Pastoral Relations Liaisons

Discussions Around Changes in Pastoral Relationships

As a member of the covenant that is foundational to the pastoral relationship, the regional council participates in any conversation about the pastoral relationship. During these conversations, a liaison represents the regional council. A liaison is a resource to the community
of faith during their process to begin a new pastoral relationship. In addition, a liaison engages in conversations around either of the following:
• a request by either the community of faith or ministry personnel to renegotiate the terms of the current pastoral relationship
• an addition of ministry personnel to the community of faith to form a team ministry, and subsequent changes to the job descriptions of existing ministry personnel.

COVID-19 Policy Changes

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and recognizing that the pandemic impacts the ability of some congregations to meet (not all have the capacity or ability to meet electronically), on April 15, 2020, the Executive of the General Council temporarily amended pastoral relations policies in The Manual to allow the governing body, rather than a congregational meeting, to make certain pastoral relations decisions. Please see the links below for details on these temporary changes.

Regional Council Implementation of Temporary Change to Pastoral Relations Policies | PDF (2 pages) April 2020 – Interpretation and Implementation information related to the temporary bylaw dealing with what constitutes proper consultation, considerations around temporarily ending a pastoral relationship, and other matters.

GCE Temporarily Amends Pastoral Relations Policies For urgent decisions related to call or appointment (April 2020)

Living Faith Story

The living faith story articulates the community of faith’s ministry focus. This story is your opportunity to share why you exist as a community of faith. All communities of faith are expected to develop a living faith story, review it regularly, and share it with the regional council so that support can be programmed. The living faith story is an opportunity to tell where God is leading your community of faith. Creating this story is an invitation to articulate, assess, and perhaps even reframe how you are being church.

Living Faith Story ( Word | 16 pages) June 2019 – A companion to the Pastoral Relations: Community of Faith handbook, this resource helps a Search Team create their Living Faith Story.

A community of faith can update its profile at any time, even when it is not experiencing a change in pastoral relations. The regional council uses this profile as part of their oversight of the community of faith and as part of a self-assessment. Completing a profile can help to articulate your community’s beliefs, ministry needs, and financial realities.  Please see the Pastoral Relations: Guidelines for a Community of Faith Profile for more guidance.

Searching for a New Minister

A search process may begin once a community of faith profile and additional elements (position description and financial viability review) have been completed and filed on ChurchHub and approved by the regional council. The governing body is responsible for naming a search team. This may be the same group of people who put together the profile, including the living faith story, or it may be a different group.

The regional council is responsible for training the search team. The search team begins holding interviews only once its members have been trained by a pastoral relations liaison. Please see the Pastoral Relations: Guidelines for Search and Selection for more guidance.

Additional Resources for Search Team Training

Holy Manners (PDF | 1 page) June 2019 – For liaison’s and/or search team’s use. Also see page 9 of the Pastoral Relations: Regional Council Liaisons handbook for more details on how to help search team’s establish guidelines for their conversation and behavour with each other.

How to Search for Short Term Appointments ( PDF | 2 pgs) April 2020 –  A step by step process for how a community of faith can search for a short appointment of a eligible United Church minister while they do their search.

Short Term Appointments Policy  (PDF | 1 page) January 2019 – The policy for length of appointments that the Pastoral Relations Commission in Shining Waters Regional Council will approve.

Ministers’ Salary Schedule and Cost of Living Group Map – The salary schedule is updated annually and can be found on the national website. There is also a link to the Cost of Living Group Map to check that the pastoral charge’s cost of living group is correct.

Becoming a Supervised Ministry Education (SME) Site

You may be asked by a Search Team about the possibility of becoming a Supervisor Ministry Education (SME) site. Here are some resources you might want to share with the Search Team:

1. Go to the Candidacy Pathway website page and watch their video: How to OV – Becoming a Supervised Ministry Education site (SME): What a community of faith should consider if they have a vacancy and are wondering about hiring a student.

If you’re on a Zoom call, you can share this video to talk about expectations.

2. Share this handbook ahead of the meeting: Candidacy Pathway: Supervised Ministry Education  PDF | January 2019 (18  pages) – Especially point the Search Team to “Lay Supervision Team”: on pages 8-9.

3. Finally, walk them through the responsibilities for becoming a SME site on page 11-12, Pastoral Relations: Guidelines for a Community of Faith Profile  PDF | April 2020 ( 43 pages)

Covenanting With Our New Minister

After the new pastoral relationship begins, a liaison participates in the covenanting service. You are the representative of the regional council as the covenant among God, the community of faith, the ministry personnel, the regional council, and other parties that are integral to living out the gospel in community is celebrated. The ministry personnel and a member of the search team will ask you to coordinate the best time to hold the covenanting service.

A sample liturgy for recognizing the covenant that provides the foundation for the new pastoral relationship can be found in the Milestones and Transitions worship page of the United Church website.

Covenanting Service Template | Word (5 pages, 2 column layout) Sept 2019 – A covenanting service sample template