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UNITY CHURCH-UNITARIAN
  • Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Building Tour
    • Directions and Parking
    • Pathway to Membership
    • Visiting Sunday Services
    • Welcome
  • Worship
    • Music Ministry
    • Sunday Offering
    • Sunday Services
    • Worship Associates
  • Grow
    • Adult Faith Formation
    • Antiracist Multiculturalism
    • Art Lives at Unity
    • Chalice Camp
    • Library-Bookstall
    • Religious Education for Children and Youth
    • Spiritual Practice
    • Wellspring Wednesday
  • Act
    • Act for the Earth >
      • Canopy Connectors
    • Evergreen Projects
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Housing Justice
    • Indigenous Justice
    • JJ Hill-Obama School
    • Mano a Mano
    • Partner Church
    • Racial Justice
    • Sanctuary Justice
  • Connect
    • All Our Fullness
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    • Board of Trustees
    • Calendar
    • Congregational Care
    • Contact Us
    • Fellowship Groups
    • Membership Database
    • News and Events
    • YouTube Channel
  • Give
    • Annual Pledge
    • Fundraiser
    • Make a Gift
    • Heritage Society Legacy Giving
  • About
    • Facilities Use and Rental
    • Our Beliefs
    • Staff >
      • Staff Roles
    • Unity Church History
    • UUA/MidAmerica
    • Values, Mission, and Ends
    • Who We Are

Ministerial Transition

Please welcome Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair
as Senior Minister of Unity Church

Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair
The Board of Trustees and the Ministerial Search Team are so very delighted to share news of the April 21, 2024, congregational vote to call the Rev. Dr. Oscar Sinclair as Senior Minister of Unity Church. The affirmative vote exceeded our congregational bylaws requirement of 85%, as well as the 90% minimum threshold hoped for by most ministerial candidates. As Rev. Oscar shared in remarks at the conclusion of Sunday’s meeting, he accepts this call “with great humility and fullness of heart.”
REV. OSCAR'S BLOG
Get to know Rev. Oscar and see video answers to questions posed by the congregation.

We are excited to hear your stories from candidating week and the Congregational Meeting. Send us an email, use this link to upload memories, or catch us at church to share. Share your story, listen to others’ stories. Repeat… repeat… repeat -> just like we’ve been doing all year.  We want to capture these stories as part of the history of Unity Church. 

2024 Unity Church Congregational Record

The Unity Church 2024 Congregational Record is now available.
 
What is the Congregational Record? What's the Purpose?
The Congregational Record (CR) is a document used during minister search to provide prospective ministers with information about Unity Church-Unitarian (and other churches in search). 
  • All Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) churches in search provide a CR to prospective ministers as part of the UUA search process.
  • All ministers in search provide a Ministerial Record (MR), kind of like a CV or resume but more in-depth.
  • Both the CR and MR are how ministers and search teams learn about each other and search for a match.

​What is in the Congregational Record?
A profile of Unity Church-Unitarian that includes notes on:
  • Congregational life, personnel, church history, membership and finances, demographics, accessibility, resources and programs, and the surrounding Twin Cities community.
  • The congregational record is built from many sources, and cottage meetings and congregational survey are vital elements of the story an MST is able to tell about their congregation.  
  • This year, over 250 people attended 27 cottage meetings and the congregational survey was completed by 44% of members!​

​What are steps in the ministerial search process?
  1. Candidates express interest and submit their Ministerial Record (similar to a resume) to the UUA.
  2. Congregations let the UUA know they are in search and submit their Congregational Record.
  3. The UUA helps facilitate the process, making both the MR and CR documents available.
  4. Search teams narrow their selection and choose one candidate to visit their church.
  5. Candidating week is an opportunity for the congregation, staff and  board of directors to meet the candidate, hear them give a sermon, and vote on whether or not to affirm that minister's call to their congregation.
2024 Unity Church congregational record
2023 Congregational Survey results

Charge to the Congregation

​Unity Church Board of Trustees Charge to the Congregation
​Charged during worship services on May 14, 2023
  • As a congregant, I will be an informed participant in the search process.
  • I will respect the covenantal nature of this process.
  • I will respect the work and honor the service of the Ministerial Search Team, knowing that they cannot share everything with the congregation.
  • I will offer thoughtful discernment about the current and future needs of the congregation.
  • I will engage in best practices of transformative conflict but not engage in divisive behavior that causes harm.
  • I will be mindful in my use of email and social media communications with respect to matters concerning the search and the search process.
  • I will be present during candidating week, will learn about the candidate, make my decision carefully, and vote responsibly.   

Monthly Updates

April 2024 mst column
April 2024
March 2024 mst column
March 2024
February MST article
February 2024
Picture
January 2024
December MST newsletter article
​December 2023
November MST newsletter article
​November 2023
September MST newsletter article
​September 2023
September MST newsletter article
​October 2023

Ministerial Search Team

Board of Trustees Charge to the Ministerial Search Team
MST members all wearing Unity MST t-shirts and pictured in front of a picture of William Channing Gannett
MST pictured left to right: Ray Wiedmeyer, Angela Wilcox, Rebecca Flood, Tara Romanov Messana, Kat Sherman-Hoehn, Jennie Smith, Richard Lau

Roles

Angela Wilcox: chair, Beyond Categorical Thinking coordinator, interview coordinator
Tara Romanov Messana: communications, survey and cottage meeting coordinator, Beyond Categorical Thinking coordinator, notetaker
Jennie Smith: communications, pre-candidating weekend arrangements coordinator, candidating week arrangements coordinator
Richard Lau: negotiating team
Rebecca Flood: negotiating team
Kat Sherman-Hoehn: treasurer, congregational record coordinator, documents packet coordinator
Ray Wiedmeyer: neutral pulpits coordinator, pre-candidating weekend arrangements coordinator, candidating week arrangements coordinator

Unity Church-Unitarian | 733 Portland Avenue, Saint Paul, MN 55104 | 651-228-1456 | [email protected]
All rights reserved.
  • Visit
    • Accessibility
    • Building Tour
    • Directions and Parking
    • Pathway to Membership
    • Visiting Sunday Services
    • Welcome
  • Worship
    • Music Ministry
    • Sunday Offering
    • Sunday Services
    • Worship Associates
  • Grow
    • Adult Faith Formation
    • Antiracist Multiculturalism
    • Art Lives at Unity
    • Chalice Camp
    • Library-Bookstall
    • Religious Education for Children and Youth
    • Spiritual Practice
    • Wellspring Wednesday
  • Act
    • Act for the Earth >
      • Canopy Connectors
    • Evergreen Projects
    • Gun Violence Prevention
    • Housing Justice
    • Indigenous Justice
    • JJ Hill-Obama School
    • Mano a Mano
    • Partner Church
    • Racial Justice
    • Sanctuary Justice
  • Connect
    • All Our Fullness
    • Beloved Community News
    • Board of Trustees
    • Calendar
    • Congregational Care
    • Contact Us
    • Fellowship Groups
    • Membership Database
    • News and Events
    • YouTube Channel
  • Give
    • Annual Pledge
    • Fundraiser
    • Make a Gift
    • Heritage Society Legacy Giving
  • About
    • Facilities Use and Rental
    • Our Beliefs
    • Staff >
      • Staff Roles
    • Unity Church History
    • UUA/MidAmerica
    • Values, Mission, and Ends
    • Who We Are