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Working Yourself Out Of A Job

(How interim pastors can help their church’s pastoral search committees)

 

Of the many projects I’ve undertaken as an interim pastor in several churches, helping these church’s long-term pastor search committees has been among the most satisfying.  The help I have given has been greatly appreciated, the task of leading these groups has been comparatively easy (if leadership is ever easy) and the long-term results of the projects (all three pastors called were very good “matches”) have been gratifying.  On top of that the long-term pastors who’ve succeeded me have become personal friends.  Each time the process has left me feeling that if the only thing I had done for the church was this guidance of their search committee, it would have been worth the effort on the part of the church to have me there.  As John the Baptist discovered before us (John 3:29), there is real joy in being the “bridegroom”!

 

Here’s what has differed in the three churches in which I have helped their search committees:

 

* The “delivery method” of the help I’ve given has differed.  During my first interim pastorate I was with an organization which would not allow me to meet with the search committee at all.  In this church I served like a coach who’s been tossed out of the game: I coached from the locker room.  Before each meeting of the committee I “did breakfast” with the search committee chairman and thoroughly discussed the upcoming meeting with him.  In my second church I was the official chairman of the committee, but worked hard at keeping my personal opinions out of their process and excused myself from the room during some crucial discussions.  In the third church I again met with the chairman before each meeting and then sat beside him as a coach at each meeting.  I would do any of these scenarios again; they all “worked” in their own way.

 

* The extent of the help I’ve given has also differed.  The first church needed my guidance desperately.  The second church needed and received my help extensively. The third search committee needed and received my help moderately. 

 

With that said, here are some specific ways I was able to help the three churches:

 

1.  I helped each church to get the right people on the search committee.  This is a crucial role in which the interim should always play a part because having the best people possible on the committee is “key” to a great result.

 

2.  I had more time than any of the church’s lay leaders to study the search committee materials ahead of time and “get a handle” on the process as it was recommended to me by the Evangelical Free Church district leaders I was working with.   The committee members still had to read the handbooks but they had a “native guide” with them (me) who understood the “pastor-speak” in which they were written and was able to make as many phone calls as necessary (during the day) to our district leaders.

 

3. In each situation I took the church through a thorough-going strategic planning or ReFocusing process before the search committee was even formed.  This means that when the search committee began its work, more than one third of its mission was already completed.  This was very encouraging for each group, as you might imagine.  It was also immeasurably important for each of these churches to go through most of the aspects of a strategic planning process – through which they wrote or re-wrote a mission statement, core values, vision statement and chose a target group - before they began working on formulating the profile of the pastor they would be looking for.  (For some thoughts on strategic planning materials, see my Resource page.)

 

4.  All through the process I was able to help the committee members to understand pastors.  I explained, as mentioned, the language used in the search committee guidebooks, the jargon used in resumes, the nomenclature used in the “MinisterConnection.Net” computer data base (computer dating for pastors and churches, if you’re not familiar with this tool) and the “Ministry Match” pastor profiles. At many points along the way it was my joy to diffuse offenses and correct misunderstandings which arose from lay persons not understanding the language of pastoral resumes.  Examples?  How about the search committee that thought that a pastor must be a Rick Warren “clone” because he used the term “purpose driven”?  Then there was the search committee who thought that an E-Free pastor who had attended a liberal seminary must still be a liberal.  In this case, my personal knowledge of the candidate was a big help!

 

5.  To a certain extent I served as secretary for each search committee, making copies, taking minutes, channeling paperwork to church secretaries, etc. As a highly organized person I know I helped these groups to stay on track.

 

6.  Because I see many churches and study church health, I am probably better able than the folks in the church to see their congregation and area objectively and write honest and accurate church histories and community and church profiles.  This helps to ensure that the right man “falls in love with” the congregation and is not disillusioned by what he finds when he arrives on the scene. 

 

7.  Because I am a pastor myself I have been able to help the committees to draft good questions to put to their candidates in their phone and personal interviews.  I trust that I have also been able to help the pastors the committees have considered by protecting them from unnecessary paperwork, letting them know quickly if they are no longer being considered by the church, sparing them from unrealistic candidating trip schedules etc.  In turn, my wife has helped me tremendously in this process by reminding me of what is unfair and burdensome for pastors’ wives and children.

 

8.  At times I’ve served as spiritual leader and peacemaker in the committees.  Sometimes having the church’s senior leader in the search committee room has been very helpful for gently correcting bad behavior. The leaders of the two groups which I did not officially lead were sometimes bowed down by the weight of the task; I’m grateful I was able to hold up their arms and strengthen their hands at crucial junctures. We became really good friends in the process. 

 

Are there dangers involved in the interim pastor being involved in the process?  Of course.  Here are a few:

 

(1) First and foremost, the interim should resist the temptation to make himself a candidate for the position.  I know that this can work out in unusual circumstances, but for the most part, the interim pastor needs to declare his “non-candidacy” from day one of his pastorate and stick to it.  Making himself a candidate will “muddy” the process, making it impossible for the committee to do its work objectively.  To choose someone other than the interim (and the same scenario applies to pastoral associates within the church) amounts to a rejection of the interim pastor; something most search committee members don’t have the courage to do. 

 

(2) Some interim pastors unduly control the process and virtually hand-pick their successor.  If the interim has too strong a voice in the process and the new long-term pastor isn’t a good fit, the interim pastor (and the concept of interim pastorates) will be blamed.

 

(3) The interim pastor will be tempted to push the committee in the direction of getting someone like him, instead of getting the kind of man they need. I always end up telling the churches that “I may have been the best man on the planet for this church over the past eighteen (or whatever) months, but right now and in the future you need a man with gifts that are different from mine.”

 

(4) It’s tempting to steer the committee in the direction of someone whose doctrinal or philosophical biases please the interim but make him a poor match for the church. 

 

(5) It’s certainly possible for the interim to do too much for the committee and its chairman, robbing them of the growth that God wants for them and the experience they’ll need at some point in the future. (More than likely I'm guilty of having done this!)

 

In short, the guidance of the search committee is one of the most satisfying things the interim pastor can do for the church and one of the best reasons for churches to call interim pastors.  Like the harbor pilot spoken of in the article (at this site), “Metaphorically Speaking,” the experienced interim can help guide churches through the dangerous waters of pastoral transitions before joyfully surrendering the “helm” of the church to the new long-term pastor.

 

Do We Have To Have These Business Meetings?

Many  pastors enjoy church business meetings as much as root canals.  A trip to a proctologist or a funeral for a thither is a more welcome event on the calendar.  "Do we have to have these business meetings?" they groan to no one in particular. Far too often these necessary-but-evil events turn out too long, too boring and too contentious.  While in most cases we do indeed have to have them, there are some things we can do to make them more pleasing to all involved (including God!).

• You might be able to have fewer meetings.  Churches that are "very congregational" sometimes have constitutions/bylaws which demand monthly meetings.  In other cases, it's just tradition that they are held that often.  In the worst cases, congregations are led to believe - by virtue of their frequent meetings - that the "inmates" have the right to "run the assylum."  Some churches have to decrease the number of meetings to change this mindset - and it isn't easy.                                                                                                                                             
• You might need to have more meetings.  No kidding. I like to use a big triangle to illustrate three basic types of church government.  One point is labeled "congregationalism" (democracy), another is labeled "elder rule" (oligarchy) and the third point is labeled "episcopal"  (dictatorship).  My observation is that no church is "purely" practicing any of these three; we are all somewhere on that triangle, between the points.  Savvy observers have pointed out that, in truth, every church is at least somewhat congregational.  If the leaders pay no attention to anyone outside their ranks, the followers will quit giving and quit following and the leaders will have no one left to lead. The people will be heard, whether we're listening or not. If your church has only one official meeting a year - and it's not pleasant - you may need to increase the number of meetings to give your people an outlet for tension and a  chance to be heard.  One interim pastor has a quarterly update meeting - every time there's a fifth Sunday in a month - to let folks know how the interim process is going and get their questions answered. Even though I'm uncomfortable with folks making speeches "from the floor" in an effort to sway their fellow members to adopt their viewpoints, I believe there's a time for this.  What we don't let folks say "from the floor" they will say in some other venue, oftentimes with a more negative attitude.  Better yet,

• Challenge your people to re-think the whole concept of "business meetings" as we have practiced them.  Think about it.  At 10:30 AM we're in our favorite chairs or pews worshipping God with "reverence and godly fear."  A few minutes later we come back to the same room which has now magically become a town hall.  The pastor or other leader up front has become "the enemy" and we now find it acceptable to be disrespectful, cynical and rude.  I have found that when I challenge this whole paradigm, God's people respond, repent and change their behavior dramatically.  Instead of just "preaching this" through a prayer at the beginning of a meeting (you know you've done this!), take the time to really teach it.  Challenge the assumption that there is a time or place when it is acceptable for us to treat each other like political adversaries. 

• Challenge the use of "parliamentery procedure" as found in Robert's Rules of Order.  Many congregational churches have constitutions that demand the use of "Robert's Rules..." so you may be stuck with them for a while.  In other churches it's just a tradition. My view is that Robert's Rules are fine for the actual town meeting or the Lion's Club but that they have no place in the church of Jesus Christ.  Robert's Rules, if genuinely followed, allow the newest church member to make proposals from the floor which are then voted on.  I believe this is just plain, flat out unscriptural.  In the church as found in the New Testament, good ideas can come from anywhere, but leadership comes from mature and godly leaders.  Mature and godly leaders may, in fact, love the idea proposed by the newest church member "from the floor" of the meeting, but wisdom dictates that they thank the member for the suggestion and then talk and pray about it carefully the next time they meet as a board.  A simple reminder that "in our church, proposals that we vote on in meetings come from the board, but we're open to suggestions from anyone" is usually sufficient.

• Include prayer, praise, worship, celebration and appreciation of people in the meeting. Try to make your meetings a celebration of what God is doing.  "Isn't it wonderful that we have to buy a larger van for the youth group?"  All but the most task driven people in your church will appreciate your "sweetening" your meetings with some of these elements. (Let those "most task driven" people stay home; they aren't going to be happy no matter how you do the meeting.)

• Do laborious presentations - like the new church budget - in advance of the real meeting. This diffuses tension, gives folks a chance to ask good, hard questions, find errors and make great suggestions.  The few folks who are really interested in the nitty gritty details of the budget can attend this meeting; the many folks who aren't don't have to listen to the endless questions at the annual meeting. Some people have to find errors and point them out publicly; let them do it at some time other than the official annual meeting.

• Don't surprise people. Nobody likes having a new idea thrown at them with the idea that they will immediately accept it and vote "yes."  For most of us, when we are presented with a new idea and asked to vote on it at the same session, the vote is going to be a resounding "no." 

• Don't vote if it's not going to pass.  The experience of the followers rejecting the proposal of the leaders is unpleasant for everybody.  Lead by concentric circles.  Typically, this means that the pastor has the great idea (I'm assuming a lot here!), he convinces his staff and board members, together, they convince a wider circle of leaders.  Informal surveys are taken to guage the readiness of the church to follow their leaders. In most cases, following this methodology, negative votes on proposals just don't happen.

• Avoid votes that create winners and losers. I should have listened to a wise elder before I engineered a vote on a change of worship service format.  This is something we could have simply decided as elders - carefullly, of course - or had the congregation vote on our proposal: 9 AM Worship Service and Sunday School and 10:30 Worship Service and Children's Church (or whatever).  Instead, we had the church vote on several options.  We ended up with winners of course, but a lot more people who had voted for the losing options than the winning one - and a lot of grumpy attitudes. 

• Don't let people behave badly.  As Cesar Milan, the Dog Whisperer would say, "be the pack leader." Again, teach people that the business meeting is not a format where it's okay to act like unbelievers.  It isn't.  Teach about how we should treat each other - everywhere and always - and when someone violates this, gently call them on it.  Remind them of what you've taught and offer to "hear them out" in some other venue. Practice a line or two which you'll use to stop bad behavior.  Almost everyone will deeply appreciate your willingness to do this and your meeting attendance will improve.

• Change your own attitude.   First of all, stop seeing the glass half empty and start seeing it half full.  You can choose to believe that meeting attendance is low because people don't care about their church or you can choose to believe that meeting attendance is low because the followers trust their leaders.  In many churches the latter is definitely the case.  You can thank God that people trust you! Beyond the way you view the glass, following some of these suggestions can greatly improve your meetings and greatly improve your attitude toward them.  I've come to see the meetings of our interim pastorates as milestones, important, celebratory events where vital, future-shaping decisions are made. Some of the meetings we've experienced in interim ministry have left us shaking our heads in wonder and joy over what God has done in our midst.  "Can you believe such and such a church just voted unanimously to ___________?" Donna and I exclaim to each other.  We've come a long way since we were asking "Do we have to have these business meetings?"

Traditions or Trends: Which Should We Follow?

 

Most of the readers of this blog know about the dangers of traditionalism.  Yale University professor Jaraslov Jan Pelikan has been credited with saying that “Tradition is the living faith of those now departed.  Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living” [emphasis mine].  A “dead faith,” I’m sure Pelikan meant, because the traditionalist follows his traditions without knowing why; it is loyalty to nothing more than a concept, a memory. Traditionalism is continuing a practice for no other reason than the fact that it is a tradition – and that’s not much of a reason.

God’s friend Tevia in the great film “Fiddler On The Roof,” claimed that it was tradition that kept our lives balanced, even so far as being able to keep the fiddler from falling off the roof.  But most viewers of the movie would agree that Tevia’s traditionalism kept him imbalanced, loving his traditions themselves at least a bit more than he did his family.  Unable to search the Scriptures himself to discover which traditions were grounded in God’s will and which were grounded on thin air – like marital matches being made by a village matchmaker – he clung to every tradition he knew with equal tenacity.

Maybe we can concede that Tevia had a point: tradition can keep us from too quickly and mindlessly following a crowd.  Before we scrap a tradition maybe we should make sure we know why it became a tradition – for there was probably a good reason - and what we might be losing by discarding it. Paul told the Christians at Thessalonica in II Thessalonians 2:15 (KJV),  “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

At times, traditionalism is more comic than harmful.  There are other stories to illustrate this, but my favorite is the one about the newlywed wife whom her husband found cutting off the end of the roast before putting it in the roaster.  “Why,” he queried “are you doing that?  It looks like it would fit just fine.”  “My mother always did it this way, but come to think of it, I don’t know why she did.”  A few hours later her curiosity caused her to call her mom and ask the now-burning question.  “Well, I guess, because my mother did,” was the reply.  The young bride’s curiosity was now greater than ever.  She called her grandmother, told her the story and asked her why she always cut the end off the roast.  “Oh, don’t you remember honey?” grandma answered, “my roaster is such a little thing, I’ve always had to cut the end off the roasts to get them to fit.”  Would that our traditionalism never caused any more trouble than a wasted slicing of a roast!

At its worst, however, traditionalism is deadly.  Millions are headed for an eternity without Christ because their faith is grounded on the religious traditions they have been told to rely on.  The young Saul of Tarsus was murderously zealous for the traditions of his fathers (Galatians 1:14).  Jesus spared no one’s feelings (Mark 7:1-23) when he denounced the traditionalism of the Pharisees which involved breaking the commandments of God in order to slavishly follow the traditions of men.

But we can be just as foolish in the following of trends.  A lot of young men are going to be plenty embarrassed someday when they see family photos of themselves with their pants falling down!  Eventually, removing tattoos and repairing body piercings will be a big business.  Ephesians 2:1-3 depicts lost mankind as blindly following the “ways of this world” and the “ruler of the kingdom of the air.”

Sadly, as pastors, we can be almost as foolish - and we don’t have the excuse of being under the Devil’s sway. Every few years a new church becomes the “hot” place to go for “how to do it like we do” conferences.  If it’s bringing in multitudes in Chicago or Los Angeles, it must be something God wants me to do in Omaha. We fly in by the thousands and fly home with our shiny three ring binders telling us how to do ministries that might be perfect for the host church and disastrous for our own church.

Donna and I have had the privilege of visiting churches on Sunday mornings the past couple of months.  It’s been enjoyable and encouraging but I can’t help smirk a little bit that so many churches have departed from having “traditional worship.”  That would be fine in and of itself but why is it that in our departure from traditionalism, we’re all doing pretty much the same thing?  It sure looks like a new set of trendy traditions to me.

One of our interim pastorates was with a church that considered itself very non-traditional.  I pretty quickly found out that they had their own, non-traditional traditions which were sacred to them.  I’ve now concluded that the non-traditional church can be just as traditional about it’s non-traditional traditions as the traditional church is traditional about its traditional traditions.  Is it really any better to follow trends than it is to stick with traditions?

Here’s what I’ve concluded so far, and you’re welcome to add to my understanding with your response: Traditions and trends can both be good if they are Biblical and effective.  Traditions and trends can both be worthless, or worse than worthless, if they are unbiblical or ineffective.  We should hang unto our traditions at least until we know what they were for and if they are working.  The latest trends, likewise, should be considered and evaluated with open hearts and open minds and forced to face the same test: Is it consistent with Biblical principles and purposes?  Will it work in our context?

Let’s not be traditionalists or trendishionalists.  Let’s be like the God-impassioned, no-longer-tradition-bound Apostle who said “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (I Corinthians 9:22).

Issues and Emotions During The Interim Time - Download

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Characteristics Of The Interim Congregation - Download

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Metaphorically Speaking...

The new paradigms in interim pastoring can be hard for people to understand. The “new wave” interim pastor isn’t an intern, a fill in, a substitute or something less than a “real” pastor; I’m thinking of the visitor who heard me a couple of Sundays and then told me that I was good enough to be a “real pastor”! It doesn’t help that those of us who practice it can’t figure out which term to use - transitional, transformational, strategic, redevelopment, restoration, interventionist – I’ve used them all right here in this blog. 

A lot of people are helped in understanding this confusing new type of ministry by the use of the following metaphors.  I hope you’re blessed – and “unconfused” – as you read.

The Strategic Interim Pastor Is Like:

A “This Old House” crew member - If you’ve seen the long-running Public TV show you know the routine: A couple of homeowners sit down with the “This Old House” leaders and share their dreams for the remodeling of their home.  After listening attentively, the crew members inspect the house carefully from bottom to top.  After some figuring, they sit down with the homeowners again and tell them about things that need to be done to their house that they may not have known about.  It’s often kind of a shock to the homeowner who wasn’t dreaming about a new furnace or roof, but after some “reality therapy” and discussion, a plan is agreed upon.  Then everybody gets up from the table and the “This Old House” staff gets to work and transforms the old house.

In much the same way, the strategic interim pastor listens to the dreams of church members, studies the church carefully and then presents an action plan for what needs to be “remodeled” (not usually the building itself but sometimes the building reflects the condition of the church).  The willingness of the church members to let God change their church and to work hard with God in the process is the equivalent of the cash the “This Old House” homeowners are willing to spend. Ideally, everybody gets to work (with God) and a year or two later “This Old Church” often ends up significantly transformed. 

This metaphor is solidly grounded in Scripture, as Jesus said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18), Paul described himself as an expert builder who laid a foundation when he planted the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 3:10) and spoke of other Christian leaders building on this foundation (I Corinthians 3:12).  The strategic interim pastor, in Paul’s metaphor, would be an expert remodeler.

A Dog or Horse Whisperer - Cesar Milan, The Dog Whisperer (on the National Geographic Channel) doesn’t believe there are any bad dogs.  He believes that many good dogs have been poorly trained and managed by their owners.  Thus, he says, his job is to “train humans and rehabilitate dogs.” 

My viewpoint is that there aren’t any bad Christians because Christians have been regenerated by God and God doesn’t make any junk.  There are Christians who behave badly and many churches are dysfunctional (in need of rehabilitation) because Christians who behaved badly or foolishly have made them dysfunctional.  My passion is like that of the Apostle Paul who wrote in I Timothy 3:14, 15 “…I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” When Christians get trained in how to “do church” God’s way, their churches get rehabilitated. At the end of one of our interim pastorates a wonderful and spunky little lady exclaimed to me “You really straightened us out!” – and it was a meant as a warm compliment.

A Special Forces Unit – This one comes from our son Jesse, who was joining the Army at the same time we were going into strategic interim ministry.  His observation was that what we were doing was like a special forces unit which parachutes into a dangerous situation, gets a difficult job done and then moves on to do it again elsewhere.

A Surgeon – A surgeon is not your normal, long-term physician.  Instead, at a time of special need, your family doctor “hands you over” to the surgeon who makes significant changes in your body and then hands you back to your long-term physician when he/she is through.

An Emergency Room Physician – Some interim pastorates require decisive, drastic action taken right away to save the church.  The ER physician doesn’t have to have much for bedside manner; he/she needs to be knowledgeable, confident and decisive. Fortunately, most of us interim pastors don’t have to act like ER physicians in most churches – but we do in some.

The Harbor Pilot – The harbor pilot is not a ship’s captain, though he could be.  Instead, with all the skills of a captain, he becomes an expert on a particular, dangerous, harbor (often a river mouth).  When a ship reaches the harbor entrance, the pilot climbs on board, exchanges pleasantries with the captain and then temporarily takes command of the ship, guiding her through a perilous channel.  He does the same when the ship leaves the port a few days or hours later, joyfully handing the vessel back to the captain.

The interim pastor seeks to be an expert on the dangerous waters of pastoral transitions.  This metaphor breaks down where the pilot hands the ship back to the captain, as the church has secured a new captain when it leaves the port. 

The Middle Relief Pitcher – When I was a kid (Twins fan) I only knew about two kinds of pitchers: starting pitchers and relief pitchers.  As in so many fields, there are more specialists than there used to be.  The interim pastor isn’t a starter (church planter) or a closer (nobody wants to do this!) but something like a middle reliever who “gives it all he’s got” for a couple of crucial innings in the middle of the game.

“The Miracle Worker” – I’m not saying that the interim pastor is a miracle worker, I’m talking about the extraordinary Anne Sullivan who moved in with the dysfunctional Keller family and took over the care of the very troubled and troublesome blind and deaf family member, Helen.  After transforming both Helen and the functioning of the family, Anne packed up and went her way. 

Some of our churches have members who are as out-of-control and unpleasant as Helen.  No one has taught them how to behave.  They are allowed to disrupt the entire church and scare away its guests and all of this is done in the name of “grace” or “unconditional love.” Interventionist interim pastors are used by God to restore such churches to peace and harmony for the glory of God.

“Nanny McPhee” – Nanny McPhee is the unusual nanny with supernatural powers in the movie of the same name.  She’s sort of like Mary Poppins on steroids.  She is hired by a desperate widower with a houseful of nasty children.  Initially, she looks extremely ugly to them, but as their attitude toward her changes, her appearance changes as well.  By the end of the movie the kids don’t want her to leave.  The key line of the movie (at least I thought it was) was Nanny McPhee’s statement: “When you need me but don’t want me I must stay; When you want me but no longer need me I must go.” This is exactly how some of our interim pastorates work out so I call what I do “Nanny McPhee pastoring.”

I hope these metaphors have helped you to understand what interim pastors do.  Does your church need one of these specialists to help it through a troubled time? If so, it will be some interim pastor’s great joy to help you.

The Surgical Model Compared To Nine Developmental Tasks Of The Interim Congregation

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Determining The Level Of Intentionality Needed In An Interim Pastor

Brian's note: Dr. Ken Moberg designed this grid to help church leaders determine the type of interim pastor their church needs.  A "high level of intentionality" is another way of saying, a transitional or transformational (or interventionist) interim pastor, as opposed to a traditional or "maintenance model" interim pastor (or none at all). 

 

Category	1	2	3	4	5
Relationship between Pastor and Leadership Board	Harmony and mutual support	Normal give-and-take	Characterized by tension; attempts at reconciliation	Tension without reconciliation	Open accusation
Departure of Pastor	Pastor retired out of this ministry	Pastor was called to another ministry	Pastor left without having another ministry	Pastor was asked to leave	Pastor was dismissed for cause
Length and Character of Pastor’s Tenure	6-12 years, well regarded by most	4 to 8 years, well regarded by most	4 to 8 years, mixed reviews	More than 8 years and well regarded, or less than 4 years and not well regarded	More than 12 years and highly esteemed, or less than 2 years not well regarded
Location of Former Pastor	More than 100 miles away	More than 25 miles away	Still in community, looking to move	Still in community, no plans to move	Still in the church, or planting another church in same community
Cohesiveness of Church	No families expected to leave	Less than 10% of families likely to leave	10% of families likely to leave	25% of families likely to leave	More than 50% of families likely to leave
Maturity of Leadership	Leaders mature, trained, rotational turnover	Some maturity, no training, some unplanned turnover	No training, some unplanned turnover	No training, high unplanned turnover	Elected leaders have resigned due to conflict
Nature of Leadership	Healthy turnover of leadership; former leaders become good followers	Elected and non-elected leaders aligned	Same people always elected	Elected leaders are tentative, afraid to lead	Non-elected leadership in charge
Leadership Meetings	Prayer and vision dominate agenda	Short-range goals dominate agenda	Business dominates agenda	Problems and discipline dominate agenda	Survival dominates agenda
Clarity of Vision	Vision documents are clear and agreed upon	Documents present but people can’t articulate vision	Documents present but little agreement	Old documents, vision not agreed upon	No vision documents; evidence of agenda conflict
Congregational Meetings	Congregational meetings are helpful, prayerful, worshipful	Congregational meetings are mostly business	Congregational meetings are generally considered irrelevant	Congregational meetings show tension that nobody addresses	Congregational meetings show open hostility
Growth History	Growing annually by 15% or more over the past five years	Growing annually by 10-15% over the past five years	Growing by 1-10% over the past five years	Stagnant over the past five years	Declining over the past five years
Effective Evangelism	10% conversion growth rate sustained for past five years	Conversion growth rate between 5 and 10% for past five years	Conversion growth rate under 5% for past five years	Occasional stories of conversion over past five years	No evangelistic growth over past five years
Life Cycle of a Church (Bullard)	Vision dominates; relationships and programs healthy VRPm	Programs and relationships dominate, vision okay vRPm	Programs dominate, little vision vrPm	Management dominates, relationships strained vrpM	Vision, relationships, programs, management weak vrpm
Totals

Circle the box for each category that best describes your church situation.  Then add up the points down the columns and determine a total score.  Add up the scores of all the columns for a grand total.  The higher the grand total, the greater the need you will have for an intentional interim pastor.

Used by permission of Dr Ken Moberg

When Church Members Leave

For many of us, the very mention of the subject of church members leaving knots up our stomachs faster than a phone call from the IRS. Painful memories flood my mind as I sit down to write - and I thought I’d gotten “good at” letting people go. Not that we really want to get used to losing people, but most of us would like for it to be less painful for ourselves and we’d also like to see our departed ones have a quick turnaround time: to get fully engaged quickly in a new church without cynicism or bitterness.

Why is this so hard for us?

Church Secretary Occupational Hazards

1. Church secretaries need to be carefully protected (mostly by the Senior Pastor, but others can help) from “secretary abuse,” such as:

• Expecting the secretary to do too much. Secretaries are frequently servants in their spiritual giftedness (Romans 12:7). Servants gladly take on more and more because they are so motivated to help. Wise bosses watch secretaries carefully to help them to say “no, I can’t do anymore” when they need to say it.

• People expecting the secretary to be on the job on Sunday morning (or any other time she’s in the building)

• People calling her at home - She is an hourly, not a salaried employee

• People who are not her “boss” acting as if they are (walking in and giving her work, etc.). The secretary has one supervisor, the Senior Pastor. Those approaching the secretary with work requests can be told by the secretary, “Pastor _______ wants me to refer requests for my time to him, so please wait here while I go and ask him about this.”

• Pastors telling them too much about church problems or problematic people and so weighing them down with troubles they are not given God’s grace to handle. (I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this.) Some secretaries grow into wonderful counseling partners for the pastor – particularly when he has to speak to other ladies alone. But be careful! This can lead to a good relationship becoming too close. (For the same reason, I avoid praying with church secretaries/administrative assistants one-on-one. Praying together really draws people together!) In some cases the pastor’s wife is a more appropriate partner for counseling females. Other secretaries are simply not gifted by God for this ministry and will be discouraged by trying to perform it. Of the many secretaries and administrative assistants I’ve had the joy of working with, only one became an occasional counseling partner.

2. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into telephone counselors, which can be wonderful but can also become too much of a good thing.

• Protecting the pastor from having to hear about minor problems that the secretary can help with is a wonderful ministry. See Acts 6

• Providing a listening ear is great; many secretaries save their pastors hundreds of hours by just listening to and praying with the troubled people who call or stop in.

• But some people need to learn how to open their Bibles and get down on their knees and find the answers to their problems. If the church attendee is now leaning on the secretary too much (instead of leaning on the pastor too much) somebody, (more than likely the pastor) needs to teach this dear brother or sister how to find some answers on his/her own.

• No one needs a counselor who becomes an enabler, whether or not the enabler is a co-dependent person or a healthy and well-meaning but mistaken person.

3. Church secretaries can tell people too much, they can hear too much, they can pass things along that shouldn’t be passed along - See I Timothy 3:11

• Some people go on "fishing expeditions" when talking with the secretary.

• A secretary must be able to keep confidences, even from the spouse who is a board member!

• The secretary needs to get very good at saying, “Whoa, wait a minute, you need to talk to so and so about that,” the phrase I teach churches (with hand motions) to stop gossip.

4. Church secretaries, like young pastors, can develop a habit of well-intended meddling: volunteering to solve problems for people which they ought to be solving themselves (Proverbs 26:17 & I Peter 4:15). Teaching people to handle their problems God’s way is part of the ministry description of every mature Christian.

5. Church secretaries frequently “morph” into administrators. Most often, they need some training in administration to avoid the pitfalls inherent in management. Their authority as administrators needs to come from the pastor (or whoever conveys authority in your church) and be clearly communicated to the church before the secretary begins acting in that capacity. In one of my interim pastorates, a staff member had morphed into a capable but overzealous, micro-managing administrator. Many in the church, besides being offended by her management style, did not feel that she had received her authority legitimately.

6. Church secretaries need to communicate to their families that phone calls to “mom” are limited. “Mom” is not helping her church or her children if she spends long periods of time counseling her family. Family member “visits” also need to be limited.

7. Church secretaries need to be zealous protectors of the pastor’s time. The Sr. Pastor needs to convey clearly how he wants the secretary/receptionist(s) how to handle:

• Walk in salesmen – “If you want to leave some literature regarding your _____ I’ll show it to Pastor So and So” or – at the secretary’s discretion – “If you’d like to show me your product that’s fine but Pastor So and So is not available for product demonstrations.”

• Phone salespersons – “Our church doesn’t purchase anything as the result of a phone solicitations. If you’d like to send some literature for your ______ I’ll pass it on to Pastor So and So”

• Walk in “counselees” – “Pastor So and So can’t see you right now, but he’d be happy to make an appointment with you.” (I always tell secretaries that my exception to the “walk-in counselee” policy is when someone’s life is in danger, i.e., if the person appears homicidal or suicidal.)

• Phone calls for the Pastor. Simply asking “Can I ask what this is in reference to?” or “Can I ask why you’re calling?” can protect the pastor from many calls from those who want, but don’t need, to talk to him.

8. Church secretaries/receptionists/administrative assistants need to be carefully protected from the complications that result from multiple relationships.

• In many cases, the employee’s spouse is also a church attendee and sometimes a leader. Spouses must sometimes be asked by the Pastor to not interfere in the employee/employer relationship but to encourage the employee to handle his/her problems in normal (but mature Christian!) ways.

• In many cases, handling these situations takes grace and tact and the guidance of God. In one ministry the administrative assistant was (1) my employee (2) an elder’s wife (3) my friend (4) my wife’s friend (5) a church volunteer in several capacities (6) the mother of a girl who was my son’s age (7) my son’s teacher (8) the mother of kids in classes I was teaching. This gets complicated. Fortunately, God can and will help us make these situations work!

Our secretaries are precious people (not quite an endangered species yet, but precious people). Let's help them to serve God (their real boss) joyfully and productively.