Settled Pastors and Unsettling Mission Goals
Settled Pastors vs Interim Pastors
Traditionally, it is a goal of church management to foster long-term bonds between a congregation and one leader. These long-term pastors are called “settled” pastors.
That a settled pastor is desirable or necessary for a healthy congregation has been a relatively unchallenged concept.
Expectations are in conflict with reality from the start. The length of most pastorates is less than seven years.
Unrealistic expectations may be a root source of decline in the church.
Settled pastors evoke a caretaker image. You have a community of people who go happily about their lives, knowing that a pastor will be there to nurture the young, guide critical life decisions, celebrate life passages and hold hands in times of crisis.
But so much involving church mission is unsettling. Mission requires leaders who can strategize for change, respond to a crisis (the earlier the better), introduce the unfamiliar and shake a congregation’s sense of complacency.
The Church’s desire for long-term pastorates has created a new job title—the interim pastor.
The concept of interim ministry is to provide short-term leadership—which in the Church can mean one or two years—to help a congregation assess their ministry as they seek a new long-term pastor. Does it make sense to place a pastor for one or two years to prepare a congregation for a pastor who is likely to stay only three or four years?
Interim ministry is described as a time for putting aside affection for a departed long-term pastor (they actually use the term “grieving,”), restructuring and goal-setting.
Affection for a pastor is assumed by Church leaders. You can only measure the people who come to church. Even the best church analysts cannot count the people who stay home because of dislike or opposition to a pastor. Yet, this is a real part of congregational dynamics. So while Church leaders assume the congregation is grieving there may be a strong faction that is welcoming change and raring to go!
The concept of interim ministry was first fashioned to deal with congregations who face unexpected change in leadership (sudden death of a pastor, pastoral wrong-doing, or church conflict). It has grown to become almost compulsory.
This managerial goal may be in conflict with a congregation’s ultimate goal — mission. The Church exists in community to worship and serve God.
In a world where communities are totally restructured every decade or less, seeking a settled pastor may be undesirable, if not impossible. Yet, we still expect it, leading to a broad misconception that if a congregation has a series of short-term pastors that there is something “wrong” with the congregation. Short-term pastorates may actually be a sign of vitality!
The modern church must train all pastors in “transition” skills.
Maybe the new expectation of congregations should be mission-oriented, short-term pastors. After all, every pastor is interim — some just longer than others!