The Transition Team at First Church in Salem from its formation in November 2022 until June 2024 led the congregation as we learned together what it means to be a church in transition. The members of the team were Deborah Greel, Jerrie Hildebrand, Eric Kenney, Patti Roka, and co-chairs Russell Lane and Melody Lee. We have been working under the guidance of our interim minister Rev. Jenny Rankin.

Year One
Our first order of business as a team was to write a covenant to guide our work together and remind us to bring our best selves to the table. Tackling this challenge helped us better understand some of the difficult dynamics at play within our congregation.
Next, we focused on the first of five UUA suggested interim goals: coming to terms with our past. We designed a series of Community Conversations to lead the congregation in a process of self-reflection and self-discovery. During these discussions we focused on the past five years of our congregational history. These included the departure of our long-time minister Jeff Barz-Snell, a one-year interim and search process to call a new settled minister, Elizabeth Ide, and her three-year tenure with us, which coincided with the challenges presented by Covid. Unpacking our varied responses to these events has given us a lot to talk about.

Year Two
During our second year of work, we focused on the second UUA interim goal: discovering our identity. We started off the year by distributing copies of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World, which was the UUA Common Read for 2023-24, and leading discussion groups that focused on naming the harm caused by the actions of the congregation during the tenure of our last settled minister.
In November we held a community-building potluck and conducted a “Spirituality Snapshot” survey which highlighted the diversity in belief among our congregants. In February we led a Leadership retreat with members of the Standing Committee and the Deacons to encourage discussion among church leaders and assess our readiness for search. In April the Transition Team led a Sunday service on Shared Ministry to help the congregation learn more about what this means and what we already contribute to the church.
At the end of this year, our focus shifted to the fifth interim goal of looking into the future and thinking about who we want to become as a congregation.  Patti Roka, who stepped down from regular participation in the Transition Team, led the congregation in a Blue-Sky brainstorming event to envision how we would like to see our congregation develop over the next five years. Here are the lists of what folks came up with!

What we learned
One of the takeaways from our work as a team is the importance of talking to one another directly in times of conflict. We have recommended that the Standing Committee form a Right Relations Committee to address conflict in our church community and Rev. Jenny is available for mediated conversations.
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the potlucks, discussions, survey, and services hosted by the Transition Team. It has been important to come together both to listen to one another when we disagree and to dream about how we might grow in the future.  Let’s keep the creative juices flowing as we continue to learn and dream together. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Rev. Jenny who has guided and shaped our work together. We could not have done it without you.

Timelines - click below to open.