Intentional Interim program ‘effective’

The time between the departure of a pastor and his successor can be used in two ways — simply waiting for the new pastor and nothing else or using the time toward working to move the church forward.
   
Undoubtedly, a new pastor will bring his own style of leadership to a church. Beyond that, churches can still use that period productively.
   
Dale Huff, director of LeaderCare/church administration with the State Board of Missions (SBOM), said the Intentional Interim Program is a concept of how churches can most effectively use the time between pastors to do some things the church needs to do in order to strengthen itself, best understand itself and best make preparations for a new pastor.
   
“The intentional interim concept grew out of a survey that was done, where it was discovered that a church — during an interim time — is actually more willing to evaluate itself to make changes than they are after a new pastor comes,” Huff said. The importance of making the most of the interim between pastors is also pointed to by R. Neil Chafin, who works as a consultant to congregations.
   
“The way a congregation chooses to use its interim time will shape congregational growth, identity and health for years to come,” Chafin said. “We also know that what is done in the interim time really determines whether the new minister and congregation will form a solid ministry team.”
   
Huff said the program was developed by the North Carolina Hospital Pastoral Care Center for Congregational Health. The interim program involves the appointment of an interim pastor, who serves in the pulpit and works with a transition team of church members charged with making decisions about the church’s future.
   
“They discovered that it is a prime time for a church to do some self-assessment,” Huff said of the results of a survey of a church’s needs following the departure of a pastor. “It’s also a necessary time for them to do it (make an assessment), so that they can be most effective in determining the kind of (permanent) pastor they need in terms of his competencies, his style.
   
“The interim time is considered a very valuable time for a church,” he said. “It’s not valid time, it is creative time. It’s fertile time.”
   
Huff said the program commits churches to work toward accomplishing its goals and determining what they expect in a new pastor. He said the program has proven successful at churches in Virginia, North Carolina and Texas.
   
“It’s still a relatively new concept,” he said.
   
Fifteen pastors have been trained in Alabama as intentional interims, according to Huff. He adds the pastors must complete a training program that includes assigned work and is directed by a certified agency. Huff said the Intentional Interim Program is usually successful among congregations that are ready to address conflict and/or those which are about to chart a new course following the departure of a longtime pastor.
   
“Churches that have had conflict or churches that have had a long-tenured pastor, those churches tend to be a little more open to considering an intentional interim,” Huff said. “Conventional wisdom is that after a long-tenured pastor, the next guy’s going to be short-term.”
   
He said pastors who succeed longtime pastors often face an environment where the congregation has not worked out expectations of what they want from the new pastor.
   
“They haven’t worked through it enough to be really ready to receive a new pastor who’s different from the former pastor,” Huff said.
   
For information on the program, contact Huff at the SBOM at 1-800-264-1225.