TRANSITION EXTENSION

On Sunday September 8th the congregation approved the extension of the transitional ministry period for a year ending June 30,2026.

The purpose of our Transitional Ministry period is to spend time in healing and recovery from the trauma of the past, as well as to reassess who we are as a community of faith, to clarify our program priorities and to identify the qualities, experience and skills that we require in a Lead Minister. This process ultimately leads to a Call being issued and accepted. However, to achieve that end, there is much that needs to be done. To understand why the Board has recommended we extend the Transition Ministry by one year, it may be helpful if we look at the process from the end result and back up through the necessary tasks Minister’s typically start with a new congregation on July 1st.  As they are normally required to provide 3-months notice, a decision re a Call must be made before March 31st.

Consequently, a congregational decision must be made in March after interviews in February and a subsequent Congregational Meeting to approve the candidate and the terms of a Call.  Before interviews, the position must be posted on-line in January and time provided to accept and review applications.  A Search Committee is needed to carry out these tasks and needs to be appointed before Advent so during November Prior to a Search Committee being established, a Community Profile document must be developed. This provides full details of our structure, programs, plans, resources, property and finances

This document takes 2-3 months to prepare so must be started by September at the latest.  Prior to this step, we need approval from the Board and our members of our Values. We then need to develop program priorities linked to the
Values and assess staffing and budget resources to match.  Clearly to accomplish all of this and meet the deadline of a Call being issued within the next 6 months is simply not realistic. So, the Transition Team and the Board have confirmed the request for a 1-year extension to June 30th , 2026. Our Transitional Co-Ordinating Minster, Karen, has also approved this step.

If you have any more questions please ask any of the transition team.  Rev. Karen Millard, Roger Eastwood, Neil Jorgensen or Mary Yan.