Last time, I explained the process that allowed me to be credentialed in the URC. Now, on to the Call Process itself. I imagine this post will only be of interest to my clergy colleagues in America, because the process is quite different here.

It was explained to me that The Process in the the United Reformed Church was a bit of a mix of the Call that Congregational churches in the States are used to and that of the Appointment system in the United Methodist Church. It’s not a perfect explanation, but it’s close enough.

The first step was to fill out a Pastoral Profile, an approximately 5 page document that describes my history, my theology, worship style, family information, etc. That profile was submitted to the Moderators, which are similar to District Superintendents in the United Methodist system. The Moderators meet once a month and part of their discussion is to look at any profiles that have been submitted by clergy and to compare those to profiles that have been submitted by churches that are vacant. They then choose 3-4 church profiles that they feel would be a good match and send them back to the searching pastor.  The pastor then chooses one that he or she would like to pursue, and his profile is sent to that church. If the church agrees that it is could be a good match, we proceed to Step 2. So, step 1 is similar to the Appointment system in the UMC, where the denomination puts the two together, except without the ability to “force” a match.

It’s worth a little aside here to note that the above is the usual process, but there are other options. For instance, if I were to see that a particular church is coming open, and I know that I’m finishing up at my current position, I can request that church’s profile and ask that they be given mine. I also believe that the reverse can happen and a church can request the profile of a particular minister, though I imagine that’s rare.

Also, I should note that I bypassed part of this process. Back in February, before I’d been sent any profiles by the Moderators, I had been asked to fill in a Sunday at Godalming as they were between ministers. I hadn’t intended it to be a job interview, but we instantly clicked with the church and the chair of their Vacancy Committee asked me if I was interested in applying for the post. The Moderators sent me 4 churches, 2 of which I felt were not great matches, 1 that was possible, and 1 that looked appealing. However, the “vacant for 1 year” rule that I mentioned in the last post prevented me from applying to it. Meanwhile Godalming was coming up on the 1 year anniversary of their vacancy, so I asked to be sent their profile when time was up.

Step 2. The Courting Process. When the church agrees that a pastoral profile might be a match, a conversation is arranged with the Vacancy Committee of the church. This is very similar to the United Church of Christ process back in the States. A usual meeting would be face to face, but the COVID restrictions meant that we did a video conference. It was a pretty standard conversation, overseen by a Synod-assigned Moderator, who facilitated the meeting.

Step 3. The Audition. If Step 2 goes well, the Vacancy Committee will take a vote to invite the minister to Preach With a View, which is basically an audition Sunday. Usually (I know, I’m using that word a lot), this is A Big Deal. The pastoral family is invited to the town for the weekend. There’s a dinner on Saturday, tours of the church and parsonage (which they call a Manse), and a Q&A Session where anyone can ask the minister (almost) anything. Sunday morning sees the minister leading worship and preaching, after which he/she goes home and the church holds a congregational meeting where everyone votes on whether or not to call the pastor. The Moderator then notifies the minister of the result of the vote, including the number of “aye” and “nay” votes, and the minister decides whether or not to accept the call.

(My process was a little different, again due to COVID. My Q&A session and my Preach With a View were both done over video, which is less than ideal, but needs must. As Godalming is a joint ministry with the Methodist Church, I also had to have a conversation with their circuit leaders. They didn’t have any say in my hiring, but it was good to get to know them.)

I’ve heard different opinions on what constitutes a “good” percentage of the congregational vote. Many, if not most, churches have a clause in their constitution stating that the vote must be at least a certain percentage for the minister to be called, usually 75-80%. That way they are not inviting trouble by bringing a minister in to a church that was split 51/49 from the very beginning. I’ve been told that some ministers won’t accept a call unless it’s at least 90%, to ensure that they’re going to the right place.

Whatever the number, after the minister accepts the call, arrangements are made between the pastor and the church as to start dates, etc. One thing that is not negotiated is salary. Interestingly, and I think appropriately, every full-time position in the country is paid the same stipend, current at £27,000 ($34,000) plus use of the parsonage. I really like this arrangement as it keeps ministers from competing and church-hopping on the basis of salary.

So, that brings us to where I currently am. Godalming and I have set a start date for September 1st. We’ve seen the manse once and are going back next week to get measurements of rooms and such. I’m currently in the process of lining up a mover for late August.

It’s been a long year and a half, but very soon I’ll be back to doing the only thing I’m good at: pastoring a church.