The Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Endowment Campaign will have its official kickoff at the Massachusetts Conference, UCC Annual Meeting on June 18^th.  During the meeting in Sturbridge, we hope to announce 100% participation in the campaign from the Board of Directors, the members of the Commission for Leadership Development, the MACUCC Conference staff, the facilitators and current members of the New Clergy and Clergy Community of Practice peer groups and the PEP Ambassadors!  As of today we are half way there in getting a five year commitment to the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Endowment Campaign from all these important leadership groups.

As a current participant in the Pastoral Excellence Program, we hope that you believe more than any other pastors the value of this ministry continuing beyond the 2012 grant period.  Your colleagues have testified time and time again about the support that this program has provided for you as well as for the impact with the congregations you are serving.  A five year personal pledge will reflect your ongoing commitment to have this ministry continue in the years ahead.

If you have not made a five year pledge to the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence Endowment Campaign YET, you will receive a Personal Commitment Form in the mail in the next couple of days. I urge you to complete and return this form as soon as possible but no later than June 10^th so that your five year pledge will be included in the total amount that will be announced on June 18th during the Annual Meeting as the endowment campaign begins.

Blessings and gratitude for your ongoing ministry with the clergy peer groups that have transformed the culture of our Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ!

Sue Dickerman

Program Coordinator for the Pastoral Excellence Program

Announcing a fabulous opportunity for all authorized ministers in their first    1-10 years of serving a local church...

 Clergy Conference on Star Island

 Saturday, August 27 to Friday, September 2, 2011

"The Art and Ministry of Supervision:

Combining the Sacred and the Secular"

with Rev. Susan Beaumont, Senior Consultant with The Alban Institute

This week-long conference -  just before the church program year kicks off - is a great mix of time with colleagues, continuing education and learning, rest and relaxation.   

Susan Beaumont will lead the program each day and by the end of the week participants will:

o    Develop an understanding of supervision as performance management

o    Examine the interface between covenantal and employment relationships

o    Understand the importance of a job description and learn how to design one

o    Explore techniques for setting performance expectations

o    Practice crafting the performance feedback conversation

o    Explore the importance of the annual performance appraisal

o    Learn to deal with the chronic underperformer

o    Explore a process of progressive discipline, leading to termination

o    Experiment with the creation of a team behavioral covenant, to help shape team culture

o    Examine a variety of approaches for facilitating more effective staff meetings

There will also be morning and candlelit chapel services, silk paining, writing, sitting in a ropcking chair on the porch, meeting and re-connecting with colleagues, and so much more!

For more information on the conference including the registration details visit:

http://starisland.org/conferences/2011-listings/clergy/

For information about Star Island including a slideshow visit: www.starisland.org

This conference is sponsored by the Pastoral Excellence Program of the MACUCC in partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Association.