Your church is made up of every member who places their faith in Jesus Christ.
But the life of your church is not limited to this one man or woman. There's one reality you must embrace during a pastoral transition:įor a variety of reasons, it’s difficult when a senior pastor transitions off staff. To help lead your church well through this season, here are 6 steps you’ll need to take: #1 – Continue your ministry If you don’t handle your pastoral transition well, you’ll create an entirely different set of problems. Remember, pastoral transitions take on all sorts of shapes and sizes-both good and bad. 6 ways to lead your church through a pastoral transition Not only will a vacancy in leadership lead to these problems, so too will a mismanaged pastoral transition, which leads us to the next point. If your church experiences such an extended gap in leadership, you’ll run into a host of problems, including: I'm talking about normal pastoral transitions and the average amount of time it takes a church to call a new pastor, which can crush your church’s momentum.Īccording to pastoral succession expert William Vanderbloemen, it takes the average church 12 to 24 months to find a new pastor. I’m not talking about when a pastor is fired for a moral failure. Pastoral transitions can lead your church to lose one key thing: momentum. Pastoral transitions are frequent, and they can occur for good or bad reasons. What’s more, some denominations, like the United Methodist Church, reevaluate their pastors every year. There are also times when a pastor transitions for less sinister reasons, such as a change in calling, conflict, or problems with their finances. There are times when a pastor will transition for negative reasons, such as a moral failing. This frequency of change may sound alarming, but when you take into consideration that the average employee tenure is 4.6 years, pastors aren’t doing so bad after all.
It’s common knowledge that pastors often transition, and studies actually validate this point.Īccording to one survey conducted by LifeWay Research, the average tenure for a full-time pastor is six years. I simply want to let you know that if your church is going through a pastoral transition, you’re not alone. Instead, my goal is to splash cold water on your face-to wake you up to the reality that pastors often transition in the United States.Īgain, this isn’t meant to be a dig at pastors.
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