Oct 4: Addendum to CCH Report: Statement from HRM

 Summary of The Process and Conclusions of Human Relations Ministry (HRM) in Arriving at The Revised Departed Pastor Policy

HRM received the referral of the need for a revised policy from the Transition Leadership Team and church Moderator. The HRM was the most appropriate entity for this assignment, based on its charter and the church by-laws, which do not require a congregational meeting.

We carefully deliberated on the best overall interests of the church, based on these high priority needs: New Settled Pastor:

• Needs to know that she is the sole pastoral and spiritual leader of the congregation.

• Needs to be able to chart and lead the congregation in new directions, without reminders about the prior pastor’s preferences and experiences.

• Needs the full energy and commitment of the congregation, without any diversion of attention to and care of the departed pastor by the congregation.

• Needs an environment free of any competition that could occur with the departed pastor, and any intended or unintended divisiveness or conflict directly or indirectly caused by departed pastor.

Congregation:

• Needs to fully commit to and invest in the new pastor, having expressed final departed pastor farewells in March 2018.

• Needs to keep congregational life and relationships healthy and without disruption or possible conflicts arising from interactions with the departed pastor.

• Needs to set healthy boundaries for all church activities, which can include departed pastor and church members resuming non-church social contacts.

We sought information and perspectives from Rev. Karla Miller, the UCC WNC Association’s Committee on Ministry, and transition consultant Fe Avis about the general advisability of departed pastors returning to their prior churches.

CONCLUSION: We unanimously concluded that it is in the best interests of the church as a whole that no departed pastors return to FCUCC membership.

We then carefully applied the criteria for discerning the suitability for reentry of a retired pastor specifically to Rev. Weidler and FCUCC, as provided in the document Considerations for a Retired Pastor’s Reentry into a Congregation (also attached to CCH report). Finally, we compared this assessment to the UCC Ministerial Code of Ethics.

CONCLUSION: We unanimously concluded that the revised policy was appropriate specifically for Rev. Weidler and the FCUCC congregation. The content of those discussions is confidential, as mandated by the HRM charter that “HRM maintain confidentiality in all personal matters.”

Respectfully submitted:

HRM Members: Gary Cyphers (chairman), Nolleen Kelly, Sheryl Mendenhall, and Charlotte Shipley