January 30 Update:

The PSC has been meeting weekly to compile, compose and edit material for the Local Church Profile. At this time, we expect to complete the final draft and submit it to Consistory and the Conference for review during the month of February. Assuming this process moves along smoothly, we hope that the completed Profile and our position opening will be posted in early March. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about the committee’s work, please contact any of the PSC members: Lois Bair, Anneliese Bass, Virginia Biber, Kimbr Filko, Mike Hogan, and Meta Meckstroth.

January 1 Update:

The existing Settled Pastor Search Committee is hard at work preparing our church profile to be distributed to potential candidates for that permanent position and, to not interrupt their work, we thought it best to create a second group to search for another interim pastor. This group is called the Interim Search Task Force. The membership of this task force will be determined very soon -- in the coming days -- and will be voted on by the Consistory. Our hope is that they will begin their work as soon as possible thereafter.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns about our pastoral situation, or anything else regarding the church for that matter, please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Consistory. Additionally, members of the Personnel Committee, the Pastoral Relations Committee, and the Settled Pastor Search Committee will be happy to discuss our current pastoral situation. In the meantime, please continue to hold these groups in your prayers as they work to help guide our congregation into a bright future.

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The Pastoral Search Committee has begun the search process for a settled pastor. Our first task is a required step in the UCC Search and Call process, and that is to develop a Local Church Profile for potential candidates to learn about Faith UCC, State College. The UCC has provided us with an extensive form for this purpose. This task is a substantial, important, and exciting one, as we self-examine collectively, learn more about our church identity, and develop our expectations for a settled Pastor.


A couple of years ago the Future Task Force took us through the process of identifying our priorities for Faith Church going forward. However, our church profile, posted online by our Association for prospective pastoral candidates, is a different tool. Potential candidates will study it thoroughly to determine if they will apply for our open position, and they will use it to develop their questions to us. Our UCC Search and Call Manual states, “When this work is done carefully, your congregation as a whole – and your Search Committee – will have a better sense of how you understand your gifts, vocation, and identity as God’s People. The more clearly you can identify and name your gifts and strengths, the clearer will be the picture of the kind of pastoral leader you are seeking to complement and challenge you as ‘partners in Christ’s service.’” Members of the committee have already begun working with many of you to gather the straightforward data needed for this profile. As for what you can do now, in this issue of Faith Works, you will find a two-sided questionnaire that will help us gain some broader input from the congregation. Please take a few minutes to thoughtfully consider the questions on the enclosed questionnaire, complete the form, and return it to the church in person or by mail. The form explains specifically how to proceed. Each Faith member who is able is asked to complete a form. In addition, the committee is looking forward to hearing from the congregation as a whole October, we will arrange for some combination of small-group and all-church meeting(s) with the goal of engaging in in-depth conversations about Faith church, its future, and the qualities we need in ministerial leadership. We believe it is important to complete this information-gathering part of the process by late October so that we can advertise our open position before the end of the year. As we proceed, we will update the congregation often via announcements, the Bulletin, and Faith Works. Meanwhile, feel free to offer your input or address questions to committee members at any time.

(L. Bair, A. Bass, V. Biber, K. Filko, P. Hallacher, L. Hogan, M. Meckstroth).