Calling of a new Minister for Gungahlin Uniting Church and Community Centre
Update from Chris Dodd (Chairperson of Church Council)
This is a note to let you know what has been happening and what needs to happen in calling a new Minister to replace Rev Mark Faulkner.
Firstly, an outline of the process to select a new Minister. This is a joint effort between Gungahlin Uniting (GUC), our local Presbytery (Canberra Region) and the Synod of NSW & ACT (State-wide Uniting Church).
We here at GUC prepare a Church Profile which is a description of our church. It contains everything a new minister would want to know – the people who come here, the activities and services we provide (eg Food Pantry), what Gungahlin as community is like (demographics etc), what GUC sees as its priorities and what we hope to do in the future. Lots and lots of stuff.
Our Church Profile is then sent to Presbytery who look at it, and will likely endorse our need to call a Minister. Then it’s off to Synod who consider our Church Profile against potential candidates for our vacant Ministry position. Synod will provide the names of up to 3 candidates to be considered by a Joint Nominating Committee (JNC) which comprises 6 people from GUC and 2 from Presbytery. This Committee then decides who of the 3 candidates it would like to talk to and then commences a conversation with that person. There are plenty of twists and turns after this but basically the JNC is expected to nominate a person to be Minister here at GUC. After this has been endorsed by us here at GUC, by Presbytery and Synod we can then call a new Minister. That Minister will need to give 3 months’ notice in the place where he/she is now working before starting with us.
So you can see it is quite an involved and lengthy process. We will be doing well to have a Minister here by early next year.
Because there is potentially a gap of 6-8 months between Mark leaving us and a new Minister starting, Church Council has already begun work to get an interim Minister. Keep tuned for updates on that.
There are two things we need to do soon. These are important and you are all invited to attend:
- To complete our Church Profile we need to identify our priorities and what we hope to achieve in the next few years. We will do this at a meeting on Sunday 30 April at 3.30pm here at GUC. You are all encouraged to be there to contribute your ideas. Put this in your diary.
- Before we can submit our Church Profile to Presbytery, we as a church have to endorse it. We also must confirm as a congregation who from GUC will be on the Joint Nominating Committee (JNC). So there will be a congregational meeting immediately after church on Sunday 21 May. The draft profile including the list of nominees for the JNC will be sent out to you on 7 May so you will have 2 weeks to get acquainted with it. Please put this in your diary.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact me:
Chris Dodd, Chairperson of Church Council
16 April 2017