From 1995 to 1997, Rev. Nathan Detering was a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in Granada who taught teachers how to teach reading and writing
Detering's job: Lead church into future
By Chris Orchard/ Correspondent
Thursday, February 19, 2004
Church chooses Missouri native as 39th minister
SHERBORN - Rev. Nathan Detering was installed earlier this month as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Area Church, First Parish Church of Sherborn.
The parish dates back to 1685; Detering is its 39th minister.
In roughly that same time (since 1686) Massachusetts has had 85 governors, including governors of the British Crown. The Vatican has seen 24 popes (since 1689). And Harvard has gone through 22 presidents (since 1685).
While Detering joins a short but ancient list of First Parish Sherborn ministers, his goal, and the church's, is to forge a path into the future, to bring vibrancy and youth to the congregation.
"We needed a dynamic" minister, said Sally Demler, chairwoman of the selection committee that chose Detering. We needed a minister who would "attract younger couples - younger people."
"We tend to be an older congregation," she said. The congregation currently has 150 to 180 people.
Detering, 32, grew up in St. Louis, Mo.
"I grew up a Catholic," he said. "I went to parochial school." A vocational test he took in school actually said he should be a priest.
He graduated in 1994 from Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he studied sociology and psychology and also earned a certificate in education.
Then, from 1995 to 1997, he was a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in Granada. He taught teachers how to teach reading and writing.
The Peace Corps was where Detering decided to be a minister. He wanted to "be in a position to make a real and definable difference in people's lives."
He worked with a woman whose husband was a Unitarian Universalist minister and watched videotapes of the man's sermons. He knew instantly it was his calling.
"It was literally like a light bulb" going off in my head, he said.
"I don't think that people, in general, find their calling all the time. The Peace Corps gave me that direction."
In Granada, he also met his wife, Karen, who was there with Volunteer Service Overseas, a British version of the Peace Corps. They now have two children: Emerson, 3 1/2, and Ella, 5 months.
After the Peace Corps, Detering went to the Boston University Theological Seminary. He served at churches in Milford and Lincoln. He also spent a year in Erie, Penn.
Detering began his duties here in August.
"There are certainly challenges," he said. "Finding direction, I think, is an opportunity and a challenge."
He hopes "to find a common mission among the various groups" that make up the church community.
The installation ceremony held earlier this month cemented the relationship between Detering and the church.
"In our tradition, the congregation freely chooses the minister," he said.
The very first ballots cast in New England, centuries ago, he said, were to elect ministers.
Thus, it's a tradition that "plugs back into the beginning of American democracy," he said. He chuckled at these words; they sounded a little too lofty for his taste.
He equated the installation ceremony more to a marriage. It celebrates the freely chosen relationship between minister and congregation.
"It's a covenant-making service about that relationship," he said.
If the installation ceremony was like a marriage, the selection process was like dating. More specifically, online dating.
"We had, all together, 27 applicants," said Demler, all from the Internet.
The search committee had posted the job opening on the Unitarian Universalist Association Web site. It included a profile of the congregation, and what it was looking for in a minister.
Interested applicants responded by posting their own personal profile, and the courtship continued from there.
"We narrowed that down to approximately 10," said Demler. They phoned applicants, and read a lot of sermons.
The field narrowed to three contenders. They were invited to weekend-long interviews, which included delivering sermons in a "neutral pulpit" - a church in some nearby, yet disinterested, town.
From there, the selection committee chose Detering.
Then came time to introduce him to the whole congregation. He attended cocktail parties, potluck dinners and other social events.
He was voted in unanimously.
"For any Unitarian Universalist congregation to call a minister unanimously" is rare, said Demler.
Detering is now the minister of a congregation that's more than 300 years old.
"Knowing that you are standing in line with people who have come before you" is impressive, he said
"Seeing the sun come through the windows, the way it has for 300 years," makes one appreciate the parish's long history, he said.
"It's really remarkable to see that connection across time," he said. "People in New England really value that."
"It's really humbling, actually, and it's a real honor."
