We are looking for our twenty-third settled minister. Our last two settled ministers were with us for more than seventeen years each. Our congregation was founded in 1845 and we have just moved into our fourth “permanent” location.
The Ministerial Search Committee
Members of the Ministerial Search Committee are Loo Russell, Maya Ferguson-Klinowski, Harold Wright, Judy Clarke, Beth Ann McFadden and Kim Saltarski.
Learn more about the members of the committee. We look forward to sharing more updates. We welcome your input at MSC@nullFirstUnitarianToronto.org.
Our Timeline
Our Ministerial Search process is well underway, with several key milestones planned to ensure a thoughtful and inclusive journey toward welcoming our next settled minister:
- Congregation Survey: Take the survey now. Launching early August and running through September 2025, this important survey will be available online and in person after Sunday services. Your input is vital! A summary of the results will be shared in October.
- B4 (Break Barriers Build Beliefs) Training: Scheduled for September 2025, this training will support the Search Committee’s discernment process. It is open to all members of the congregation.
- Focus Groups: Beginning in October, these sessions will engage a wide range of congregational voices, including the Board, staff, choir, and other committees and groups.
- Search Packet: A comprehensive packet introducing our congregation to potential ministers will be completed by early December 2025.
- Candidate Interviews
- Preliminary interviews January 2026
- Short-listed candidates interviewed February 2026
- Committee holds in-depth interviews and performs due diligence Spring 2026
- Committee selects a candidate to present to the Congregation
- Candidating Week: Targeted for late May 2026, this is a time to get to know the final candidate through events and services.
- Congregational Vote: A formal vote to call the new minister will take place in June 2026 after our Candidating week.
- Our new Minister Begins: We look forward to welcoming our new minister in September 2026.
Updates
- Congregational Survey 2025 (6 August 2025)Please take few minutes to let the Ministerial Search Committee know what you think about our community and what you think is important for our next settled minister.
- Farewell to RevJ – June 29, 2025 (26 June 2025)Learn more about the search for our next settled minister. Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong (RevJ) All are invited to drop-in to St. Matt's United Church to say goodbye in person
- Congratulations to Captain Rev. Nicole McKay (23 May 2025)Our affiliated community minister, the Captain Reverend Nicole McKay received her mandate from the Chaplain General of the Canadian Armed Forces on May 15, 2025. The mandate outlines her professional responsibility to care for all in her service to Canada.
- Ministers for 2025-2026 (21 March 2025)Rev. Linda Thomson will be joining FirstU as our summer minister. Rev. Linda will also serve as a part-time contract minister until next Spring,
- Mission Discernment Workshops (13 February 2025)The Transition Task Force is working with the congregation to look at our Mission and Vision statements to be sure they speak to us and to others in a way that truly represents FirstU in its new context.
- Revising our Mission Statement (20 December 2024)The Transition Task Force has made a commitment to guide the congregation through “discernment about FirstU’s transition” … what does that even mean? RevJ explains in a video.
- Our Transition Team and Its Responsibilities (5 September 2024)FirstU’s Transition Team has been formed and will begin planning the congregational activities which will support RevJ and First’s interim discernment period
- First video message from RevJ (10 August 2024)This video was included in the August 9, 2024 edition of First Light.
- Meet Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kwong, Our Interim Minister (19 May 2024)The Board and the Interim Minister Search Committee are very pleased to announce that the Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong (he/they) has accepted our offer to join FirstU as Lead Minister for the 2024-2025 year, starting August 6.
- Letter from Rev Victoria, our new Senior Minister (29 August 2023)And, now, we get to meet each other! My role as your part-time Senior Minister for 2023–24 is to be a resource for worship, to support and supervise staff and programming, and to partner with your congregational leadership to facilitate changes and transitions. I’m looking forward to working with you! And I have to admit, I’m a bit daunted by all that is happening, too!
- Our Ministerial Team for 2023–2024 (1 July 2023)A message from the Interim Minister Search Team: We are excited to share our Ministerial Team and plan for the 2023–2024 interim year. As we shared previously, we did not find an official “interim minister,” but we feel proud and enthusiastic about the team approach to serving our congregation starting in late August. Each of the individuals below will fill a key role for us this year and help us prepare for the next phase of interim ministry before we begin the search for a settled minister. Introducing our Ministerial Team for 2023–2024 Rev. Victoria Ingram will serve as our part-time Transition Minister. She will provide support and leadership for the congregation while also beginning the interim discernment process with us. Rev. Ingram served as Minister of the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton until 2021 and has most recently served as Minister to the Grand River Congregation in Kitchener-Waterloo, covering a sabbatical. Rev. Dr. Stephen Atkinson will deliver monthly sermons and take on the weekly Awakenings program once Rev Lynn retires this fall. Rev. Atkinson is also well known to our congregation, having served as our Summer Minister in 2019. We were fortunate to be able to secure an outstanding team of ministers who will ...
- Farewell to Rev Shawn – June 11 (25 May 2023)On June 11, we bid goodbye to Rev Shawn Newton, who has served as minister to our congregation since 2007. Read the announcement of the transition. Read the Order of Service for the Farewell to Rev Shawn. Photos of the event will be posted to FirstUnitarianToronto.org/photos-farewell2023. Rev Shawn has been called to minister to the Unitarian Congregation of Vancouver in the fall.
- Two Ministerial Transitions (14 January 2023)Rev. Shawn Newton, our Senior Minister since 2007, announced on January 13, 2023 that his time as our minister will come to an end on June 11. At the same time, Rev. Lynn Harrison, our Minister of Spiritual Care, announced that she will be retiring from parish ministry in the fall. Read letters from Rev Shawn, Rev Lynn and our Board President, Tanya Cothran.