The time between one person leaving a position and a new person moving into that role is a good opportunity to do some evaluating and refreshing — and this is true for church ministry positions as well.
The Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) offers assistance with this exact concept through its transitional pastor program, designed to help churches during interim periods to evaluate their ministries and to prepare for the coming of their new pastor.
Some 60 ministers and ministry leaders, primarily from Alabama, gathered at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega in April to learn more about the program and the work of transitional pastors.
A transitional pastor enters a covenant relationship with the church and promises he will serve for a limited time, said Henry Webb, who helped develop the program.
“Interim pastors are sometimes seen as caretakers but many churches wanted more than this,” said Webb, who retired from LifeWay Christian Resources in 2005. “So (LifeWay) developed the transitional pastor program and then bequeathed it to our state conventions.
“Transitional pastors serve usually from 12 to 18 months,” he said. “And the covenant states that they will not be considered for the pastor’s job. It is his task to help prepare the way for the new pastor.”
Webb said congregations normally feel anxiety when a pastor leaves and may rush too quickly in calling a new pastor.
“Sometimes the transitional pastor serves for three to seven months before a pastor search team is chosen,” he said. “The transitional pastor helps the church deal with some issues that will make the new pastor’s ministry more fruitful and his tenure longer.”
Brett Selby, pastoral leadership specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, said the transitional pastor will schedule a number of listening sessions in the church in order to assure church members they’re being heard.
Listen to the people
“A traditional interim pastor preaches, to be sure, and this is his most visible role,” Selby said. “But only God can speak things into existence. … We also must listen to people and help them redream the dream of the church.”
The most critical issue in the church is relationships, Selby said.
“Relationships trump everything else,” he said. “Even an introverted minister must learn to be a ‘compensated introvert’ and invest in people. The transitional pastor will form positive relationships with church leaders in order to learn about possible conflicts in the church and deal with them.”
Selby has served as a transitional pastor seven times and each time he tried to have lunch with a different family every Sunday to develop friendships.
The transitional pastor serves at the pleasure of the church and may or may not work with the pastor search team, Selby noted.
Mike Jackson, director of SBOM’s office of LeaderCare and church health and host for the event, said with the completion of the April event his office can now pair ministers who have received transitional training with interested churches.
“We have about 3,200 Baptist churches in our state and this means some 300 churches will be searching for pastors at any given point,” said Jackson, who is trained as a transitional pastor himself. “Having a transitional pastor is a great way to help the church make the most of an interim period.”
For more information, contact Mike Jackson at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 210 or mjackson@alsbom.org.
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