For churches:
If you are a church leader at a congregation without a pastor, or where the pastor has announced plans to leave, contact Associate Conference Minister, Rev. Kevin McLemore at mclemore@psec.org or 484-949-8774 ext. 302.
Times of transition can be especially trying for church members. With recent changes to the search process and to the UCC Local Church Profile, whether its been a few years or a few decades since your congregation has gone through a search, this search will need to be structured differently than your last one.
Thanks to your contribution to Our Church’s Wider Mission, the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference can offer you resources to make the transition easier, help connecting with pastoral care (whether it’s interim pastors, bridge pastors, Sunday Supply), guide your Consistory in the logistics of transition, train your Search Committee on how to find a candidate that meets the specific needs of your congregation, and much more.
Visit the Search and Call Resources page for materials to help along the way.
For searching pastors:
Are you being called to…
create new ministries in a small city where the neighborhood has changed faster than the neighborhood church?
bring hope to a town that was built around a coal mine that will never reopen?
guide the adventure for a small church looking to weave together their ministry with a similar church nearby?
minister and mentor to a community that feels they have been abandoned by their denomination as they continue to process the United Church of Christ’s more liberal views?
dream new dreams and provide comfort to a congregation after a beloved pastor’s retirement following three decades in that pulpit?
Nearly a quarter of the conference’s churches are at some point in the search and call process. Additionally, more than half of our churches are being served by a pastor who is currently eligible for retirement or will be in the next five years. Our churches will be looking for new ideas and renewed energy as they advance to new stages in their ministries. For younger clergy looking to permanently settle in one region, Pennsylvania Southeast Conference’s church-dense environment could offer an opportunity to serve several churches over decades within the same region. There are sections of the conference where you can find 30 full-time churches within a 30 minute drive from a central location.
If you are a pastor interested in serving a church in PSEC, please indicate your willingness to serve in Pennsylvania Southeast on the UCC Profiles Portal. Our churches are instructed to accept profiles or equivalent resumes only through our Conference office.
For more information about searching in PSEC, visit our Search and Call Resources page and make sure you read Search and Call Ministry in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
