When Andy announced his retirement in January, Talia and I began to look at past transition strategies at UCG, and to partner with Barb Gibbs, Jeremy Archer and others to imagine how to both continue our vital day-to-day ministries with one less minister on staff while also creating space for the work of envisioning our future with the congregation.  To accomplish these goals, a Transition team was first formed, led by Jeremy as moderator elect, and served by current moderator Barb, and representatives from the Boards of Business, Parish Ministry, Congregation/Ministry Review and Social Justice. The work of that group has been to imagine and plan for a period of discerning what is next. We’ll engage a congregational consultant who will work with Council members and others on leading through change, and will help us ask questions about our hopes, dreams and values as well as reflect on how our staffing model can best support those questions. This group has been working hard to anticipate the kinds of questions we need to reflect on going forward and to schedule multiple opportunities for congregational discernment and sharing.

The second is to design three very-part-time staff positions to support Bromleigh, Talia and the rest of the staff in these transition months. These positions were first presented to BoB, Council Exec, and Church Council for approval, and they will be funded from a portion of the budget lines set aside for Andy’s salary and will be filled by UCGers who have some hours to share and expertise to help in ways that will free up time for Bromleigh and Talia, so that they can resource the Boards and Committees that Andy served. 

• Heather Dewar will serve as the Communications Strategy Specialist, providing writing and editing support for church publications (which will continue to be done by Lisa Goldstein). Additionally, Heather will help devise a communications strategy and UCG style guide, which will help us to better inform our members and engage the broader community. (This work was one of the recommendations of the Financial Sustainability Team Report).
• Chad McGinnis will serve as our Worship and Music Coordinator, helping to recruit and assign readers, musicians, guest preachers and other participants in our worship services. He’ll find and write liturgy, and occasionally preach.
• Ellen Ribe will serve as our Pastoral Care Coordinator, focusing specifically on coordinating our other ministers’ pastoral care efforts, visiting folks who are homebound or dealing with chronic health issues, and offering a training/refresher for our lay visitors’ program through Kairos. 

You may well be hearing from any of these folks in coming days and weeks, as they introduce themselves or reach out to you for conversation or to volunteer. We’re so grateful to have them on board, and hope you’ll support them as well as Talia and I in this stage of our transition!

Grace and Peace, 

Bromleigh