UUCA LAY MINISTRY PROGRAM

Our Covenant

We, the lay ministers of UUCA, covenant to offer our individual gifts to the service of our ever widening and welcoming community.

We aspire to be aware of needs, to listen compassionately, to care sincerely, to be worthy of others' trust and confidence, to speak our truths authentically, and to nourish spiritual growth and healing.

How to Contact Us or Order Copies of Our Curriculum

For all pastoral care needs, please contact the UUCA Office at 404.634.5134 and request to have a lay minister call you. You may also contact the lay ministers directly by emailing us at layministers@uuca.org.

For administrative concerns regarding the lay ministry program, requests for lay minister involvement in congregational activities and projects, and information on becoming a lay minister at UUCA, please contact Tony Stringer, the Lead Lay Minister for UUCA at tstringer@uuca.org.

The UUCA Lay Ministry Training Curriculum (Instructor Guide and Candidate Handbook) is available for purchase through the UUCA Office (404.634.5134).

Programs and Services

The lay ministry program serves the congregation through its involvement in pastoral care, worship, and lifespan religious education.

Pastoral Care

The Lay Ministry Program takes seriously the concept of community-centered ministry. Lay ministers provide pastoral care in the form of home and hospital visits during times of personal crisis and are available to provide longer term pastoral support to members. For pastoral care needs please contact the UUCA Office at 404.634.5134 and request to have a lay minister call you. You may also contact the lay ministers directly by emailing us at layministers@uuca.org.

Worship

Lay ministers lead our Wednesday evening vespers services from August to May and throughout the year assist with Sunday morning worship. Lay ministers are often in the pulpit during the summer months and at various other times of the year when our professional ministers are away. The lay ministry program also works throughout the congregation to create rich and varied worship experiences to meet our diverse needs. You will find lay ministers working with UUCA's Jewish holiday celebrations committee (L'Chaim), our Christian, Buddhist, and Humanist Fellowships, and our gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/questioning members through our Welcoming Congregation program.

Counseling and Referral Service

UUCA provides short term (3-session) counseling services by licensed psychologists and social workers to aid individuals, couples, and families in need of assistance. It also offers referrals for longer term individual or group therapy for depression, grief, loss, and emotional support. You may call the UUCA office at 404.634.5134 to speak to Rev. Marti Keller about accessing the Counseling and Referral Service.

History of Lay Ministry at UUCA

UUCA is one of the largest UU congregations in the United States. We embarked upon lay ministry as a way of meeting the growing pastoral care needs of our large congregation. The lay ministry program at UUCA was conceived in the early 1990s by then senior minister Rev. Dr. Edward Frost (now minister emeritus) as a cadre of congregation members trained in pastoral care skills, including the art of listening and providing spiritual support and comfort. With such training, the lay ministers would function as extensions of the professional ministers. Dr. Frost expanded this original vision to include training in worship arts so that lay ministers might conduct vespers, participate in Sunday worship, and conduct memorial services and weddings.

The program got off the ground at UUCA under the leadership of associate minister Rev. Diana Jordan in 1994. She conducted intensive training with an initial group of six candidates, each of whom committed to two years of pastoral service to the congregation. Rev. Jordan developed the program essentially "from scratch," based on Rev. Frost's original vision. This initial lay ministry program included training in worship, pastoral care, UU history, and church polity. Five of the original six candidates completed the program to serve the congregation as lay ministers. Rev. Kate Hauk was hired by UUCA in 1996 as assistant minister of pastoral care and assumed responsibility for the lay ministry program. A second "class" of ten lay ministry candidates completed training on November 2, 1997 and began their tenure as lay ministers while two from the original class went on to seminary to become professional UU ministers.

Through a grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1998, three members of the second class of lay ministers (Dr. Tony Stringer, Lisa Capehart Hulse, and K.C. Burgess-Yakemovic) developed and published a training curriculum that is now used throughout our denomination. Our program continues to be a stepping stone to professional ministry, as well as a way for committed lay leaders to participate in ministerial service to the congregation.

The Lay Ministry Training Curriculum

Lay leaders perform important ministerial functions in both small and large Unitarian Universalist congregations. Small congregations often do not have the financial base to support a professional minister. Yet to attract and keep new people, small congregations must find a way to meet members' ministerial needs. Hence, lay members of small congregations may be called upon to lead worship services, provide pastoral care in times of illness or crisis, and to officiate at dedications, weddings, and funerals.

Size may also be the impetus for the development of lay ministry within large congregations. With increasing membership it becomes difficult for the professional minister to know personally and intimately more than a fraction of the congregation. Hence, even in congregations served by several professional ministers, size may require that lay leaders assume some aspects of the ministry.

In all size congregations, lay ministry is a way of actively combating the complacency that leads people to attend church as a spectator rather than as an involved and passionate contributor. Lay ministry has the potential to directly involve each member in vital aspects of church life from simply making caring phone calls to the sick to organizing and leading Sunday services. All congregations can benefit from regarding every member as a minister. Throughout our religious movement, lay leaders are rising to the call of ministry, creating a considerable demand for training materials appropriate to the needs of the laity. The UUCA Lay Ministry Training Curriculum (Stringer, Hulse and Burgess-Yakemovic, 2001) is intended to be a foundation for training laity in ministerial skills.

The complete Lay Ministry Curriculum includes an Instructor Guide (35 pages) and Candidates Handbook (179 pages). The curriculum is divided into nine modules, each of which is summarized below.

Module 1: Answering the Call. The call to lay ministry should not be answered by everyone. Issues pertaining to the selection (or self-selection) of lay ministers are covered.
Module 2: Mission and Ministry. Module 2 guides lay ministry candidates in developing a sense of mission and ministry based on an assessment of the needs of the professional ministers, the congregation, and the candidates themselves.
Module 3: Community Building. Skills for building community within the lay ministry program and the congregation as a whole are taught.
Module 4: Unitarian Universalist History. A brief overview of UU history is presented. Candidates search for recurring themes in our history in order to understand the development of our faith. Candidates also deepen their understanding of UU history through outside reading and study projects.
Module 5: Unitarian Universalist Spirituality and Belief. The UU Principles, Purposes, and Sources of Inspiration become the foundation for candidates' attempts to deepen their spirituality and clarify their beliefs.
Module 6: Worship. Candidates are introduced to the elements of worship and the art of composing and preaching sermons.
Module 7: Special Services. Material is included to instruct candidates in performing a variety of worship services including weddings, memorials, and child dedications. Special holiday services are also discussed.
Module 8: Pastoral Care. Candidates are introduced to pastoral care theory and technique. Professional limitations, boundaries, and supervisory requirements are also discussed.
Module 9: Conflict Resolution. The principles and techniques of conflict resolution are covered.

The UUCA Lay Ministry Training Curriculum (Instructor Guide and Candidate Handbook) is available for purchase from the UUCA Office (404.634.5134).

For information on becoming a lay minister at UUCA, please contact Tony Stringer, the Lead Lay Minister, at tstringer@uuca.org.