Rev. Nathan Ryan's page for curious applicants for the Minister of Congregational Life position at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge
Dear Potential Minister of Congregational Life,
Hi! This is a little strange, don’t you think? We don’t normally do this, but these aren’t normal times.
I’m very excited you’re interested in this position. This is a phenomenal congregation, and I’m really excited about sharing its ministry with our new minister. This website is intentionally different from the congregational record. Working with another minister is a fundamentally different experience from solo pastoring. I hope that this site will help you discern whether or not you think working with me would be a fit for you.
First a little about me. I am from Louisiana. You will quickly learn that location is unusually important to many people from here. This is not true for everyone, but those are the exceptions to the rule. Baton Rouge is not New Orleans. It’s not Acadiana either. It is its own strange intersection of various cultures. The church is roughly half locals and half transplants.
After college I spent 9 years in Texas. I was a Director of Lifespan Religious Education in Austin and a Director of Lay Ministry in Dallas. I went to Meadville Lombard and did my internship in Rockville, MD. In 2012 I was hired as this church’s Assistant Minister. They ordained me in 2013. At some point the then 36-year tenured Senior Minister, Rev. Steve Crump, and I agreed my position should be elevated to Associate Minister. In 2018 Rev. Crump announced his plans to retire. In 2019 he retired. In November of 2020, deeply amidst the pandemic, I was called as their fourth Senior Minister.
As I said, being a second minister is a different kind of experience. Each of us will have our own portfolios we are responsible for. While the ultimate vision for the church and it’s ministry rests with me, I want our ministry to be as collaborative and mutually supportive as possible.
When I was the second minister it helped me to think about portfolio areas as burdens of proof. For example, I had, and the Minister of Congregational Life will have, Pastoral Care in my portfolio. This did not mean I did all of the pastoral care. In fact, it was almost evenly split between the ministers. My job was to be the one in charge of making sure pastoral care happened.
My primary goal is to find the minister who can best serve what this congregation needs. I hope that this website will answer some of the questions you may have. If you have more, please please feel free to contact me.
In Faith,
Rev. Nathan Ryan