Preface
The time of transition when a pastor leaves whether for another church or to retire is a time of loss and grief as well as an opportunity for new growth for both congregation and pastor. It is the desire of the Maine Conference UCC to provide each church and each minister in the search process with pastoral care, and technical assistance throughout the search process. Our placement system while sharing many characteristics of other Conferences, is also uniquely our own, based on our experience and the needs of our churches. We hope that this document will make clear our policies and procedures in the search process.

Profiles
Any UCC candidate seeking a church must have Parish Life and Leadership forward a current profile to our placement assistant.
Only profiles that have come through the profile offices of Local Church Ministries: Parish Life and Leadership will be circulated to search committees. Profiles will be sent by the Conference Office to the Chair of the Search Committee either by mail or electronically. Profiles are confidential documents and should not be shared outside the search committee. At the conclusion of the search process a search committee should keep a summarized record of the number of profiles received and a description of gender and racial distribution of potential candidates. With the exception of the profile of the final candidate, all other profiles should be destroyed.
Profiles are sent with the consent of the candidate and at their request. The conference will not withhold a UCC profile from a search committee unless they have knowledge of an impending fitness review.

References
All search committees and all candidates must have a signed consent form on file in the conference office, which allows each party to seek information regarding the other. No profiles will be circulated without a consent form, including interim profiles.
At the request of a search committee, a conference minister will do a reference check with the Conference where a candidate has their standing in an effort to discern there are no known issues regarding fitness for ministry. The information shared in this reference check is confidential.
Congregations may wish to do other kinds of reference checking such as criminal background checks or credit checks. This is currently beyond the scope of what we can provide although we can point you to resources where that is available.
We would encourage all clergy who are seeking a call in the Maine Conference UCC to speak with a conference minister regarding the various openings and which might be a good fit given their experience.

Non-UCC Clergy
With the exception of Ordained Ministerial Partners of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ” it is the policy of the Maine Conference to not circulate non-UCC credentials to our search committees or to do reference checks on non-UCC clergy. Non-UCC clergy wishing to seek placement in Maine Conference UCC must apply for “privilege of call” in the geographical location where they currently reside.
An exception to this policy is in the case of interim ministers or where a church has not been able to find anyone else suitable. The Conference is unable to provide references or information on non-UCC clergy unless a Statement of Consent and a Background Disclosure Statement is signed and on file in the conference office. In these latter cases it must be understood that the Association Church and Ministry will have the final say as to whether the minister can be authorized to perform ministry within that Association. A church with UCC insurance, whose pastor lacks UCC ministerial authorization, may have its coverage terminated.

Interim Ministers
If you wish to be considered for interim ministry in the Maine Conference you must forward to us a copy of the UCC Interim Ministers profile. It is available on the UCC website www.ucc.org/ministries/index.html. It must have a signed consent form with it. Non-UCC ministers will be considered for interim positions. It is our policy to give a limited number of interim profiles to a congregation that we think match the particular needs of the church in transition. For example in some cases it is preferable to have someone who has had interim training and previous experience as an interim. In other cases that is not critical. Congregations are free to request certain candidates profiles if they are not included in the ones the conference minister has sent.

Small Churches
Because we are a conference of many small churches that can employ only limited part-time pastoral assistance we do not follow the standard policies and procedures for many of these positions. In most cases these churches would not get any profiles following the standard procedures. If you are interested in doing part-time ministry you should still have a profile, or if you are a student: a resume. A signed Statement of Consent and Background Disclosure form is required of every candidate. You should speak to the conference minister who works with that particular church to let them know of your interest. You can determine that by calling the Conference Office and speaking with the Conference Placement Assistant.