Author: UCV Admin

February Update From the Ministerial Search Committee

Dear Vancouver Unitarians,

Your Search Committee would like to provide a quick update to keep you all in the loop. We, the MSC, received five applications in total. We are now in the interview phase. Things are going well and we are cautiously optimistic. A process of pre-candidating will commence soon, as per the Settlement Handbook which we published in the Members Portal. If all goes according to plan, this will be followed by a candidating week in late April wherein you all will be able to meet and observe the final candidate.
 
Search committees sometimes decide to make public their entire Congregational Record, and Search committees sometimes decide not to. Both choices are legitimate. For our context, we have made the choice to make public all components of the Congregational Record that were intended to be made public, like the survey results and cottage meeting notes, and to not publish the component that was never intended to be public. The many members who contributed to the creation of the Congregational Record did so with the understanding that the document was for prospective Minister’s eyes only. This understanding provided us with very honest material, something that we were instructed was the most important quality in a Congregational Record. And because folks contributed to this record with the understanding that it would not be made public, we are honouring their trust and this process by not publishing that portion.
 
As stated, this is common among Search Committees and not at all unusual. Please know we are working hard on behalf of the entire congregation, in good faith, and with love, and we really appreciate your support. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at search@vancouverunitarians.ca. The Ministerial Search Committee is excited for our shared future here at UCV. We remain hopeful that we will be able to present a candidate for our settled Ministry who will be everyone’s Minister, honouring all of our Principles, values, and diverse beliefs.
 
In faith,
Diane, Carrie, Esmé, Meena, Michael, Nancy, Jenny.

Vancouver Unitarians’ Identity: Walking the Talk – Shared Values in Action

A strong majority of Vancouver Unitarians reported that the most important and meaningful aspects or our engagement with each other and the world are social actions by individuals and groups; how we walk the talk.  The personal and spiritual growth that contributes to our lives is closely bound up with the activities we choose to engage in.  Many noted that social activism is the most important life-giving characteristic of our community, and it grows out of our willingness, openness, and commitment to our principles and shared values.  This engagement and activism take a myriad of forms within our congregation and in the wider community and world.

More than 130 congregants answered eight Thought-Provoking Questions about their experiences in the UCV congregation. The Congregational Identity Team (CIT – Rob Dainow, Leslie Hill, Marg Fletcher, Naomi Taylor, John Boyle) analyzed these responses into the six major, interdependent themes shown in the figure.  WALKING THE TALK is one of them.

The full CIT report is available online here. You can read more about how the CIT collected and analyzed the 130 responses on page 3, and about how WALKING THE TALK is so important to our congregational identity on page 18.

Explore the history of the Congregational Identity Team and its work here: ucv.im/cit.

Vancouver Unitarians’ Identity: Services and Ceremonies

How do we see ourselves as we transition to our next settled minister?

UCV’s services and ceremonies – rituals, homilies, and music in the sanctuary – bring people into UCV and help sustain them here as they deepen their connections to all aspects of UCV life.

The Candlelight service, weddings and memorials, meeting our ancestors, pageants, the water, fire and flower communions – almost one-third of the congregants who responded to the CIT identity questions felt most engaged by the special services. They also cited ritual elements of the weekly services, the music, candle-lighting, meditation, and singing ‘Carry the Flame’, as ways of grounding them in our Unitarian community.

Over 130 congregants answered eight thought-provoking questions about their experiences in the UCV congregation, and identified Services and Ceremonies as one of six important interdependent themes.

The full CIT report is available online here. Services and Ceremonies and its importance to our congregational identity appears on page13.

Explore the Congregational Identity Team and its work at: ucv.im/cit

UCV: A Place Where We Can Open Our Minds and Our Hearts

We deeply appreciate the personal and spiritual growth we experience at UCV

  • We find new ways of thinking.
  • We move away from judgement to acceptance of different points of view.
  • We can discover a new personal identity – one member found love!

Our personal and spiritual growth is integral to the interdependent web of the Vancouver Unitarians – guided by our principles and shared values, it grows from participation in our community, our services and our ceremonies, and we show it by walking the talk – all inspired and guided by our minister.

Vancouver Unitarians are grateful for opportunities for lifelong learning in both formal programs and in a wide range of other activities and experiences. We can stretch and expand our skills and find paths to think out our lives.

Over 130 congregants answered 8 Thought-Provoking Questions about their experiences in the UCV congregation. The Congregational Identity Team (CIT – Rob Dainow, Leslie Hill, Marg Fletcher, Naomi Taylor, John Boyle) analyzed these responses into the six major, interdependent themes shown in the figure. PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH is one important theme.

The full CIT report is available online here. You can read more about how the CIT collected and analyzed the 130 responses on page 3, or about how PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH is so important to our congregational identity on page 15.

Explore the Congregational Identity Team and its work at: ucv.im/cit

Vancouver Unitarians’ Identity: Principles and Shared Values – Our Bedrock

Our principles and shared values are the bedrock of our congregation, inspiring and informing our personal and spiritual growth, and leading us to engage positively with each other and with the broader community in outreach and activism.  They are what drew many of us to Unitarianism and UCV and have inspired some of our most engaged moments.  These range from listening to our minister, participating in our services and ceremonies, contributing to study and discussion groups, and taking action with groups such as the Environment, Social Justice and Refugee Teams.

More than 130 congregants answered eight Thought-Provoking Questions about their experiences in the UCV congregation. The Congregational Identity Team (CIT – Rob Dainow, Leslie Hill, Marg Fletcher, Naomi Taylor, John Boyle) analyzed these responses into the six major, interdependent themes shown in the figure. Principles and Shared Values are one of them.

The full CIT report is available online here. You can read more about how the CIT collected and analyzed the 130 responses on page 3, or about how PRINCIPLES AND SHARED VALUES are so important to our congregational identity on page 9.

Explore the history of the Congregational Identity Team and its work here: ucv.im/cit.

Vancouver Unitarians Cherish Our Ministers

How do we see ourselves as we transition to our next settled minister?

Our minister is of central importance to all dimensions of UCV life. They are the source of the most engaged, alive and motivated times in many members’ lives, and are often directly responsible for people choosing to join and participate in our community. Their stimulating and thought-provoking homilies strongly shape the faith and worship experiences that support personal and spiritual growth, as do the varied services and ceremonies they create. Members deeply value a minister who leads, challenges, and inspires with compassion, who helps us integrate our principles and shared values into our everyday lives, and who walks the talk with us.

Over 130 congregants answered 8 Thought-Provoking Questions about their experiences in the UCV congregation. The Congregational Identity Team (CIT – Rob Dainow, Leslie Hill, Marg Fletcher, Naomi Taylor, John Boyle) analyzed these responses into the six major, interdependent themes shown in the figure. MINISTRY is one important theme.

The full CIT report is available online here. You can read more about how the CIT collected and analyzed the 130 responses on page 3, or about how MINISTRY is so important to our congregational identity on page 11.

Explore the history of the Congregational Identity Team and its work here: ucv.im/cit.

Ministry Milestone!

It is with deep joy and gratitude I share that I have reached a professional milestone: I have been granted Full Fellowship as a minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.  This is a bit akin to getting tenure, and the last major milestone our faith recognizes in a Minister’s formation and service before retirement or death. I will be recognized at the UUA General Assembly in Pittsburg during the Service of Living Tradition.

This has been a journey worth looking back on. At the 2013 UUA General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky, I apprehensively attended a Prospective Student luncheon with Meadville Lombard School for Ministry which marks the starting point for these past 9 life-changing years. Our religion has a rigorous and defined path to ministry which includes a Masters of Divinity, psychological evaluations, chaplaincy training, community and congregational internships as well as other learnings and processes.

My path has not been easy or straightforward. There was the back and forth travel between my home in Switzerland and seminary in Chicago for several years, and many, many other travels. I’ve been evaluated constantly by multiple parties, including professors, as individuals and as teams, my teaching pastors, multiple UU church and fellowship boards and internship committees at my teaching congregations in Geneva, Amsterdam, Basel and then the Unitarian Universalist Church of Westport, Connecticut where I interned for a year and was also Ordained, and then by the Ministerial Fellowship Committee who granted my Preliminary Fellowship, and before that by peers and supervisors in my chaplaincy training, and later by an international panel as I served communities across Europe before returning to Canada and being evaluated again in a hospital chaplaincy setting, and finally, these last couple of years with the Vancouver Unitarians Board of Trustees and Committee on Ministry, along with my own self-evaluations and learning plans all the way through.  I think that is it.  For now.  If nothing else, there should be significantly less paper-work in my future!

It’s called “Full Fellowship” now, but it used to be “Final Fellowship.” The change is a good one – it signifies that we are never done learning, growing, and developing. By any name, it is an affirming milestone to reach, to be recognized as having served well, sometimes in very difficult situations, and as being committed to my on-going learning and growth. This incredible journey has changed me in ways I hadn’t imagined, opening my heart and horizons in ways I hadn’t known possible.

It is always good to recognise our achievements and to celebrate together.  I share this celebration with you, the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, with deep gratitude for being a meaningful and supportive part of this journey.

Grateful for the journey, grateful for the call, and grateful to all who have accompanied me on this journey. So… now I am beginning to look around with curiosity and an open heart to see what’s next, and what I can do with that extra time in the coming year(s)…

In faith and service,

Rev. Lara Cowtan

 

Thanks to Thomas Park @thomascpark for making this photo available freely on Unsplash 🎁