Selection of new Pastor for St James
Father Steve Hendry left us in mid January 2012. With the support of the Diocese we have struck a Selection Committee charged with recommending a preferred replacement to the Bishop for his support and approval.
The Selection Committee comprises: the 4 Wardens (Teresa Catherwood, Sylvia Kelly, Sue Carre, John Bell), our 2 Synod representatives (Don Cardy, Mary Hoekstra) and 3 other member of the congregation representing the 8.30 Congregation (Stew Jack), our Youth Group (Lauren Millward) and Andrew MacRae. The Committee is jointly chaired by John and Don, and has net 3 times now.
One of the meetings was together with a wider cross section of the Congregation in a workshop facilitated by Rev June Hough in which we tried to better define what our strengths and challenges are, and what the key attributes of our new pastor should be.
Its clear we are coming froma position of some strength and we are a very self starting, self sufficient congregation but we still have challenges and our new pastor will be crucial in moving us forward and St James Church forward. The notes from the workshop are available for your informtion.
With this input the Selection Committee has completed the first phase of the Selection Process i.e. goving the Bishop a comprehensive picture of the state of the parish as described by statistics on finances and attendance over the past 10 years, a parish profile that talks to the way we operate and the strengths and challenges we face, the latest Vestry Report and representative Sunday Bulletins from teh past 5 years.
The next phase is triggered by the Bishop providing the Selection Committee with a list of potential candidates - the Selection Committee will then contact these candidates and conduct a process of interview and visits to their current parishes to hear candidates preach and see them in situ. When the Selection Committee find a candidate they consider preferred then we will make a recommendation to the Bishop for his consideration and hopefully approval.
We hope we will reach a conclusion before the end of summer but we need to take enough time to reach this very important recommendation. Confidentiality in the process is crucial and whilst we will endeavour to keep the congregation informed of progress we can't enter into discussion or speculation around candiadates. Please bear with us - pray that we can reach the right conclusion and in the not too distant future.
Update - August 27 2012
The Selection Committee is pleased to update the Congregation with the good news that we have been successful in our search for a new Pastor. It was announced yesterday (26 August) that our new pastor will be Rev. Victor Kruger-Kischak and he will join us on 15 November.
Don and John want to thank their colleagues on the Selection Committee for their time, energy and committment to the task of finding a new pastor.
