Local Church Ministries elects Steve Sterner as next Executive Minister
Written by J. Bennett Guess Oct 28, 2007 12:00 AM EDT
The Rev. Stephen L. Sterner has been elected acting executive minister of the UCC's Local Church Ministries. He will begin in January.
Sterner, who has 36 years of experience serving in diverse ministry settings, will succeed the Rev. Jose A. Malayang, LCM's executive minister since 1999, who announced in February that he would leave the post at the end of the year.
Sterner is currently serving as interim senior minister of Claremont UCC in Claremont, Calif., and, before that, served as Interim Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference.
LCM's board unanimously elected Sterner during the closing business session at its Oct. 24-28 fall meeting in Cleveland.
"Steve has served in old, historic congregations, been the pastor of a new church start, and has served on staff of the [UCC's former] Board for Homeland Ministries," wrote members of the eight-person search committee in an Oct. 18 memo to LCM's board. "Steve's parish ministry has included large, multi-staff congregations that contained complex organizational structures and sizeable mission agencies."
The Rev. John H. Thomas told United Church News that Sterner brings rich and varied experiences to the LCM position.
"His pastoral skill, organizational insight and experience in diverse Conference, National, and local settings equip him well for the challenges of leadership as we seek to address important ministry and governance issues," Thomas said. "I look forward to working with him in the Collegium over the coming years."
Although Sterner has now been formally elected by LCM's board, the UCC's 90-member Executive Council ? which acts as the General Synod ad interim ? must vote at its next meeting to authorize Sterner as an acting officer of the church. Sterner, who will serve out the remaining 21 months of Malayang's four-year term, will be eligible to be considered for a full term, starting in October 2009.
Malayang, 69, an original member of the UCC's five-person Collegium of Officers when it was implemented in 1999, was honored by LCM's board for his years of service and leadership within the UCC.
This year marks Malayang's 45th ordination anniversary and his 47th consecutive year of ministerial service. Ordained in the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Malayang spent nearly three decades as a local church pastor, serving both small and large congregations in the Philippines and in Michigan.
He later served as staff of the Southern California - Nevada Conference and with the former Office for Church Life and Leadership. He also was general secretary for the division of evangelism and local church development, an agency of the former United Church Board for Homeland Ministries.
"It is not an easy decision for me to make because serving the UCC, and Local Church Ministries in particular, gives me a genuine sense of fulfillment and, yes, joy," he wrote in his Feb. 22 announcement.
LCM is the largest of the UCC's four national Covenanted Ministries.