Committee (TPC) to meet with him. Following that Council meeting, Jerry, Libby Tigner, Harold Sutherland (Moderator) and Cathy Chambers (Vice-Moderator) compiled a list of church members who might serve on a planning committee; eight have agreed and Council approved those eight at its April meeting.
What does this mean? The TPC will administer but not direct the transition process. The committee will meet with Speed Leas initially to determine if and how consultation might help us; recommendations will be brought to Council for approval. If the process continues forward, the TPC will then be responsible for tapping a larger group of between 30 to 50 members who will continue to meet with Speed for visioning and further planning.
Who are the members of the TPC? Veronica Bloomfield, Chris Bobo, Cathy Chambers, Michael Gardner, Bob Kalayjian, Alison Mitchell, Deb Moore, and Peter Wright.
What’s next? We’ll see! This article is only the first in a series and future articles will report on the process as it develops, delve into details, and try to respond to questions.
Stay tuned!
