Dear Members and Friends,
A couple of Sundays ago, Leslie Pohl-Kosbau, our Moderator, spoke from the pulpit regarding the transition in Music Ministry staffing. She shared that the entire Church Board has been engaging in processes over the last 18 months about a personnel issue that predates the current senior minister’s tenure. Leslie also let you know we would be sharing more information about the music transition soon.
Our two previous letters (from June 13, and from June 5) are included below.
We are balancing what transparency and confidentiality call upon us as leaders to share and not to share for the health and wellbeing of our church community.
We have received letters from people who have expressed hopes, concerns, affirmation, and confusion about the decision to move in a new direction for our music ministry. The confusion and concerns seem to be related to the experience that we have been blessed by a music director who is talented. We agree. The decision to move in a new direction has to do with the need for staff members to follow our employment standards as set forth in our personnel manual, the desire to provide and maintain healthy boundaries, and the level of collaboration required to fulfill our mission well.
We know that the departure of our music director creates a challenging time for our music ministry. It is with deep sadness and with appreciation for his valued service that we also accepted John Boelling’s resignation letter this week.
Some have asked about whether this level of staff turnover is unusual. We have heard from our UUA that staff turnover is a natural part of congregational life, especially when there is a change in church leadership. In fact, the UUA tells us that staff turnover is increasing in these post-pandemic and nationally unsettled times. Our leadership will continue to look at ways that we can attract and retain staff, while also accepting that change is normal.
While change can be hard, it also opens us up to new possibilities. We are assembling a Music Ministry Transition Team to reflect on our music program and how it serves our children, youth, and adults of all ages. We have experienced transitions in our music program a number of times over the last almost 160 years. We know that rebuilding is about supporting the traditions that continue to serve us while also experimenting and adapting with new ways of doing things. This summer, Garrett Bond will serve as Music Coordinator. In addition Ellie Hodder, Signe Lusk and Joe O’Donnell have agreed to assist with musical offerings.
The Music Ministry Transition Team, once assembled, will discuss the timeline for what comes next, including the search for an Interim or an Acting Music Director, and then the search for our permanent Music Director.
We are aware of misinformation being communicated in our community through unofficial, unaccountable channels. If you are not sure about the source of information we encourage you to check with a church leader about its accuracy. To learn more, contact members of your Executive Team or your Board Officers Committee (members below). A FAQ is being assembled and will be available soon.
We recognize that this has been a difficult process in many ways and that it will take time as we find our way forward. We are confident we can do that.
In faith,
Board Officers Committee & The Executive Team
Leslie Pohl- Kosbau, Moderator
John Bishop
Julia Griffiths
Roger Robinson
(Email the Board at Board@firstunitarianportland.org)
Rev. Alison Miller
Rev. Tom Disrud
Kathryn Estey
(Email the Executive Team at E-T@firstunitarianportland.org)
Special Message from our Moderator and Ministers
June 13, 2024
Many thanks to all who attended Sunday’s meeting. Thanks to those who wrote to share concerns, appreciation, hopes, ideas, and questions about our recently announced music ministry leadership transition. Change is hard, even when necessary. We want to make space for your grief or whatever you are feeling at this moment. We know some are feeling surprised and upset, in part, because they don’t have all the facts.
We will continue to make space for an open exchange of information and to give you all the accurate details that we can. If we don’t know something, we’ll tell you. If we can’t share something, we’ll tell you why. All of this is part of navigating conflict in productive ways.
We’re working towards a church where its programs and ministries – and staff – all work together to serve the church’s mission and vision. This includes a multi-generational music ministry that serves the choir community and the congregation as a whole. In a healthy church, its programs and ministries work towards common goals and the common good.
In a Unitarian Universalist congregation, leadership is shared between ministers who are called by the congregation and members of the board who are elected by the congregation. Mindful of our shared authority and responsibility, the Executive Team is regularly in consultation with the Board about significant decisions. Occasionally, our policies and bylaws require the Board’s authorization for the Executive Team to act in major decisions.
The recent decision that it was time for a change in the leadership of our music program was not made in haste or in isolation. Members of the Board have heard updates, provided counsel, and considered and supported a broad range of interventions to promote resolution in this specific matter, over several years and involving multiple ministers. The Board respects and authorized the decision.
We have collectively held a great deal of uncertainty and change over the last several years. And very candidly, the strain of that has highlighted some of our historical institutional weaknesses, especially when it comes to supporting trusting, supportive, and transparent relationships among our staff and professional and lay leaders. Many of those challenges exist within patterns of distrust and division that have been decades in the making.
Anyone entering this space as our senior minister two years ago was inheriting this challenge already underway. The senior minister and the whole executive team have been working with our leaders here and with outside professional resources to see if we could find a way forward. This has included working with the Rev. Carlton Elliot Smith, our UUA western regional lead, and Annie Scott, our local UUA regional staff support. We’ve consulted a range of support professionals and explored and offered numerous avenues for restoration and resolution.
These consultations and other deliberative processes that were undertaken led to findings and recommendations that have been and will be closely followed, including taking certain steps and engaging with learning and development goals for all of us — from the senior minister and executive team to the full staff, and from the Board of Trustees to other groups of lay leaders. Among these goals, we want you to know that we, the Board and the Executive Team, have heard clearly the need to help support restoration, repair, and resolution for these strains within our staff system and within our broader congregational community.
We sought to begin that collective work of healing and repair with last Sunday’s listening session, and will continue that work with intention and additional supporting resources throughout this summer.
We invite everyone into this work – challenging and difficult, but ultimately hopeful – of healing and holding together as a faith community grounded in love. We believe and trust that what we learn will ultimately lead to a stronger foundation for all our shared programs and ministries to be able to thrive.
In faith,
Ryan Deibert, Moderator of the Board of Trustees
Rev. Alison Miller, Senior Minister
Rev. Tom Disrud, Associate Minister
June 4, 2024
Dear Members and Friends of First Unitarian Church,
We are writing to you with news of a significant transition in the life of the church and our music program. DeReau Farrar will be leaving First Unitarian Church and will no longer serve as our Director of Music.
While the congregation has been through a number of transitions over the years, we recognize that this may come as a surprise to a number of you. We know this news will be met with a whole range of emotions and reactions. We do want you to know that church leaders including the Executive Team and the Board of Trustees have been actively engaged in this process and that we have not arrived at this decision lightly.
We have heard from many people, both in the music program and in the larger congregation over the last year. Some have shared concerns and frustrations about the program and its management and others have shared appreciation and praise. Some have shared a mixture of these things. In recent months especially, the divisions have become more and more apparent. After considerable effort, it became clear that this was not a tenable situation moving forward. Despite strong feelings on all sides, we note the common thread is a shared love of the music program and the church, and a wish that the program has the leadership it needs as we look to the future.
Change is hard, even when it is necessary, and we recognize that some will feel grief and loss. We recognize that this transition will also open up a time of reflection on our music ministry and how it is serving our choir members, our instrumentalists, our youth and children, and all of our worship participants.
We want to be able to share what we know about the next steps of the music ministry transition and to be available for questions you may have about this decision. The first opportunity will be this Sunday, June 9, in the Eliot Chapel after the service at 12:30pm. We want to make space for any questions and comments as we enter the initial phase of transition.
Please be aware that the members of the Executive Team and the Board have confidentiality obligations that may limit their ability to fully respond to any and all questions you may have at this time. However, we are open to your questions and will share with you as much as we can.
As we have been hearing from people, we’re concerned that there is a fair amount of misinformation out there and want to correct some of that. Moving forward, please ask us if you are not sure of the accuracy of something you hear. Misinformation only complicates situations. Again, we will do our best to provide as much information as we are able to provide.
You may be curious to know about the established protocols for professional staff transitions that are in place through the Association of Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries. They are intended to support the health and wellbeing of the music ministry and its leaders, as well as the health and wellbeing of the congregation as a whole. We are expecting these guidelines will be followed in this transition. Here is that link: Code of Professional Practice – AUUMM
Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.
The Executive Team
Alison Miller, Tom Disrud and Kathryn Estey
ET@firstunitarianportland.org