Associate Minister Search Committee

	Christian Education
	The Associate Minister has primary responsibility for developing and providing the congregation’s educational ministry for children, middle and senior high youth, and adults. This includes programming for Sunday morning, confirmation, and youth fellowship groups.
	The Associate Minister is the primary staff liaison to the Board of Christian Education and its committees.
	The Associate Minister shall be available to teach education classes for children, youth, and adults.
	Worship
	The Associate Minister assists with the planning of worship, preaches a minimum of eight times per year, and assists with worship regularly as a Worship Leader.
	The Associate Minister will occasionally lead “Time with Children” during worship services.
	The Associate Minister has particular responsibility for involving children and youth in the worship life of the church.
	The Associate Minister may provide leadership for young families’ worship opportunities.
	Pastoral Care
	The Associate Minister has primary responsibility for pastoral care with children, youth, and their families. This includes pastoral calling, hospital visitation, pastoral conversation, referral to counselors, and other ministries of care and concern as needed.
	Mission and Outreach
	The Associate Minister will be the primary staff liaison to the Board of Outreach Missions.
	The Associate Minister will work to involve children, youth, and adults in intergenerational mission outreach activities.
	The Church’s Wider Mission
	The Associate Minister shall support and participate in the ministries of the United Church of Christ on a Conference and national level, as time permits.
	The Associate Minister may also be involved in the ecumenical and community ministries, as time permits.
	Personal Growth and Development
	The Associate Minister shall make time for regular opportunities for spiritual nurture and professional development. Two weeks per year study leave will be provided.
	Duties in Cooperation with the Senior Minister
	The Associate Minister performs weddings, baptisms, memorial services and other special services within the life of the church, as requested.
	As time permits, the Associate Minister will participate in the general pastoral work of the church in cooperation with the Senior Minister.
	Administration and Staff
	The Associate Minister is expected to attend staff meetings and work with the Senior Minister, as well as other staff, to enable church programs to function effectively and smoothly.
	The Associate Minister is an ex-officio non-voting member of the Church Council, Boards, and Committees, as defined in the church bylaws, and may work with any Board or Committee as time permits, in coordination with the Senior Minister.
	Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
	The Associate Minister shall hold Ministerial Standing in the Central Pacific Conference of the United Church of Christ.
	The Associate Minister must have skills, interest, and passion in working with children, youth, and their families.
	The Associate Minister must be effective in: relating to and working with others; recruiting, delegating, and supporting volunteers to assume and carry out program leadership; and organizing individuals and groups.
	The Associate Minister must be able to work positively and collegially in a staff relationship.
	The Associate Minister must have effective communication skills, especially in speaking with children, youth, and adults in an educational environment.
	The Associate Minister must have a working knowledge of social media tools.

Who We Are, What We Believe
Posted November 8, 2011

We at First Congregational United Church of Christ in Corvallis take seriously our denomination’s challenge to become the church of God’s Extravagant Welcome, celebrating the whole diversity of God’s people and God’s earth.

Therefore we believe:

	that all people are loved by God;
	And so we are called to ministries of justice, peace-making, and humanitarian assistance.
	that all people are created in God’s image;
	And so we are called to ministries of inclusivity, standing for and with persons of all races and ethnicities; the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community; the poor; and those of differing physical and mental abilities.
	that there are many ways to know, love, and serve God;
	And so we are called to educate ourselves that we might understand, appreciate, and work cooperatively with our ecumenical and interfaith neighbors.
	that God has given the earth into our care;
	And so we are called to ministries of environmental stewardship.
	that the Bible is the primary source for Christians to know and interpret the love of God and the call of Jesus Christ in our lives;
	And so we are called to take the Bible seriously but not literally, depending on the tools of scholarship, prayer, and the leading of the Holy Spirit to find our gifts and to offer them in joyful ministry to this community and to God’s world.
	We invite your questions and contact!

Visioning Committee Recommendations
Posted January 6, 2012

The visioning process of the church is to help determine what OUR CHURCH will be in the future. As we move forward we will change, but the foundation for that change is the strength, success, and traditions of the past. We are not to be mired in the past and tradition, but to stand on that foundation and see WHAT WE MAY BECOME. The following are our understanding of your hopes for the future of our church, along with some preliminary recommendations.

The number one hope for the future of our congregation, expressed in the many home group discussions this past fall, is to increase the number of young families as a percentage of our faith community. The simplest and yet most difficult means (for us shy evangelists) of addressing this is for all of us to become more actively invitational: asking friends, neighbors, and coworkers to join us for worship or family-oriented fellowship events, or letting parents know about our summer Vacation Bible School. When new families visit the church, it should be a high priority for clergy and staff to follow up on those families, getting to know each family’s needs and making them familiar with our programs. The Christian Education Board is already at work to increase opportunities for intergenerational fun and service projects. We recommend continuing meetings with our current young parents to determine what worship and program enhancements they would most appreciate. In a previous meeting of parents and the Visioning Committee, one suggestion was to offer periodic Sunday services with a more contemporary look and feel. Other parents desired greater participation by children, youth, and families in Sunday morning worship. All of these changes are labor-intensive. The addition of the Christian Education Associate to the staff has already increased our ministries with children and families. We recommend that that position be continued to support this most important priority of our congregation.

An alternate avenue to bring families into the church is to redesign our website to make it more interactive and visually dynamic. This generation looks first to the internet for information. We should make our website as friendly and informative as possible.

Challenge #1 Become a younger church
Action steps moving forward:
• Invite families to visit
• Create more dynamic website
• Involve families as worship leaders
• Increase worship and programming that is more multi-generationally engaging
• Focus clergy/staff time of this priority.

A second hope for our congregation’s near and long-term future is for the entire congregation to become more involved in issues of environmental stewardship, and particularly the stewardship of our church building and grounds. Acting out our faith begins at home, both our individual homes and our church home. Our church property is also the most visible reflection to the outside world of our commitment to God’s intention that we be good stewards of the earth. Responsible stewardship requires research, education, planning, and prioritization. We recommend that the Church Council convene a special congregation-wide ad hoc group, including representatives of the Trustees, the Christian Education Board, the Caring for Creation group, and other interested parties to create resources for individual congregation members and both long and short-term plans for the “greening” of our church building and grounds. Also, the Caring for Creation group has been functioning relatively “untethered” within our church structure. It needs to find an organizational home to be more effective in its work.

Challenge #2 Become a creation-oriented church
Action steps moving forward:
• Create a congregation-wide plan for environmental stewardship
• Find a structural home for Caring for Creation

A third finding of our congregational listening project is that, for many, it is small group experiences that church members find most rewarding and even transformative. The church needs to increase its number and widen its range of opportunities for members to meet others in ways that allow us to know each other (and know God) better. One particular subset of small group activities mentioned over and over again was the transformative effect of hands-on mission work, and the desire that the church offer more and more varied opportunities for service learning and reflection. Perhaps the Diaconate fellowship committee could be expanded or some other structure created, and both member and staff time be prioritized to create and maintain a variety of small group activities within the church.

By far, the most concrete guidance given to us concerning smaller group opportunities had to do with hands-on mission work. When we work together for the benefit of others, it creates a special bond among participants and gives us new insight into our faith. Because this opportunity is so important, and because creating a variety of mission opportunities from half-day to week-long experiences appropriate for children, families, youth, or mixed groups of youth and adults is a significant ministry on its own, the committee recommends that we create a new Board of Mission Opportunity to oversee this large, multi-faceted task. We further believe that staff and clergy support will be essential to the success of this new venture.

Challenge #3 Become a church with more opportunities to work, study, serve, and play/
Action steps moving forward:
• Canvass the congregation to determine what kinds of small-group opportunities are desired.
• Give small-group ministries an appropriate institutional home and increased staff support.
• Create a board of Mission Opportunity for hands-on mission work.

We recognize a faith imperative to be always looking at the demographic makeup of our congregation to identify ways to make the face of our church more like the face of God. In the UCC, we preach the gospel of extravagant welcome to all who would join us. Therefore, we must continually ask ourselves what barriers exist within our congregation that would make certain groups of persons feel unwelcome or uncomfortable in our midst. We consciously seek to become more racially, culturally, and economically inclusive, and to remove the last barriers to access for differently-abled persons. Beyond making the church welcoming, we should seek out ways to work side-by-side in the community with those who are different from ourselves: e.g. sharing a week of hosting the cold-weather shelter with a Hispanic church, or working at the food bank with an African-American student group. We must not expect all to want to come to us, but be prepared ourselves to move outward from the church to create relationships with our diverse ecumenical and interfaith neighbors.

Challenge # 4 Become a more inclusive church
Action steps moving forward:
• Educate ourselves on issues of diversity.
• Remove perceived barriers to diversity in our church.
• Partner in mission with diverse faith groups.

A final word: It is the nature of the church as an institution to try to fit new priorities and activities into old structures. Sometimes this works; sometimes it does not. As the Visioning Committee has been talking about what we heard as congregational priorities, we have encountered structural problems such as the placement of the Caring for Creation committee within the church, the lack of a “home” for hands-on mission planning, the need for a group whose commitment is the creation and maintenance of small groups (extremely labor intensive at first), and, finally, the need for a group to oversee whatever priorities the church adopts out of this report. If we really want to change direction or intensify our focus in particular areas, those priorities need to be supported by our governance structure and by the allocation of clergy and other staff time, as well as by the whole church.

We have an extraordinarily committed congregation. The volunteer hours given to the church to carry out its work are our most valuable resource. We already have many boards and committees and often struggle to fill all those positions in the church. The committee recommends that the Church Council appoint a Phase II Visioning committee to check in with the congregation to see if what we heard is what you want, and then oversee the implementation of the parts of this report with which the church wants to move forward. Part of that committee’s job would be to engage a small group to look at our governance as a whole and ask the questions of whether our current structure adequately supports our current mission and whether our structure is designed to make the best use of precious congregational volunteer hours. The committee would also work with Pastoral Relations and Personnel to study how clergy/staff time is managed and prioritized.

Challenge # 5 Become a church whose structure supports its mission
Action steps moving forward:
• Appoint an implementation committee for congregational priorities.
• Streamline and focus our governance.
• Align clergy and staff time to support priorities.

Thank you to all of you who have participated in the Vision process so far. We look forward to your continued input and support as we move forward.

Faithfully yours,
Michael Henthorne, chair: Kim Thackray; John Erkkila; Betty Massoni; John Hawkins
Liz Oettinger and Ryan Lambert, ex officio

Search Committee Member Bios
Posted January 11, 2012

Front row (L to R): Bob Hannigan, Angie Dahlke, Tammy Skubinna, Ginny Lucker, Ann Hawkins
Back row (L to R): Tanya Andersson, Ted McCann, Brooks McCann, Bryan Wright, Bob Stebbins
Missing: John Erkkila

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF SEARCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Tanya Andersson has been a church member for 13 years. She is a Campus Patrol Officer at Oregon State University. Tanya has served on the Board of Deacons for the past four years and has also taught Sunday School. She shares her life with her partner, Shauna, and 11 year-old son, Colin. She enjoys cooking for people she loves and working in her craft room.

Angie Dahlke has attended our church for about three years and has been a member a little over a year. She works for Community Outreach, Inc., as a social worker; her partner is also a social worker in Corvallis. Angie became a new mom in late December and, at the moment, is very preoccupied with her new son, Kai, who is teaching her so much! She loves to dance, work with people, and take trips to the coast with her family as often as possible.

John Erkkila has been involved in the active life and governance of our church for more than 25 years, and their three adult children grew up in the youth program. Currently he serves on the Just Peace Committee and is a lay worship leader. John is a semi-retired orthopedic surgeon. His community interests include working with the homeless and serving on the board of Corvallis Community Outreach, Inc. John has lived the outdoor life since his childhood, and one of many reasons for moving to Corvallis was the opportunity to continue to enjoy that life style here.

Bob Hannigan, who serves as Chair of our Search Committee, is a retired University Administrator. He has been a church member for four years and currently serves on the Board of Deacons. Bob is learning to be a good grandfather and a better spouse, father, fly fisherman and horseback rider. He is also seeking to spend more time with Jesus.

Ann Hawkins is a fourth generation Oregonian who was “born into” and raised in this church. She is our church secretary and prior to her employment here served in the volunteer capacities of Vice-Moderator, and as a member of the Board of Deacons and the Nominating Committee. Ann is married and enjoys entertaining, reading, “evil” Sudokus, and music of all genres, especially blues and jazz; she sings in the church choir.

Ginny Lucker is a native Oregonian. She has lived in Corvallis for 17 years and has been a member of this church for the last 14. She has served as church Moderator, on the Board of Deacons, and on the Personnel Committee. She is married and has two college-aged children, both of whom were previously active in the middle and high school youth groups. She works as a land use attorney, most recently for the Oregon Department of Justice. Ginny enjoys gardening, baking/cooking, downhill skiing, walking the family's cocker spaniel, reading, and exploring Oregon.

Brooks McCann is a sophomore in high school and has been involved in our church for six years. He was confirmed and became a member last year. His interests are football, basketball, playing in the Youth Symphony, and hanging out with his friends.

Ted McCann has been a church member for six years, and has served on the Christian Education Board, been a youth confirmation mentor, and is a lay scripture reader. He also leads the church’s “Active Men’s Group.” Ted was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. as a teenager to attend school. He became a teacher through Teach for America and taught bilingual kindergarten and coached basketball for ten years in Houston, Texas. Ted is married and a stay-at-home Dad for their three children ages, 8, 12, and 16. He enjoys the outdoors, playing and watching sports, and home brewing.

Tammy Skubinna is retired from the Oregon State University 4-H Extension Service. She has been a member of this church for 17 years, served on the Mission Board for six years, and the Endowment and Memorials Board for three years. She also volunteers as a lay scripture reader, and at Tuesday Rec Night, for our youth. She has been partnered for seven years and enjoys playing tennis and softball. She is heavily involved in community volunteer work.

Bob Stebbins is a Professor Emeritus from Oregon State University where he was an Extension Specialist in Horticulture (tree fruit and nut production). He is married and has three grown offspring and two grown grandchildren. He is an active member of the Diaconate Outreach and Evangelism committee and is active in Amnesty International, the Democratic party, Veterans for Peace, the Kiwanis Club of Corvallis, and the Corvallis-Uzhgorod (Ukraine) Sister Cities Association. Bob likes to garden and do photography.

Bryan Wright has been a member of First Congregational for approximately four years. He is married and has a son, Tommy, 8, and daughter, Elena, 5. Bryan served on the Christian Education Board for three years, focusing on children’s activities. He is a biometrician for the Marine Mammals Project for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. His interests include outdoor activities (hiking, canoeing, birding), reading, and home remodeling.