There is a shortfall, a crisis really, in the supply of UU ministers. This widespread crisis is impacting the ability of congregations, large and small, to fill their pulpits.
This shortfall may be a welcomed relief for those appalled by the rise in “wokeism” in the recent crop of seminary graduates. The crisis, however, is ushering in a reform once considered unlikely. But let’s first consider the scope of this crisis.
The shortfall was brought to our attention by Rev. Keith Kron’s widely distributed June 23, 2023 letter. Rev. Kron is the UUA Transitions Director who works with congregations and interim ministers seeking placements. His letter states, in part
In what surely is a bellwether moment, the first round of interim search concluded Wednesday with 38 congregations searching for full-time interim ministry.
Seventeen congregations looking for full-time interim ministry learned they did not have a mutual match. We knew it was going to be difficult.
Other observations in the letter included
This year, in interim search, we saw 4 congregations of between 250 and 400 members not find an interim minister. That has not in recent memory happened before. A shortage of ministers willing to work with congregations is real. (bold added)
The biggest gaps are new ministers going into ministries that aren’t congregationally based.
For years, the Transitions Office would hear from about 25-30 newly fellowshipped ministers looking to consider congregational ministry. The last two years, it’s been 5 ministers, then 8.
Kron confirmed that new ministers are not pursuing congregation work but are seeking positions as community ministers, chaplaincy, and social justice.
This is Not a New Problem
The problem of a shrinking supply of ministers is not new. As early as 2009, incoming UUA President Rev. Peter Morales initiated a task force known as the Strategic Review of Professional Ministries. He commissioned the task force to mitigate a ministerial shortfall expected due to the retirement of nearly half of all UU ministers. Morales also wanted to accelerate the training of new ministers with skills to thrive in the increasingly diverse demographics of the US population.
Six years later, in 2015, a UU World article entitled “Demand for Interim Ministers Outruns Supply” spoke of the “unprecedented situation” when only two ministers entered the ministerial interim training program. Equally alarming was the decrease in the number of ministers entering the search process, dropping from 130 to 110.
Now, in 2023, there is a real ministerial supply crisis brought on by a decade of inattention and, frankly, mismanagement by UUA leadership.
Responses to Ministerial Shortage
This ministerial shortage has compelled some congregations to explore new ideas on how to fill their pulpits. Some are considering lowering their bylaw-defined threshold for calling a minister from 90% to 80%. Other congregations are expanding lay-led services. Still others are forgoing a full-time ministry for part-time ministry. Some blog posts have floated the idea of “minister sharing” between congregations.
It may also be time to re-examine the UUA’s sponsored ministerial search process. A process by which all congregations submit their needs (their ministerial package) at a particular time and then the “minister–congregational matching” step takes place at the same time for all congregations. This antiquated process puts the Association in the driver’s seat, allowing the Association to dictate the timeline, control the supply of candidates, and define the mechanism used by congregations to select their ministers.
Given the internet and ubiquitous social media capabilities, there are far more efficient ways to match needs with skills and turn control over the search process to congregations.
Unanticipated Reform: Non-UU Minister
However, of all the ideas put forward, most ironically, the UUA has offered a viable solution. . . hire ministers not in fellowship with the Association.
At one time, calling a minister in fellowship with the Association was wise and prudent. The Association’s Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) ensured search candidates had a pre-requisite level of competency. Recent experience has brought into question reliance on fellowshipped candidates. Our UU seminaries, Starr King (Oakland, CA) and Meadville-Lombard (Chicago, IL), have shifted focus from ensuring theological readiness to instilling a proficiency in questionable social justice ideology.
Can We Hire a Non-UU Minister?
In February 2023, a new module was added to the Association’s online training system, Leaderlab, entitled “Can We Hire a Non-UU Minister?”
The answer is “yes.” The Leaderlab module explains its “yes” answer with the following.
Because of our congregational polity, this decision is ultimately up to your congregation. (bold in the original)
This guidance is welcomed. It is also a reversal of the Association’s leadership hostility to congregational polity since the “white supremacy culture” declaration of 2017. The hostility is illustrated by this comment in the Widening the Circle of Concern report.
It seems like we as a denomination have to relearn the Cambridge Platform and understand that our congregational polity does not allow us to just do whatever we want. That there is a relationship between each congregation in the larger movement . . . and this idea that the UUA can’t tell us what to do is bologna. (bold added)
The time is now for congregations to reclaim the process of hiring or calling a minister. Congregations, however, do not have to go it alone.
North American Unitarian Association
The North American Unitarian Association (NAUA), as part of its charter as a member service organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the practice of liberal religion, is exploring an online clearinghouse to help match congregations with ministers and other professionals.
The NAUA Ministerial Services web page states
Honoring the congregational freedom our religion is founded upon, NAUA serves as a clearinghouse allowing ministers and congregations in search to find each other. It is up to each congregation to determine the credentials and experiences they are looking for and to verify both. NAUA provides advice, resources and best practices guides for finding quality leaders for our congregations.
If you would like more information, send an email to Info@NAUnitarians.org.
Two Important Things
Subscribe to Comments
Subscribe to comments to follow the comments from other readers.
Join the Fifth Principle Project. It’s free. The Fifth Principle Project is an organic grassroots initiative to gather into community Unitarian Universalists who want to reinvigorate the right of conscience and renew the democratic process in the governing of our denomination.
To what degree is the office of minister an outdated holdover from the priesthoods of the Dark Ages? Would we do better with an administrator who would supervise the day to day commercial function of the church, leaving informative and inspirational speeches to lay members and occasional guest speakers? And dealing with counseling by referring to established professionals who need not be permanently on the church payroll? Maybe, maybe not. As it is, we expect too much of ministers. They are expected to be competent administrators, moving speakers, insightful psychologists, flawless decision makers, and capable of seeing that I’m right… Read more »
Thanks for this response Burton. I tend to agree that too much is required of our ministers – and the degree of proficiency is evaluated differently by different members. As an aside, I was looking at the Starr King MDiv. site (https://www.sksm.edu/academics/degree-programs/master-of-divinity/) and see the learning outcomes for the training of ministers are listed as: LEARNING OUTCOMES Starr King’s M.Div. degree program aims to prepare spiritual leaders with the knowledge, professional skill, and personal capacities to: Counter oppressions Create just and sustainable communities Call forth compassion, wholeness, and liberation Cultivate multi-religious life and learning And the Starr King’s UU principles… Read more »
As I am in a church which goes from lay-led to minister-led, I can tell you exactly what a minister (if good) provides: intellectual, spiritual, and care leadership. We lose members and do not grow without a minister.
Ministers are in the Rabbinic tradition – teachers, not priests – they do not speak for God, or anyone but themselves.
At least in our congregation, we have a minister – hired as a “spiritual leader” (or more accurately, “guide”), and a part-time church administrator/secretary who handles paperwork and such. Also a sexton to maintain the place. At times, we’ve let one or more position go unfilled – relying on volunteers for everything from maintenance to sermons. Very different jobs – even when one person is doing more than one.
Over July/Aug I and a small group of members of my congregation (about 550 members total) managed to collect signatures from almost 15% percent of our members on a petition to remove a bylaw requirement that Ministers of the church be in fellowship with the UUA. (We are in Ministerial search this year). Our bylaws say that if such a petition is received the board is required to hold on congregational vote within 30 days. The church leadership pulled out all the stops to defeat this bylaws change. The used multiple email blasts, and meetings where they articulated a number of… Read more »
Could someone please tell me the Original Date Keith distributed his letter and to whom it was addresed; congregations? serving ministers? indentified Search committees? congregational Presidents? the UUA?
And thank you to Fifth Principle Project folks for including a link to that sizeable letter in your email to us and above!
I am staggered by much of this. The UUA directs the seminaries which produce ministers. They apparently have 2 hands which are mutually ignorant. Why are candidates for ministry allowed to proceed in the seminaries if they do not want to do ministry? There is, of course, or maybe not so of-coursey, a contingent in the seminaries who do not want the servant-leadership role of the parish minister. So many seem to be in the mold of the fair Sarah Skochko, who lasted 6 M in a very very liberal congregation before there was a parting of the ways. Sara… Read more »
I follow this conversation not as a supporter or opponent on this site. That being said, I became a community minister not so much by choice but because there were few suitable parish jobs for me to apply to during the pandemic if I didn’t want to move. One advantage is that my primary accountability now is to my left-leaning non-profit employer whose approaches to social justice align well with mine (I’m white in a 75% BIPOC workplace), and I can still do ministry tasks for my mostly still white liberal congregation. This works well for all of us.
Let’s also remember that ministers are ORDAINED by congregations, as well as called.
In other words, a minister need not be a graduate of seminary, need not be in fellowship with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee, to be ordained; nor do they need to be ordained to be called by a congregation.
Widening the Circle of Concern recommends allowing the UUA to ordain ministers. This would allow seminary graduates to enjoy the status of being a “minister” without ever having to set foot in a congregation. (see the full recommendation and rationale here: https://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/widening_the_circle-text_with_covers.pdf)
Recommendation #2 pg 82:
“Action: Allow for ordination at the Associational level rather than only in congregations, to honor the diversity of ministries that exist but may not be easily supported at the congregational level.”
I’m an ordained UU minister who is not a member of the UU ministers’ association, and believe me, the UUA does not recognize me as a real minister. Never mind that I have my M.Div degree and was approve by all members of the congregation. But, I was not allowed to vote at GA this summer, I’m not allowed to attend meetings of other UU ministers, and when my church hired me the UUA told our moderator that “they would mess with our mortgage.” Then they looked up our records and saw they did not help us with our finances… Read more »
Thank you for sharing this.
If the UUA had set out to purposely dismantle Unitarian Universalism, they couldn’t have picked a better plan. You know, starting with blindsiding one of the least racist groups of people you can find with accusations of their being white supremacists, alienating one congregant from another based on this baseless “anti-racist” approach, disfellowshipping those who love and work for Unitarian Universalism tirelessly, lying about sending all of us surveys about our opinions about getting rid of the foundation of our religion, the Seven Principles, outright abusing delegates at general assemblies who dare to not toe the line, and, now, the… Read more »
Thank you for so well articulating and summarizing what many of us have been feeling for years. I call the process I have experienced since 2017 regarding both UUA and my own (now former) congregation, “The D’s” disillusionments, discouragements, dismay, disagreements, despair …
I am not willing to accept the idea that a minister is essential bot growth or congregational comfort. Later Day Saints are lay-led and they are one of the fastest growing denominations. They have extensive training for lay-leadership, UU’s look at lay-led congregations as a failed enterprise. I actually believe that what congregations need is someone skilled in organizational development. Ordained ministers take on (often insist on taking on) organizational operations and they are often both inexperienced and ill-equipped to handle that aspect of the job. As a result there is often conflict, dysfunction and other problems. I agree that… Read more »
Thank you for this video. I have forwarded the link to many of my fellow congregants and the feedback is very positive on the video and very concerned on the topic. Like many, my congregation feels that we don’t really have much to do with the UUA so we can ignore this stuff. Unfortunately, our annual congregational meeting this past year went off the rails when a couple of the candidates our nominating committee chose for our Board were not deemed indoctrinated enough and therefore the Minister hatched a plan for a nomination from the floor for someone she deemed… Read more »
Hey, cool post You can check if there’s a problem with your website with Internet Explorer. Because of this issue, many readers will overlook your excellent writing because IE is still the most popular browser.
I loved as much as youll receive carried out right here The sketch is tasteful your authored material stylish nonetheless you command get bought an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following unwell unquestionably come more formerly again since exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this hike