First Quadrimestre Report to the McDougall Congregation From the Joint Advisory Council
The Joint Advisory Council (originally called the Joint Vision and Planning Group) is a team of church leaders representing McDougall, Red Deer Lake and Ogden United Churches. This group has been responsible for the development, implementation and oversight of our Shared Ministry Team MOU agreements since 2023.
McDougall representatives on the Joint Advisory Council (JAC) this year include McDougall’s Leadership Council Co-chairs, Daren Patterson and Joanne Pritchard, our Board of Trustees Chair, Barrie Clayton, and our Ministry and Personnel Co-lead, Margaret Holden- Scott. The Joint Advisory Council (JAC) met on January 20 and March 17 and plans to meet bi-monthly this year. The mandate for the Joint Advisory Council is to make recommendations to the church boards/council related to the Shared Ministry Team agreement between McDougall, Red Deer Lake and Ogden United Churches.
At the January meeting, the Joint Advisory Council members reviewed the updated cost-sharing terms for ministerial and admin support salaries and benefits for 2026 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The new agreement includes a change in Rev. Danah’s ministerial position (responsibilities and hours) as well as changes to the shared funding for admin support for the ministers. The Joint Advisory Council recommended to the three church boards/council that the draft 2026 MOU be approved. This recommendation went to the Boards/Council of the three churches where it was approved. By the end of January, the 2026 MOU was signed off by the three ministers, the three churches and Chinook Winds Regional Council.
At the March Joint Advisory Council meeting,
Margaret Holden Soctt was officially on-boarded as the new Co-lead of the JAC Joint M&P Working Group. She will share this position with Jodi Flodstedt from RDLUC. The Joint M&P Co-leads are responsible for the personnel matters for the ministers and the executive assistant on the Shared Ministry Team.
Margaret presented the draft Contemporary Spirituality Minister Job Description prepared by Joint M&P for Rev. Danah’s new 0.5FTE Contemporary Spirituality Minister position that he moved into on January 1st. In this draft Job Description, Joint M&P incorporated the list of responsibilities for this position that were approved by the RDLUC Board and MUC Council last fall. JAC recommended that the revised job description for Rev. Danah be sent to the MUC Council and the RDLUC Board for approval.
Rev. Danah provided JAC with an overview of his vision and plans for his new Contemporary Spirituality role at both the McDougall and Red Deer Lake sites.
Rev. Bill shared his thoughts related to the discussions he facilitated at the monthly his meetings with ministry and support staff from both McDougall and RDLUC in February and March. What emerged in those discussions were insightful reflections about important aspects of our communities of faith today. Following the meeting, Bill sent out his summary notes from the two staff meetings to the JAC members. Seeing the relationship between this work and the UCC “Towards 2035” vision and our Shared Ministry Team’s 2026 MOU goal of a “Year of Discernment”, Daren Patterson asked Bill to facilitate a similar discussion with the McDougall Leadership Council at our April meeting. Following that well-received discussion, plans are now underway for members of the Joint Advisory Council and the RDLUC Board to meet with the McDougall Leadership Council on June 7 where Bill with facilitate further discussions related to this important discernment work for the future of our shared ministry collaboration.
Respectfully submitted by
Joanne Pritchard
Joint Advisory Council Co-chair and
McDougall Leadership Council Co-chair
You can learn more about McDougall’s Leadership Council here
You can learn more about the Shared Ministry here