Happy Fall! This is a busy and exciting season in the work of search!

By now, you likely have a negotiating team in place to work on the draft ministerial agreement, as you will need a link to a board-approved draft agreement with changes tracked for your search profile. The negotiating team usually comprises one search team member, a board member, and another person chosen by the board (someone with congregational finance or hiring experience). You will find the employment agreement template here. We just received an updated version from the working group that is responsible for the template, but fear not! The significant difference will be in section six, related to arbitration, as we will recommend arbitration through the professionals at the American Arbitration Association, rather than through a tribunal of UU ministers. The template will be easy to amend if you have already begun working with the version which was available before 06 October 2026.

The UUA will receive the data we need to provide updated salary guidance for the 2027-2028 church year in the coming days or weeks. We will post updated guidance on the salary guidance web page as soon as we have complete information. If your board or negotiating team is already working with 2026-2027 salary numbers as you plan ahead, you may want to factor in a cost-of-living adjustment to get ahead of the update. Do your sustainable best.

As you work on your compensation package, please be sure to use the compensation worksheet. If some support or guidance would be useful, don’t hesitate to reach out to the UUA Transitions Team or Jan Gartner, Congregational Staffing Practices Director.

As you think ahead to publishing your search profile on 01 December (or later, if needed, for contract ministry searches), please be sure to leave time for regional UUA staff to review and offer feedback on your profile, as this is a requirement before publication.

You are likely wrapping up your survey, beginning your small group listening sessions, and preparing for your Break Barriers, Build Beliefs workshop. We hope that the autumn listening work is providing useful insights to your team. If you would like support in thinking through and contextualizing your findings, please reach out to Christine Purcell, Congregational Transitions Director.

As you move from one phase to the next, be sure to report back to the congregation what you have learned in summary format. Doing so builds trust and buy-in for the search process. You should include summaries of your survey findings and small group listening session responses in your documents packet.

If you plan ahead to complete your documents packet and to reserve times for team meetings and Zoom interviews in early-mid January, there will not be much for the search team to do in December. This is by design! There is a natural lull and a shift in the energy of the search team between the flurry of activities to prepare your search profile for publication on 01 December and the receipt of applicant information on 04 January. If you would like to meet with Christine Purcell, Congregational Transitions Director to prepare for the discernment phase of the search process, you may schedule an optional overview/Q & A session in December here.

Your preparatory process has fewer requirements than a settled search, though many congregations in a contract ministry search approximate some of the listening work involved in a settled search. Small group listening sessions are particularly rich, with members having an opportunity to share what is most important to them about the ministry partnership. If you need support in preparing for the search ahead, please reach out to Christine Purcell, Congregational Transitions Director.
 

For the second year in a row, we are pleased to offer the Break Barriers, Build Beliefs (B4) workshop, historically taken by congregations in a settled ministry search, to congregations in a contract ministry search! This engaging and informative program helps search teams, board members, and other congregational leaders examine and counteract biases which can harm ministry partnerships, and prepares them to welcome a new ministry partner. This program is especially important for congregations that hope to call their next minister. The program will be held on Zoom on Saturday, 05 December. 

Please use this form to pre-register and receive additional information.

For the 2027 search cycle, we have added a new search profile question to the questionnaire section: “Does your search team or leadership know if your congregation has a history of clergy misconduct? If so, how have you addressed the impacts?” This includes sexual misconduct, financial misconduct, emotional or physical abuse, harassment, dishonesty, abuse of power, unjust discrimination and disrespect, and manipulation of people for personal gain. Most congregations have had clergy misconduct at some point in their histories. This should not be a source of shame for a congregation. Naming the approximate time period, type of misconduct, and the ways your congregation responded will be helpful to applicants as they consider how to build trust with your congregation. For search teams with profiles which are still open from the 2026 search, please respond to this question before 01 December. 

If your congregation still has an open search profile from the 2026 search process, we will convert it to a 2027 Primetime search on 01 December, unless you ask us to close it. There are likely to be very few ministers seeking new positions for the current congregational year (August 2026-July 2027) after December, but If you are still hoping to find a minister for this year after December, please let Christine Purcell know that you would like to open a short-term ministry search in addition to your 2027 Primetime contract search.

Ministers are already gearing up for the Primetime contract search, which is timed to coincide with the settled ministry search. Our contract ministry search calendar includes key details of the Primetime contract search, including dates for the ranking and matching process in March. The most common start date for ministry partnerships matched through the Primetime search process will be 01 August, 2027.
 

With you all the way,

Rev. Eric Kaminetzky (he/they): ekaminetzky@uua.org

Interim Settled Ministries Director

Christine Purcell (she/her): cpurcell@uua.org

Congregational Transitions Director

Transformational Interim Ministries Director 

Amy Szen (she/her): aszen@uua.org

Transitions Administrator