Dear Vancouver Unitarians,
Your Search Committee would like to provide a quick update to keep you all in the loop. We, the MSC, received five applications in total. We are now in the interview phase. Things are going well and we are cautiously optimistic. A process of pre-candidating will commence soon, as per the Settlement Handbook which we published in the Members Portal. If all goes according to plan, this will be followed by a candidating week in late April wherein you all will be able to meet and observe the final candidate.
Search committees sometimes decide to make public their entire Congregational Record, and Search committees sometimes decide not to. Both choices are legitimate. For our context, we have made the choice to make public all components of the Congregational Record that were intended to be made public, like the survey results and cottage meeting notes, and to not publish the component that was never intended to be public. The many members who contributed to the creation of the Congregational Record did so with the understanding that the document was for prospective Minister’s eyes only. This understanding provided us with very honest material, something that we were instructed was the most important quality in a Congregational Record. And because folks contributed to this record with the understanding that it would not be made public, we are honouring their trust and this process by not publishing that portion.
As stated, this is common among Search Committees and not at all unusual. Please know we are working hard on behalf of the entire congregation, in good faith, and with love, and we really appreciate your support. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at search@vancouverunitarians.ca. The Ministerial Search Committee is excited for our shared future here at UCV. We remain hopeful that we will be able to present a candidate for our settled Ministry who will be everyone’s Minister, honouring all of our Principles, values, and diverse beliefs.
In faith,
Diane, Carrie, Esmé, Meena, Michael, Nancy, Jenny.