Hello, my name is Jessica Sievers.  I use the pronouns she, her, and hers.  I am chairing your Ministerial Search Committee.  It is my honor to work with Molly McGaughey, Susan Rensing, Scott Tanona, Larry Weaver, Marisa Larson, and to have Lily Colburn as an alternate.  This committee was chosen from nominations and/or were Board-appointed to round out the representation of the committee.  The committee was unanimously approved by the congregation at the UUFM Annual Meeting in April of 2020.

Since Reverend Jonalu is retiring this summer, we are in search of a minister.  Jonalu voluntarily reduced her full-time position to three-quarter time last year.  Jonalu has served our congregation as a developmental minister and previous ministers have been contract ministers.  And so, we are in search for a three-quarter time, “contract-to-call” minister (which entails a two-year contract with the option to call).

Our hope is that a contract-to-call minister will love our congregation, and Manhattan, as much as we do, and over a couple of years the feeling will be mutual and we can call the minister to stay longer.

Over the winter, our committee spent many hours completing the Application for Ministerial Search with the assistance of our Board Chair, Rob Morrison. In turn, we received a ministerial applicant.  Our Search Committee held a two-hour interview with the applicant via Zoom this May.  The committee made a unanimous recommendation to the Board in favor of the ministerial applicant.  The Board supported offering to hire the applicant, and the applicant regrettably declined.

What have I learned?  I am honored to work with, and proud of what this Ministerial Search Committee has accomplished during a pandemic.  We also gained experience and practice utilizing non-binary terms like they, them, and their.  I feel our congregation can work toward being more inclusive for such individuals.

Also, the staff at the UU Association has been supportive with presenting options as we continue our ministerial search.  They replied, “It may be time to start thinking about the most essential ministry functions you would like a minister to provide and whether you might be open to a virtual ministry.  Another possibility would be for a Targeted Ministry Program minister to work with the fellowship until the right match comes along for the contract ministry.”

There is more work to do.  Your UUFM Ministerial Search Committee will keep you updated with our progress. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

Jessica Sievers, she/her/hers

Contact Jessica at sieversj@gmail.com.