UUSM's Committee on Ministry

by The Committee on Ministry

The Committee on Ministry (COM) is a team comprised of UUSM’s professional minister(s) and individuals selected jointly by UUSM’s Board of Trustees and the minister. In addition to our new contract minister, Rev. Laura Thompson, serving on the Committee on Ministry are Richard Davis, Kathy Kinner, and Kathy van Leuwen. Combined, the lay members have been active at UUSM for a century and served the congregation intensively in the areas of governance, worship, minister and staff search, religious exploration, pastoral care, small group ministry, and finance.

The purpose of the Committee on Ministry is to support the health and success of professional ministry and UUSM’s larger shared ministry as a congregation. According to the UUA, the responsibilities of the COM may include ministry advisement, conflict engagement, ministerial professional development support, and congregational assessment, but Committees on Ministry are counseled to take on only a few focus areas at one time. In the coming months we will help Rev. Laura get oriented, get to know each other, and begin to chart out how we will work together.

A primary function of the Committee Ministry is communication. All of us on COM are available to hear your questions, appreciations, and concerns regarding the health of our shared professional/lay ministry at UUSM. As outlined in UUSM’s Covenant of Right Relations, the Committee on Ministry encourages you to share UUSM-related suggestions and concerns directly with individuals concerned whenever possible, including with our professional minister. We do want you to reach out to us when that is not doable, or if positive communication breaks down or progress toward resolution stalls. In the interest of promoting open and healthy communication, it is important that the Committee on Ministry does not accept anonymous or secondhand feedback. We will hold individual input as confidential within the COM team. To contact the Committee on Ministry, please email us. We look forward to hearing from you.