The Church Profile Writing Team is hard at work. Members are gathering information, starting conversations with church members and addressing the pages of questions presented by the United Church of Church Local Church Profile Template

They are working with Rev. Peter Wells, former Area Minister for the Massachusetts UCC. The profile, which will be completed in September, will describe who we are as a church and what we want to become. The profile also helps define the skills, gifts and graces we are looking for in our next settled pastor.  It serves as a de facto job description for anyone considering that role.

Here’s how you can participate in this important next step in our transition to a settled pastor.
Save These Dates
The Profile Team and Rev. Wells will hold  two all-congregation meetings after Sunday services May 7 and 21. These will be opportunities to share your thoughts about our church about who we are as a church and what we want to become. Watch for a flyer with more details.
The Profile Committee’s work will include a lot of meetings, interviews and conversations with members of the congregation. The all-congregation meetings are an important part of that process. For the profile to be complete, it must reflect the interests and concerns of all constituencies in the congregation; it must present our best collective vision for the future.  The Profile Committee members are the agents who will make this happen. But it requires all of us to participate. Those serving on the Profile Writing Team are:  Anne Warner, Fred Goodhue, Jan Varnon, Mariel Addis and Nancy Winninger.

One of the documents being used by the Profile Team comes from national UCC headquarters. Here’s a link:
THE-MARKS-OF-FAITHFUL-AND-EFFECTIVE-MINISTERS

Photos Needed
Your Profile Writing Committee wants to create a photo and a video essay of who we are as a church and we need your help.
We need photos and videos of the things we do at church.  We need photos of people in the kitchen during coffee hour, we need photos of the people enjoying coffee hour, and we need photos of various meetings and church events.  We need photos of people arriving at church and being greeted.  We need photos of cool things that happen during the services or anywhere else 2 or more of us are gathered: The Pride Parade and the Climate March.
If you have older photos we would love those too: The Women’s March, Cathedral in the Night, people serving at the Cot Shelter, baking, cooking, eating, crafting, speaking, sharing, greeting, hugging, whatever. (Just a reminder, we need to have permission of people in the photos and permission of parents whenever children are in the photos or videos.) 
If you have digital photos, send them to hccnews@haydenvillechurch.org. Attach then to an email with Photos for Profile in the subject line and a brief explanation of the photo and who took it in the text of the email. Format: pngs, tif and jpegs formats all acceptable.
So get out there and get those photos taken so you have something to share.
If you are someone who loves to take photos and would like to sort of be the official person doing this please let us know, but we would love photos from as many different people as possible.
Thank you in advance.  Your Profile Writing Team