Dear Members of the Winchester Unitarian Society,

On August 1st, we welcomed our new Interim Minister, Reverend Seth Carrier-Ladd. He will be ministering to us for the next two years helping us in our transition between settled ministers. In the spring of 2025, we will be choosing a Ministerial Search Committee that will carry out a search for our next settled minister who should begin in the late spring of 2026.

During the next two years, Reverend Seth will need the help of a transition team to guide us through this transition. We are currently looking to establish this team as soon as possible so we can begin the process.

The role of this team is to help the congregation navigate the interim period. We will do this primarily by offering different events to the congregation centering on the five main tasks of interim ministering 1) grieving Rev. Heather and letting go of resentments or grudges, 2) reflecting on WUS’s history together, 3) reflecting on WUS’s identity without Rev. Heather, both who we’ve been and who we want to be, 4) identifying shifts and changes in leadership during the interim period, and 5) making sure WUS is connected more broadly with the larger Unitarian Universalist denomination.

The time commitment is one meeting per month for the two years of the interim period, plus the necessary work to organize, advertise and put on Transition Team events. In a handful of months an extra meeting may be necessary to plan upcoming events.

If you are interested in joining me as a member of the Transition Team, please let me know soon by sending me an email (gordon.mcintosh@verizon.net). I’d like to have a team in place no later than our Welcoming Sunday, September 8th.

Thank you everyone for considering taking part in this very important work!

Best,

Gordy McIntosh

Standing Committee Chair