On Sunday, March 12 the Church Council approved the names of people to serve on the committee that will write our Church Profile, the next major step in our transition to a new settled pastor.

Those who agreed to serve on the Profile Committee are: Anne Warner, Fred Goodhue, Jan Varnon, Mariel Addis and Nancy Winninger.

They will be working with Rev. Peter Wells, former Area Minister for the Massachusetts UCC. Peter has helped churches write profiles in the past. Members of the Transition Leadership Team will provide support and assistance to the Profile Committee as needed.

The purpose of the profile is to describe who we are as a church and what we want to become. With Rev. Peter Well’s guidance, the Profile Committee will be working off a template provided by the Massachusetts United Church of Christ. It will ask us to consider  and answer a number of questions as we explore where we have been as a church, who we are today, and what our vision is for the future. 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.

The Profile Committee’s work will include a lot of meetings, interviews and conversations with members of the congregation, including several all-congregation meetings.  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.

The goal is to have the Church Profile completed by September. At that point a separate Search Committee will use the Church Profile to review the profiles of pastoral candidates, beginning with our Acting Pastor, if he wishes to be considered.

Our deep thanks for the willingness of the Profile Committee members to serve our congregation in this very important way.

Your Transition Leadership Team

Alice Barber, Jo Cannon, Carolyn DuBois, Jim Foudy, Sam Icklan