July 20: Letter to the church council

To:  Phil Taylor, Moderator; Members of the Church Council; Reverend Miller 

Re:  Former Pastor Policy

We, the undersigned members of First Congregational UCC, submit a way to resolve the recent disagreement among church members and leadership. We offer relief of the burden we have all been sharing. No one group or individual should have to shoulder the responsibility for creating and implementing a policy on retiring ministers. A resolution involving the entire congregation can illustrate the deep-seated values of our remarkable church.

The new Former Pastor Policy, the process by which it was developed and the response of church leaders to congregation members with concerns about the policy have created a conflict within our church community.

We do not believe that hiring an outside moderator to arbitrate the conflict is appropriate –it will take several thousand dollars and the process will require weeks or months, extending the time that our church suffers. 

We believe that a new policy can be developed that serves the needs of all involved:  the congregation, the current pastor and the former pastor.  Such a policy can and should be developed through the Church Council with input from members of this group and approved by the congregation. 

We request that the church council communicate a new policy to the congregation by October 1, 2020. 

As members of the congregation, we request that a new policy meet the following key principles:

a.       It needs to specify reasonable time periods for the former pastor to refrain from contact with church members after leaving as pastor and before the pastor can ask to return as a church member.

b.     A newly settled pastor can be included in discussions about accepting a former pastor as a church member, but should not have sole authority to make the decision.

c.      The policy would specify a process to determine whether a former pastor is accepted as a member of the church and that clear reasons be given for postponing or denying membership.

d.     A former pastor who returns as a member of the church would in all ways respect the current pastor’s authority and role as spiritual leader of the church and agree not to serve the members of the congregation in a pastoral capacity.

e.      The new policy and any subsequent revisions must be approved by congregation.

With respect, 

Allen, Ann

Argue, Pat

Battle, Cary

Bodamer, Karel

Byerly, Steve

Cain, Anne

Coonrod, Ben

Coonrod, Joanna

Fitzwilliam, Heather

Gambill, Virginia

Harris, Jimmy

Huff, Susan

Irving, Nancy

Jaeger, J.J.

Jolly, James

Jones, Donna

Kimmel, Joanne

Knight, Connie

McKinney, Joan

Miles, Bob

Palmer, Susan

Rhoades, Diane

Schopper, Aaron

Schopper, Claudia

Steward, Jeanie

Stewart, Milton

Swift, Diane

Tierney, Kevin

Tierney, Joyce

Wilson, Carolyn

Brantley, Diane

Brantley, Richard

Cone, Kirsten

Lowder, Stephanie

Raymond, Mark

Raymond, Jean

Perrett, Jody

(Signatures added 07/21/2020)

Jenkins, Kinsey

Jenkins, Doreen

Orr, Dell

Vandre, David