“I think there are several advantages to transitional ministry. . . Leaders create an ethos, they create an environment, which is particular to them as a leader, and it leaves its imprint on the congregation. So when they leave, you know, it’s a difficult time for congregation because they’re in the sense sorting themselves. . . So there’s that whole thing of the cultural shift. And it just helps the congregation have somebody come in, who can help them to know, to evaluate, to assess where they’re at, and what needs to happen for them to move forward. . . Obviously, there’s going to be this whole grieving process that has to happen. And I don’t think congregations understand that it’s a very real thing that happens, you grieve the loss of this pastor, not only because you have personal relationships, but because of all the roles that they filled in your church’s life. . . And then sometimes they’re just issues that have to be dealt with that maybe couldn’t be addressed by the outgoing pastor, because they were present in the middle of it all. And maybe it’s a variety of reasons why they couldn’t deal with stuff like perhaps that needed to be dealt with. So as a transitional pastor, you’ve come in on the front end, everybody knows you’ve got permission to deal with stuff to address things that need to be addressed. And perhaps part of your role is to help them deal with some stuff that maybe didn’t get dealt with. . . And as a transitional pastor, part of my job is to make sure that the bases get covered, they have, you know, services planned and, and I’m a teacher, so I tend to teach series. . . we’re there to serve a congregation help them to get through a tough period in their churches history, prepare them for a new chapter. And it’s a privilege to be able to do that.”
“I think the big thing is to establish trust with the leadership team, and with the congregation. And trust is one of those things that you don’t get a certificate saying, trust me. No, trust is something you have to earn. And there’s only one way to earn it. And that’s the old fashioned way of you work hard, and you do it over time. And over time, you will build trust, if you’re serving well, and relating well.
“While we have specific tasks as transitional leaders, we can’t have an agenda. When we come into a congregation, we’re not there to drive our agenda. We’re there to actually serve them. And we have certain tasks that we have to do, but we don’t go there with my agenda, saying I have a timeline, and I’m going to get this done in this much time. I don’t think that’s very helpful.”
“One of the kind of the truisms about rural ministry is that rural congregations change very slowly. But they change again, very slowly. So once you get something in place, it doesn’t change completely quickly. And in urban congregations, there’s much more, a higher pace of change happening all the time, where rural congregations, that’s not quite as true. So to understand that just you have to be patient and let things happen as they will happen. In the time it’s going to take. I spend a lot of time talking with people listening to people. And we meet every week with our board chair for an hour to just not necessarily to talk about ministry stuff, although that does come into but mostly to build a relationship and build a friendship, to get to know each other, because that’s how trust will happen.”
“They know where they’d like to see the church be, they don’t necessarily know how to get there. But they do have some ideas. And so part of my job is, I do a lot of permission giving. And I do a lot of cheerleading. . . And for them to understand what’s your church – it’s your group, your fellowship, your congregation, whatever. You have the responsibility to make things happen. It’s not all up to the pastor, but then give them permission and authority to go with the responsibility.”
“In terms of church structure, rural churches are family based, not cell based as in our big city churches, where there’s been a move to the cell base, kind of small group, all that kind of ministry, kind of methods. . . what’s the values based, well, in an urban church, my observation anyways, is high value is placed on what is going to be good for the organization to help it achieve its goals. But then, rural setting, high value is placed on relationships, and relationships trump purposes and goals, and even vision. And if the relationships aren’t necessarily contributing, even if they don’t contribute to the well being in the organization, you still maintain those relationships, because we have to live with these people.”