Update on the Search for a Director of Religious Education

The search committee charged with hiring a Director of Religious Education (DRE) consists of seven members: Bret Lortie and Ann Gadzikowski (co-chairs), Rachelle Brooks, Sandy McNabb, George Monical, Winnie Stevenson, and Jessica Tomell-Presto. This DRE role a new position at UCE, in some ways similar to the position of Congregational Life Minister held by Connie Grant, but different in other ways. For example, the DRE is a staff position, reporting directly to the Senior Minister, not the Board of Trustees. The DRE will not deliver pastoral care and other duties typically performed by a called minister. The primary responsibility and focus of the DRE is to develop and manage the religious education programming for children, youth, and adults.

The search committee has employed several strategies to gather information and feedback from the congregation to inform our search, such as surveys and listening sessions. Both strategies yielded significant input from participants in adult education at UCE. One challenge of this process is engaging parents of children and youth – most are too busy to participate in activities such as listening sessions. To counter that challenge, we made sure that the individuals recruited to serve on the search committee all had direct experience as parents and volunteers in the programs serving children and youth.

Several priorities have emerged from our listening process. Two of the primary messages we are hearing from the congregation are (1) that we should make every effort to use this opening as an opportunity to add diversity to UCE leadership and (2) that the DRE should be someone with high energy and enthusiasm, ready to develop new, engaging religious education programs for all ages, from young children to adults.

The initial timeline for our search was ambitious – we hoped to have a new DRE in place by August 1, someone who would come in as an Acting DRE and, if successful in the role, would move into a permanent role after a year. However, since the initial job posting in April, we have not yet received a broad pool of applicants with the level of experience and credentials we require. The DRE search committee is now moving into a new timeline that includes hiring an interim DRE who will fill the role temporarily for 6 to 12 months until we can find the right person for the permanent job. We are now preparing to interview several candidates for this interim role and we plan to have an interim DRE in place by the end of the summer. We will continue to keep the congregation informed of our progress.

Ann Gadzikowski

DRE Search Committee