This article is not about Reverend Jenny’s phone number. Rev. Jenny has notified the Board of Directors of her interest in becoming a “called” minister instead of being a contracted minister.

According to the Unitarian Universalist Association, “A called minister is one who has been formally voted upon by the congregation to stay in relationship for an indefinite duration of time, in contrast to being contracted for a specified period of time, or in an annually renewable position.” Reverend Jenny has been contracted with us for the past 5 years. Again, the UUA notes: “the transition from a contract to a called ministry is significant. There is no longer an annual renewal of a service contract…..but a continued relationship is assumed.”

Many of you will remember the UUA process of detailed evaluation that Reverend Jenny and our Fellowship completed to gain her Ordination as Minister, moving on from her status as Pastor. And you may also remember that a lot of detailed evaluation of her work with us, was required for her to acquire full Fellowship as a UU minister.

Calling Reverend Jenny results from her and our Fellowship declaring our good fit for one another. It also declares our faith in this relationship continuing as long as it is working for both sides. But it is another process. It will involve forming a Call Process Task Force to coordinate the decision-making process. It will involve the whole Fellowship and will require several months of communicating and gathering in-put for final decision making.

So, as a 1st step, this Task Force needs to be developed. If you are interested in being part of the Task Force please contact Becky by phone…208-220-8433…text or call… or email president@pocatellouu.org.
There is a large workbook that can be found on the UUA website regarding Transitions of Ministers and Congregations. The Call Process is outlined on pages 56 through 64.

Link to Download: Transitional Ministry Handbook

At present we expect to need another adapted contract in church year 22/23 with Reverend Jenny, until we have completed this process and know what follows in our relationship with her.

And lastly, this underscores how important our generous pledges are to the Fellowship. We need to be able to afford calling our minister, if that is our final decision. In other words, we don’t want finances to sabotage such an important decision.