Welcome to UUism! (Making a UU Minister)

Welcome to Unitarian Universalism!

Our faith isn’t like many others, and I’m sure it can be confusing. I’m hoping that by writing about some aspect of our faith each month, y’all can get to know us better.

This month I was asked to share the Charge to the Congregations that I offered at now-Rev. Samara Powers’ ordination, so I thought I’d spend some time sharing with you how a Unitarian Universalist minister is made.

We UUs have possibly the highest bar or strictest practices that are required to “pass” to become fellowshipped ministers. It’s a long journey with a lot of assessment.

Fellowshipped UU ministers have to go to seminary and acquire a Master of Divinity degree. There are two UU seminaries, Meadville Lombard in Chicago and Starr King in Berkeley, although we can go to any school with an accredited program. MDiv programs are generally 3-4 years, depending on how internships fall. (They are either two-year part-time or one year full-time).

During this process, seminarians contact the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and express an intent to pursue ministry. We must complete a multi-day assessment by an accredited psych practice. Early in this process, the UUA will grant aspirant status, which allows individuals to become a member of the UUMA, the UU Ministers Association.

We have to complete a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), which is a supervised, 10-week full time chaplaincy experience, often done in a hospital, but can be done in other settings. These result in evaluations from the supervisor and the student. The seminarian can then apply for candidate status with the UUA and apply for their Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC) date, an interview that must be completed to be cleared to go into search for parish ministry.

During seminary or afterward, seminarians must complete an internship, as mentioned above, although there is a shift in practice to allowing a CPE Residency (a one-year, full-time chaplaincy practice with supervision and peer engagement) to be done in place of an internship.

When these are underway or completed, we can meet with the MFC. We submit all of our educational transcripts, submit affirmations that we’ve done certain reading or learning about a number of topics (when I went through, I had to demonstrate at least some level of competence in 17 areas, although this has been reduced to 8), essays on focused topics, and other materials. MFC packets are often 125+ pages. We then meet with the committee assigned to us, preach for them, and answer questions they have based on our packets. The committee then decides if we are ready to go into search for a parish. When we are given this clearing, we are welcomed into Preliminary Fellowship.

But wait, there’s more! We then have to complete an additional 3 years of evaluations – from ourselves, our boards (or a supervisor, for chaplains), and a Ministry Formation Team or Committee on Ministry, for each of those 3 years. When this has been achieved and the MFC approves our evaluations, we enter into Full Fellowship.

Full Fellowship does not mean the learning is over, it just means we aren’t supervised and assessed as much as we have been in this whole process. There are other elements to this whole process, too, that I’ve left out for reasons of length.

When we are welcomed into Preliminary Fellowship, we are granted the UUA’s blessing to be ordained. However, the only body in our faith that can ordain a minister is (a) congregation(s). The entire congregation votes to ordain a minister. Technically, a congregation can ordain a minister anytime they choose, but for ministers who plan to serve more than one congregation, they need to go through the whole process like the rest of us. Also, even when a minister is removed from fellowship, they can continue to be called Reverend; only the ordaining body/ies can remove this title from them.

Rev. Samara Powers was ordained on October 11 by the UU Church of Valdosta and the UU Fellowship of Gainesville. Among the elements of an ordination service that are different from a regular worship service are a Laying on of Hands (blessing from the community affirming a minister’s ministry and ordination), the Right Hand of Fellowship (collegial welcome into ministry), the Charge to the Minister (insight to the minister about how to care for themselves and their role as minister), and a Charge to the Congregation(s) (the insight to the members of the ordaining bodies or whatever congregation(s) the ordinand chooses).

If you’re wondering where I fall in all of this… I am in Full Fellowship. I have an MDiv (to go along with my other degrees), have done all the evaluations, completed a single unit of CPE then later a CPE Residency and a CPE Fellowship (an additional year of supervised chaplaincy). I completed a two-year half-time internship and was also the sabbatical minister at my teaching congregation. Additionally, I did work for a brief period as the admin of my home congregation, as a part-time Director of Religious Education for 2 years, and almost 2 years as a staff chaplain in another hospital system. I completed my Full Fellowship reviews with one from my time as a staff chaplain and two during my tenure at UUC Tarpon Springs.

To remain in good standing, ministers need to be fellowshipped. Just like other professionals, we follow a code of conduct, and we have ethical guidelines (the UUMA’s Guidelines can be found here: https://uuma.org/guidelines/). Just like every other part of our faith, fellowshipping is a kind of covenant and affirms how we plan to be together as colleagues and to serve our faith – our congregations, the UUA organization, and all other aspects. Ministers may be removed from fellowship for misconduct – violating the code of conduct with congregants, staff, or institutions.

I promise these won’t always be so long! But I hope you feel like you understand the training we go through to get to where we are.