St. Peter's By The Sea
The Episcopal Church in Narragansett, RI
Rector Search Process
Transition Process in the Diocese of Rhode Island
This time of transition begins when a settled rector/vicar announces he is leaving a parish or mission and lasts until the Celebration of New Ministry of his successor. This period offers a great opportunity for congregational development as the process invites both introspection and reflection about what it means to be the church at this time and in this place. The first part of the transition process is focused on the church - defining and affirming the church’s history, current mission, vision and goals for the next three years. The process of gathering and assessing this data should engage as many in the congregation as possible so that parishioners have a stake in the process and its outcome.
The product of the first part of the process is a narrative profile of the congregation which will be used to introduce prospective candidates to the mission, ministries and future plans of the congregation. The profile generally contains the following: history of the church, current mission, ministries, statistics, facilities, budget and financial data, vision and plans for the future. From this prospective of past, present and future, the leadership of the parish or mission will identify the skills and gifts necessary for a new clergy leader to assist the congregation as they move forward into their vision. The final profile may be simple or elaborate. Many parishes now place their profile on their website.
When the profile is in its final stages, the leadership gathers to complete the national church’s search request form which is used to access the Church Deployment Office computer system. The skills and experiences identified will be matched to those of clergy who express interest in the position. This submission also announces to the church at large that a church is seeking a new priest leader. There are several sources of candidates: the Church Deployment Office profiles matching a church’s criteria, names gathered by the Deployment Ministry Conference by the Deployment Officer and through the Deployment Ministry Newsletter, recommendations from the Bishop or parishioners. Our Deployment Officer will communicate with each interested candidate about the position and to his/her Deployment Officer to ascertain that the priest has no impediments to being a candidate and has the recommendation of his/her bishop to do so. All candidates regardless of source must go through this initial screening by the Deployment Officer before being pursued by a congregation.
Once the candidates’ information has been received, the search committee reviews the data and decides who to pursue. The search committee will decide what methods to use to begin the dialogue with the candidates. Committees usually begin with sending the written church profile (or send the link to a website-based profile) and other information about congregational life that might be of interest asking in return that candidates provide resumes and other information about themselves. Often committees will arrange telephone interviews as a way of getting to know the candidates. In addition, candidates will be asked to provide references and committee members will contact them to learn about the candidate’s skills and gifts from those who have experienced them first hand.
Each step of the process is designed to deepen the relationship of the candidates and the committee and give both more information upon which to make a decision. Once the finalists are identified, the Deployment Officer will initiate a formal background screening paid for by the parish. The Bishop will also call the finalists’ bishops to receive each bishop’s recommendation. Finalist candidates and their spouse/partner are always invited to vist the church to see the facilities and meet for in-depth interviews with the search committee. The Bishop and the Deployment Officer will meet with the finalists at the time they visit the church for face-to-face interviews. We also recommend that representatives of the search committee visit the finalist(s) in his/her home parish setting whenever possible. At that time, additional references can be checked in person.
After final interviews, the Search Committee decides which candidate to recommend to the Vestry or Bishop’s Committee and receives permission from that priest to place his/her name before the Vestry/Bishop’s Committee. At a joint meeting, the Search Committee shares information about the candidate with the Vestry/Bishop’s Committee who then assume responsibility for the rest of the process. The Bishop must be notified of the name of finalist candidate and be given the opportunity to approve. The Warden will contact the chosen candidate and invite him/her for a visit with the Vestry/Bishop’s Committee at which time a Letter of Agreement can be negotiated and signed before it is sent to the Bishop for approval. Once a Vestry has formally called the priest, a letter is sent to the Bishop announcing the election according to Canon. In the case of a mission parish, the Bishop appoints the Vicar and may take a greater role in the selection process.
The Vestry/Bishop’s Committee assists the new rector/vicar with moving arrangements, readies the rectory/vicarage if there is one, and plans to welcome the new priest leader to the church and community. The Celebration of New Ministry will be scheduled by the Bishop’s Office in consultation with the new rector/vicar.