Overview of a Ministerial Transition

The process by which a Unitarian Universalist congregation transitions from one settled minister to another is defined and managed by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). As a member congregation of the UUA, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis is following that process and utilizing the tools that the UUA provides us.

This webpage contains information about the transition process that we expect the Fellowship will experience. The links on the left side of the page lead to information about specific phases of the process, presented in chronological order from top to bottom. The last link provides further readings that describe ministerial transitions in greater detail.

February 26, 2026 –The UUFC is currently preparing to organize a Search Team for a settled minister.

Our Goodbye to Rev. Jill McAllister

On January 12, 2025, Rev. Jill McAllister announced her intention to retire from the ministry at the end of the Fellowship year in July. You can view her announcement below.

Following Rev. Jill’s announcement to the congregation, Sheryl Stuart and Mark Aron spoke to the congregation about getting through the transition to come. You can view their speeches below.

Rev. Jill followed the UUA’s recommendation that ministers announce their departure approximately six months before they leave. The recommendation is based in experiences that show six months provides sufficient time for transitional business to be conducted without feeling rushed, while also not dragging on so long that other work within the congregation suffers greatly.

Rev. Jill’s Final Weekend

Reverend Jill celebrated her final weekend with the Fellowship on July 11-13, 2025. Events occurred on all three days: music and a comedic ‘roast’ on Friday the 11th, an outdoor picnic on Saturday the 12th, and Rev. Jill’s final sermon on Sunday the 13th.

Roast & Toast of Rev. Jill

Rev. Jill’s Final Service

Search for an Interim Minister

Once the current minister announces their departure, congregational leadership (the Board of Directors) forms an interim minister search team to conduct the business of using the UUA’s ministerial-search tools to find an interim minister.

For this search, the people comprising the UUFC’s search team are Rachel Houtman, Michael Molk, Laurie Reed, and Sheryl Stuart. On February 24, 2025, this team started their work on gathering materials that communicate the Fellowship’s current state, efforts, and offerings to potential candidates for interim ministry.

Key dates for the interim minister search are:

April 10, 2025: UUFC information complete and submitted to the transitional search portal
April 10-May 4, 2025: Applicants review our information and decide if they would like to join us
May 4, 2025: The UUFC search team receives 2-6 candidate names and begins reviewing applications, interviewing candidates, and ranking them–while the candidates do the same for us.
May 20, 2025: Candidate selection announced to the Fellowship
May 20, 2025: Contract finalized
August 1, 2025: Interim Minister begins work

Congregational Profile Package

The Interim Search Team submitted a Congregational Profile package as part of the search for an interim minister. This package describes our congregational in remarkable detail, giving candidates a good look at who we are and how we work. A copy of the 19-page package can be viewed at the link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SVFICpH6K5GpwhQdimB-DBTmrPVQPqbW/view?usp=sharing

Announcement of the Interim Minister

On May 23, 2025, Sheryl Stuart – the president of the Board of Directors and member of the Interim Search Team – announced that Reverend Alex McGee had accepted the offer to serve the Fellowship as Interim Minister, starting in August 2025.

Message from incoming Interim Minister Rev. Alex McGee

Dear UUFC:

My name is Alex McGee and I am honored that the Search Team invited me to come serve as Interim Minister, starting in August. I know that this is a tender time as you say goodbye to Rev. Jill. When I arrive, I commit to journey compassionately with you as you stay true to yourselves as you look at your past, strengthen yourselves in the present, and plan for the future. I am excited about learning more about the Corvallis area.

Peace and light,
Rev. Alex
(she/her)

Interim Ministry

Interim ministers are specially trained to assist a congregation on their journey from one settled minister to another. Normally, interim ministries last for two years, but this duration is not set in stone. The UUFC’s Board of Directors will hire an interim minister using the interim minister search process.

The UUA’s Transitional Ministry Handbook defines interim ministry as follows:

Interim—a transitional ministry designed to help a congregation move from one settled ministry to the next settled ministry or from a settled ministry to a developmental ministry. Most interim ministries last 24 months, though occasionally the ministry may be longer or shorter. An interim minister assists the congregation in moving beyond its last ministry and equipping itself for a new, different ministry. This preparation involves helping the congregation look at practices that may or may not be serving them well, assisting through the emotional process of transition, setting sights forward, and connecting the congregation to needed resources. The interim minister is hired by the board of trustees. Interim ministers may not be called by the congregation. Most congregations planning to continue in full-time ministry after a settlement use this option for their transition.

Search for a Settled Minister

The search for a settled minister is conducted during the last year of an interim ministry and culminates in a congregational call of the candidate identified by the settled search team.

Search Timeline

Spring 2026: Congregation works together to elect search committee that they trust to represent their future vision to a ministerial candidate
Summer 2026: Search committee begins working together 5 to 15 hours a week for the next nine months.
Fall 2026: Search committee gathers information to present to potential candidates
Winter 2027: Search committee confidentially interviews a few candidates at sites outside of Corvallis.
Spring 2027: Search committee presents one final candidate. Candidate visits on site to meet congregation. Congregation votes, and candidate is only likely to come if over 90-95% of the membership vote yes. If this process does not lead to a candidate approved by the congregation, the congregation may form a new search committee for the next year.

“Search” – a sermon given by Jones Hollister from UU Eugene

The Search for the Search Team – by Carl English-Young February 19, 2026

Finding a new settled minister is one of the key activities during an interim ministry period. That process will be led by the Ministerial Search Team, which will be formed this church year. The search team will have a crucial, even sacred, role in presenting our fellowship to ministerial candidates, getting to know them, and selecting a candidate to be our new settled minister. The plan is to vote on that person at our annual meeting in May 2027.

What does a search team do?

First, the search team will gather to form itself as an effective team. The UUA offers excellent support for teambuilding and understanding of the team’s goals and upcoming activities. A key activity will be to produce a document that presents a comprehensive picture of our Fellowship. The team will follow a structured process to contact and get to know prospective ministers, interviewing them, reading their sermons, and finally meeting a short list in person to hear a sermon. They will coordinate with other areas of UUFC leadership to organize educational events and coordinate hospitality. Then they will make a final decision to make an offer to the top candidate and present them to the congregation.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. It is also important, exciting, and fulfilling. The search process will take a full year and many hours of work. The rewards will be the gratitude of our community, satisfaction of a job well done, and a spiritual leader to help us live our best religious lives.

How do we choose them?

Very soon, the Board will start contacting every member of the Fellowship. Ambitious, aren’t we? We will call every member to get your ideas about whom you would trust to serve on the search team on behalf of the congregation.

The Board will tally your suggestions, consider the candidates, invite a team, and invite the congregation to approve through a vote at the Annual Meeting on May 17, 2026.

How can I help?

Answer the phone. Also, contemplate what would make someone a good search team member. Think about who has the skills and characteristics needed for this task.

Skills: Excellence in listening, speaking, writing, and collaborating

Characteristics: Who knows the Fellowship, has responsibly participated in activities or leadership, approaches this as the calling of a spiritual leader, will represent the whole of the Fellowship, and will present well to candidates?

To take a deeper dive, consider these questions from the UUA Ministry Search Handbook:

Who can represent and serve the whole congregation well (including looking out for the needs of children) and not just a piece or “faction” of the congregation? Who would have no “axe to grind?”
Who knows (or can learn) the history and culture of the congregation, whether a member of long standing or relatively new?
Ministerial candidates will want to know about the congregation’s level of self-awareness: the most attractive quality a congregation can have is self-awareness – awareness of strengths and challenges, what the congregation is like at its best and at its worst, as well as on an average day. Who would be able to know and relate all this to potential candidates?
Who will approach the call of a minister as more than a hire? Who can put aside corporate or academic hiring practices in a search process to find a spiritual leader for our community who may stay with us for many years?
Who would represent us well in interacting with applicants?

So who is it? We’re eager to know.

In conclusion—TIA—that is, “Thanks In Advance” for contributing your time and thoughtfulness as we begin this journey.

Search Party – by Priscilla Galasso February 25, 2026

Have you ever seen, either in person or on film, a line of people crossing a field, a dozen or more abreast, searching for a missing person – or even a clue? Have you ever wondered who those people were and what was going through their minds? Have you ever imagined what the family waiting to hear news of the search might be feeling?

To me, that’s always a dramatic scene. Emotions are high: hope, fear, sadness, expectation. There’s the possibility of a plot twist – what if they find something no one expected? What if they miss something that was only a few feet away? What if someone in the search party deliberately hides a clue?

Searching is tricky. There are so many unknown elements. It seems a good approach is to be methodical. But often, intuition plays a big part. What kind of a search party would you want to assemble to discover something you deem important? Perhaps you’d want a variety of skills, maybe even a bloodhound from the canine unit! You might consider who you’d trust to be in that party, professional connections and personal connections, problem-solvers and creative thinkers.

In order to assemble a Search Team for our next settled minister, the UUFC Board of Directors will be phoning Fellowship members to ask for recommendations. Consider who you’d trust to be part of our search party. Who has the blend of knowledge, skill, experience, imagination, team loyalty and work ethic that would help you feel confident of a good outcome? If anyone comes to mind, please share that with the Director who calls you.

What if something unexpected happens?

The transition process outlined on this page is what we expect to happen. Things don’t always go as expected. Below are some situations that the UUA has seen and is prepared to assist the UUFC with, should the Fellowship encounter them.

What if no ministers match with our congregation during the settled minister search?

The following information is copied from the UUA Ministry Search Handbook pages 182-183

Every year, for a variety of reasons, some congregations and some ministers do not find a match. This may be the result of simple bad luck with misaligned ranking, or it may be the result of a search team’s and/or minister’s careful discernment and good judgment about not rushing into the wrong commitment.

If a congregation does not have a match on offer day, the search team notifies their board that there is no match in the current search cycle. The UUA Transitions Team is available to offer care, guidance, and perspective at this moment and to debrief with the search team.

Decisions and timing

The board and current transitional minister should decide mutually whether to continue to work together for an additional year. If this is not possible or desirable, the board may decide to seek a new interim minister for a year and engage the settled search again next year. Alternatively, the board may decide to use the contract search process to find a minister who could stay a year—or more, if the match is good—and who could even be called in the future.

If a new search is needed, the board may form a new search team as a task force of the board with or without some members of the settled search team, in alignment with the preferences and energy levels of all involved. The board and search team should check out the relevant sections of this handbook to learn about the possibilities and processes for the interim and contract ministry search as soon as they can. The UUA Transitions Team will convert the settled ministry earch profile into a contract or interim ministry search profile, upon request. The contract search begins as soon as the search team is ready and concludes when a minister is hired. The interim search begins toward the end of April and concludes in mid-May.

Whatever the board decides, the good work of the settled ministry search team and the congregational self-awareness which increased because of the interim ministry will shape the ministry partnership ahead. The search team served the congregation well with its commitment to good process. No particular outcome was ever assured. If the search team could use some support in working through grief and disappointment, your transitional minister and/or the Congregational Transitions Director will meet with you to debrief the search experience.

FAQs

What should we say to the congregation and when?

An announcement like this should be made on the first Sunday following the offer date. Additional information may be provided as appropriate. “Our ministerial search team did not find a good match this search cycle. The work of the search team was to find a good candidate who would minister well with the congregation. So far that has not happened. Leadership, the search team, and our partners at the UUA are discerning together about the next move which will serve us all best. We thank the search team for their stellar work on our behalf so far. We know that all the work that went into this search will pay off in our next ministry.”

What are some common realizations for congregations which did not find a match in a settled search?

Search teams often feel desperation, panic, and a sense of failure if they cannot find a candidate. Still, they know that if a poor match had been made, a short, conflicted ministry would be more disappointing and costly to a congregation (and minister) than doing another year of interim ministry. Many congregations simply are better served with another year of interim ministry.

Many congregations have reported that they realized they needed another year of interim work to be ready for a settled minister and didn’t realize this until they made it through the first year of search (and second year of interim ministry). Perhaps they discovered some conflict in what the congregation believed about itself, unprocessed grief or trauma, or differing perspectives on what the congregation needs in the next ministry partner once they began their work. A first search without a match may well be indicating simply that the congregation needs more time to be ready for its next settled ministry.

What are some common realizations for ministers who did not find a match in a settled search?

A minister who applied, but did not become a candidate, in the settled search may have significant dissatisfaction. This can shape their next choices and their view of their current ministry. They may feel more resolved than ever to leave or realize that their current congregation is a pretty good match for them still. In the past, ministers have reported that they failed to ask enough questions when preparing to continue searching. Ministers still need to do thorough research as they continue searching, which may include speaking with the current minister, previously ministers, regional staff, and UUA Transitions Team. They should work to keep their standards and spirits high.

What does it say about our congregation if we don’t find a minister?

Not finding a minister simply means that the search team did not find a match from the pool of searching ministers that year. Rarely is there one reason or a simple explanation for this result. Chances are the congregation was somewhat unlucky, had more to learn, or wasn’t quite ready for a new settled ministry. It may be that the search team did its work well and found that no minister they considered was right for the congregation.