The Interim Pastor
How a 2-3 Year Interim Can Help a Church Move Forward
On July 1 I began my second year as the Interim Pastor at a small, vibrant Korean American church in suburban America. This is my fourth Interim. The church board calls an Interim Pastor to lead the church in the time between the permanently installed pastors.
The 5 Developmental Tasks
The Interim Pastor will do the usual Pastor/Head of Staff responsibilities of preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and administration. But our bigger responsibility is leading a church in its work to be stronger. A church is strengthened when it moves through the 5 Development Tasks that the Interim Pastor leads. The 5 Developmental Tasks:
Coming to terms with history
Discovering a new identity
Leadership changes during the interim
Renewing denominational linkages
Commitment to a new direction in ministry
The Succesful Interim
In 2004, I became an Interim Associate Pastor at a 900-member church coming out of a vicious church fight. In six months the church moved on from 5 pastors. They brought in a conflict specialist Interim Pastor. I was the second Interim on what would be an all-interim pastoral team of 3. I stepped in to lead the educational ministry where they recently had 3 separate pastors leading robust children’s, youth, adult, and older adult ministries.
Our work in the next three years led to healing.
This church moved well through its conflict toward peace. They rediscovered what they liked about each other, what direction they wanted to move, and how to be the church together. They called a new Pastor who would stay with them for nearly 10 years.
This is the successful interim.
The More Likely Interim
Unfortunately, most interims do not result in a 10-year tenure for the next pastor. What set that 900-member church apart may have been the relief after three years of fighting. Since their conflict was so all-encompassing they were ready for real change.
The key is how willing church lay leadership is to work on the 5 Developmental Tasks. These can be difficult to do. Change is hard. It is easier to find something in the previous pastor or their spouse to blame for why they left. As an interim, it is hard to listen to church people insult the last pastor (we are next).1 If blame can be laid on the previous pastor church leadership does not have to work on their stuff.
The 5 Developmental Tasks
The change from one Head of Staff/Pastor to the next involves complete change. To be ready for these changes, during the interim, we must take a true look at the church's history, how the board and its committees work (or don’t), and what leadership changes need to happen.
If we can’t do the first 3 Developmental Tasks during the Interim, we often cannot do the last 2 tasks. The congregation that is disconnected from its denomination will not move closer without owning its history and discovering its new identity.
The Church Survey
The resistance a church has to our doing professional evaluation through an all-church survey often tells me how the interim will go. Churches resistant to change do not want to pay for a professional survey2 of their members. Keeping our head in the sand is easier without evidence that our head is under sand.
The open book church (healthy) is usually ready to do a survey but may decide no one as they already know what people on all the fringes of their church think.
The church that is resistant to the survey may not be ready for real information that might demand change.
3 Examples of Change Resistance
Entrenched Leadership
Healthy churches have leadership rotations. Unhealthy churches let certain people remain in their leadership positions for years. Some real examples:
Chair of the Personnel Committee held the position for 28 years. Support staff reported to him even though the Pastor's job description said they were the Head of Staff. Sometimes this guy contradicted the Pastor. Staff followed this guy. The Board refused to fight with this guy as he was passive-aggressive beyond belief.
The Mission committee never changes. Neither the installed pastor nor the new Interim pastor are welcome at their meetings as the pastor’s thoughts are not needed. They are going to distribute congregational mission money as they want.3
The Finance Chair or Treasurer does not change. Since finances seem stable the boards don’t press for change. The problem comes when these people get final approval on all financial decisions. This is too much power. Sometimes Finance Chairs don’t attend worship or do not practice their faith.
The Insular Church
Some churches call themselves a family and they are right. They are one size and shrinking. These churches give lip service to hospitality and openness to new people, but they won’t do anything to be more welcoming. Some symptoms:
The Sunday Lunch group which never invites anyone to join them.
The church always uses acronyms so newcomers never know what anyone is talking about. An example: “This Sunday we have SPC’s Annual Community Clambake at FCMC so invite everyone who lives in NLPA.”4
The coffee hour is filled with talk about church families seeing each other socially. No one is talking to the visitors or the new people.
Bonus Requirements to Be a Leader
God will raise new leaders for a congregation. It is up to the church to elect them. Most denominations have requirements to be a leader. Unhealthy churches have bonus requirements (hoops) for new leaders to pass. Some examples:
Board members must be on a feeder committee for 3-5 years first
Leaders must be members for X years first
Leaders must show a higher level of faith or morality or secular work requirements than the Interim pastor needs (I’ve seen people rejected for asking faith questions,5 the single mother whose teenager got caught drinking, the guy who works on the production line in a church of white-collar workers.6
The Rusted Church Resists Changing…
A resistant church called their new pastor. He lasted six months or two years. When the pastor leaves quickly they do an exit interview with the denomination. So often the leaving pastor’s reasons correspond to the pink flags the Interim Pastor put in their report on the congregation.
As an outgoing Interim Pastor, I always take the church board through this report. Then I email the report to my denomination with the understanding they will share it with the new pastor.7
The Good News
Most churches are open to working with the Interim Pastor to understand and engage with the 5 Developmental Tasks. If we do the work, the church will not only be ready for a new pastor but also to move in new ministry directions. The church sets new goals, as it becomes a fuller expression of itself.
It is worse to hear church people blame the last pastor’s spouse. At Big Church when the Head of Staff/Pastor left for a bigger church, people blamed the spouse. “She was unhappy. He left so she could be at a richer church.” Gag.
I often use Holy Cow Consulting. For less than $1,000 we got great information with this congregation-wide survey and assessment.
Of the 8 churches I’ve served in 30 years, 4 functioned this way. In two of those interims, we were able to enact change. The other two mission committees are still going strong without real change.
South Presbyterian Church’s (7-10 pm) Clambake at Faith Community Methodist Church so invite everyone who lives in North Lebanon, Pennsylvania.”
An elder was disqualified because of asking questions in a Bible study. This was given as evidence of a growing faith. Growing faith is something I value.
The nominating committee reconsidered this guy and he went on to be a great elder on the board.
Sometimes denominations do not share these reports. It is like inviting a new ship pilot to your neck of the river without giving them a map of the shoals.
Thank you for your ministry!