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You are here: Home > News >United Church News > Searches underway in MBA, Northeast and West Searches underway in MBA, Northeast and West November, 2000 A myriad of clergy and lay volunteers are coming together this fall to work on finding the perfect candidates to serve as area ministers in the Metropolitan Boston, Northeast and Western areas. At this unprecedented time of change within the Massachusetts Conference, the Metropolitan Boston Area search committee has begun its work, the Northeast Area search committee will begin meeting this month and the Western Area committee will be appointed this fall and begin meeting by January. All this in addition to the ongoing work of the search committee for a new Minister and President. “The committees we have are excellent – they are hard working but they also have a lot of joy about what they are doing,” said Interim Conference Minister and President Erwin R. Bode. The Metropolitan Boston Area search committee is being chaired by Lawrence Bowers, a member of Old South Church in Boston, and the Northeast committee is being chaired by Sue Thompson, pastor of the Forest Street Union Church in Methuen. In the Metropolitan Boston Area, the committee has reviewed the area minister’s job description and has been considering ways to gather comments and suggestions from lay and clergy leaders from within the Association. The committee has also been developing questions to ask the candidates and has begun to focus on what characteristics they will look for. In the Northeast, the Board of Directors has approved a job description and the search committee has been appointed and will begin meeting in November. In the West, the Board of Directors is holding a meeting with clergy to get feedback as to what should be included in that area minister’s job description. They will then appoint the search committee. The Conference has been advertising for the various positions in United Church of Christ publications since July. Bode said the hope is that the MBA committee will have a candidate to present to the Board of Directors in May, the Northeast committee will have a candidate by September, and the Western area by March, 2002. |