What to Think About When a Staff Person is Also a Member of the Congregation

Posted in Boundaries, Conflict Management, Contracting and Negotiating Before Beginning, Governance, Managing Expectations, Pastoral Care, Staff Tagged with

12 min 51 s

Rev. Holly MillerShank

  • How to have good conversations around boundaries with staff who are also members of the congregation;
  • Navigating the tension between the need for job performance by staff and the need for compassionate pastoral care to them;
  • What obligation – or responsibility – do interim ministers have to initiate those difficult conversations with staff?
  • What options do we have as the interim, when a staff member, who is also a congregation member, is no longer able to perform their staff duties?

Holly is an energetic and committed member of the United Church of Christ. She was raised at Myerstown UCC in Penn Central Conference. She has served the church in various capacities; as a Global Ministries Volunteer in India and Korea, as an intern/consultant with the UCC Office of Public Life and Social Policy in Washington DC, as a member of the LCM Board of Directors and as a Trustee for Lancaster Theological Seminary.

Holly has a BA in International Relations and Business from American University and an M.Div. from Lancaster Theological Seminary. She has worked both for Witness for Peace and as a settled local church pastor in central Pennsylvania.

Holly served from 2010-2019 as the Minister and Team Leader for the Ministerial Excellence, Support and Authorization (MESA) Ministry Team in the UCC’s national offices. The newest iteration of the denomination’s Manual on Ministry was developed under her leadership. More recently Holly has served as a local church Interim Minister in the Heartland Conference, as an Interim Associate Conference Minister in the Southern New England Conference and as part of the executive board of the Interim Ministry Network.

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