Calvin Synod Herald, 2000 (101. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2000-01-01 / 1-2. szám
6 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 'Cht Spirit of the Congregation OUR MINISTRY This congregation fulfills its purpose as it becomes a community for ministry. We recognize our pastor as a person with professional skills among us. FREEDOM OF THE PULPIT We affirm our pastor’s freedom of the pulpit. We expect him to proclaim and teach the Word of the Lord in relation to contemporary personal and social issues. We want our minister to stimulate and help nurture among us Christian living, and through us, a humane social order. PASTORAL LEADERSHIP Our minister is ordained to his calling. His leadership is needed in our life together. We bring to our pastor personal and community needs that might not otherwise come to his attention. We work with him for the expression of this congregation’s Christian life and spirit in our neighborhood, in the Church, in the world. PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR PASTOR We recognize the necessity for our minister to have regular time each week for study and renewal. Further, we will provide time and money, beyond his vacation, for continuing education. We welcome the minister’s family in this congregation. They are not to be required to assume roles of leadership. We help safeguard adequate time for them to enjoy family activities together. We provide for regular consultation with our pastor through a Church and Ministry committee. We help him understand us, and we respect his perception of his Ministry. Should divisive tensions threaten our life together, we will seek the counsel of a Conference Minister and/or the Association Committee on Church and Ministry. We are part of the whole United Church of Christ! REVIEWING OUR PASTOR’S FINANCIAL SUPPORT Each year a small, representative committee of our congregation carefully reviews our pastor’s base salary, and other financial support Our responsibility includes housing, utilities, travel expense, health insurance, continuing education, family protection, and retirement benefits. We consider the cost of living, family needs, professional competence and years of service. CHALLENGE FOR US AS CHURCH MEMBERS We are called to be pilgrims! We are to move on, to grow, like Abraham, to new possibilities. We want to respond to leadership as we grow in trusting relationships with both God and man. BEGINNING AND COMPLETING RELATIONS WITH A PASTOR When a minister is being considered for a call, our Pastoral Committee will remember, through the entire experience of correspondence and personal interviews, that he and his family are sensitive human beings. When a pastoral relationship is being terminated, for whatever reasons, our church officers will be compassionate and generous. THE WHOLE MINISTRY OF GOD'S PEOPLE We believe in the whole ministry of God's people—pulpit and pew together. This ministry depends upon the leadership and labor of both the ordained professional and the committed lay person. All of us bring our particular skills, our faithfulness, our strengths and our weaknesses, in response to the Christian Gospel. We worship and work together to become God's people in this place. Published by tho Council for Church ond Ministry with tho cooperation of tho Council for Loy Lifo end Work
