Earlier this year Leadership Team (LT) began discussing the possibility of creating a new part time pastoral position.  Several intersecting factors have prompted this discussion.  A primary one is a desire to be proactive.  LT sees a healthy and active congregational culture and has wondered if now is the time to expand our ministry capacity.  How might such a position support existing ministries and stretch us into new ones?  

A second influence has been taking stock of how our current pastoral staffing compares with other similarly sized Central District Conference (CDC) congregations.  Through an informal survey of five peer CDC congregations, we discovered that we spend the lowest portion of our annual budget on pastoral staffing, and have the lowest level of pastoral staffing per average Sunday attendance.         

A third factor is taking into account my increased role in CDC leadership, now serving as Chair of the Board of Directors.  While only a two-year term, after which I’ll rotate off the Board, the time commitment has an impact on some of my availability with CMC matters during this span.

A fourth factor is recognizing some financial assets, beyond annual pledging, that have been accumulating.  An unexpectedly generous pledging cycle for our 2026 budget means we may not need to tap into those should we move forward with this position.

While our Leadership Team holds the visioning and financial stewardship components, it has appointed a Pastor Exploration Committee to lead the congregation in discerning if now is the right time to add pastoral staff and if so, what tasks that position might hold.  We have intentionally chosen the phrasing “Pastor Exploration” rather than “Pastor Search” because we want the conversation to start with exploring the possibility. 

There will be two key ways this conversation will take place over the next couple weeks.  One will be at our congregational meeting this Sunday.  You should have received an email from the church office last Friday, October 24, that includes an agenda outlining discussion questions for this topic.  A second chance for input, accessible to those who can’t attend Sunday and open to those in attendance who want to have their thoughts more directly heard, will be through an online survey sent out early next week. 

We recognize that while a small number of us have been pondering this for a number of months, it’s a new discussion for most of the congregation.  Pastor Exploration Committee members welcome anyone reaching out to them directly: Joel Call (Chair), Laurie Zimmerman (LT Rep), Marlene Suter, Austin McCabe Juhnke, and me.

Along with the concrete discernment aspect, I’m hopeful this can be a lively way to think and dream about the kind of abundant life we wish to practice within and beyond our congregational community. 

Joel