I am so very pleased to introduce to you the newly formed Pastoral Associates Team at UUCV. They are eight church members who will be sharing the pastoral ministry of the church community with me.
I introduce them to you as a new team, though I suspect they are already familiar to many. They are: Anne Escobedo, Steve Jacobsen, Darryl Marquez, Madelaine and Yukio Okano, Neal Ortenberg, Stephanie Tiffany, and Pam Waldron
Together we will be holding the whole congregation, attentive to the times of need, sorrow, illness or transition in your lives. UUCV is such a vibrant congregation of people with diverse and full lives; we need just such a team to take on the caring ministry. I am so grateful to each of these good people for sharing this ministry with me.
Please feel free to reach out to me or any Pastoral Associate if you need support of some kind – be it physical or spiritual. You may well find that one of our team will also reach out to you. If you know of someone in the church who is struggling in some way, please let us know.
In the past, Rev. Jan Christian had a similar team, and Beverly Jordan initially came on the staff as a Spiritual Care Coordinator. Beverly transitioned to our Membership Manager when I arrived this fall. It was an early priority to create a lay pastoral ministry. I wanted such a team not only because a congregation as large as UUCV needs one, but because this can be a powerful shared ministry.
Our Pastoral Associates (akin to Worship Associates who share our worship ministry) began forming this fall. I invited people who have a compassionate, calm and strong presence. (And since, I don’t yet know everyone in our church well, I sought recommendations.) We first gathered to talk about what this ministry might look like, and I asked them to take some time considering it.
In January we had a start-up workshop, and we will meet monthly. We are already becoming a team who will support each other as we support the congregation. I have full confidence in their integrity and compassion. We hold any personal information we learn about folks in the church with confidentiality.
It is such a joy to be serving this community and I am joyfully grateful for all those who share it with me.
With love,
Rev. Dana
805-644-3898
administrator@uuventura.org
