Storrs Congregational Church
Tel: 860.429.9382    Fax: 860.429.9693
email: info@storrscongchurch.org

Pastoral Relations Committee

Members for 2010:

Sondra Morrison, '11
Larry Mickel, '12
Linda Albright, '13
Dudley Hamlin

Minimum Qualifications

•  Member of Associate Member of the church

•  Mature, capable, conscientious person

•  Ability to work well with others

Responsible to

•  Church Council

•  Personnel Committee

•  Members of the Congregation

•  Members of the greater community

General Responsibility of the Pastoral Relations Committee(s)

The role of the Pastoral Relations Committee is to be an advocate, ally and confidant for the pastor(s).

Some of the responsibilities of the committee(s) are to:

1. Clarify the role of the pastor.
2. Assist a new pastor in learning to know people, the church culture, things that can vary, members’ gifts, etc.
3. Assist pastor in setting priorities on how his/her time is budgeted.
4. Assist pastor in setting job priorities; what needs to be done first, and what can wait.
5. Help the pastor to set and reach personal goals—both for the good of the congregation and the personal development of the pastor.
6. Support the pastor’s professional growth by promoting attendance at seminars, classes, sabbatical leave, and time off to read.
7. Advocate participation beyond the local church through mission, outreach, evangelism and the like, to the local community, Association and Conference.
8. Encourage life outside the parish—family, hobbies, recreation, friends, exercise, etc.
9. Watch for signs of “burnout”.
10. Support the evaluation process for this ministry by providing feedback on how the pastor is progressing toward reaching his/her goals, improving his/her operating style, relating to individual members and the congregation as a whole, carrying out job responsibilities, supporting teams, boards, committees, ministries, etc.
11. Provide the communication link between pastor and members through reports to Council, newsletter and Sunday bulletin pieces, special letters to board and committee chairs and message(s) on the website; to inform the congregation on the process used to solve problems.
12. Deal with conflict immediately; work for win/win/win solutions; avoid win/lose decisions.
13. Work to clarify problems and channel them to appropriate entities (boards, committees, staff, and parishioners).
14. Address only concerns with a name; report back to the person(s).
15. Listen to all; listen to understand.
16. Keep the big picture in mind when making decisions.
17. Be there for the pastor in trying times. Assist pastor in exercising responsible leadership when a behavior is difficult, focusing on the behavior, not the person. (Managing own emotions, handle relationships well.) Take a stand against a person who may be mentally unstable, thus affecting the pastor’s leadership.

1. Be a person the pastor can relate to
2. Be able to meet regularly with the pastor
3. Be willing to attend training workshop(s)
4. Be available as a listener to pastoral and congregational concerns
5. Be able to listen to many sides of issues
6. Be able to see/understand different points of view
7. Be able to keep information confidential
8. Be patient and flexible
9. Possess integrity and credibility
10. Be able to speak honestly
11. Possess a deep commitment to the church
12. Represent a variety of ages, sexes, ethnic groups, etc.
13. Member of the search committee of a new pastor-knows why pastor was selected
14. Not be the current moderator