When churches enter into transition, often one of the first things they do is to strike a search team to find a pastoral replacement. "Let's jsut find our new pastor and get on with it!" is a common response. This can and does reglularly set up the search team and hiring process for failure. Before search takes place there are other important issues to address so that search can be conducted in the church from a posture of health and clarity. A Transitional leader can work with your search team to help them not only conduct a pastoral search with a great process, but also under optimal circumstances. Each situation is unique, therefore, a search process should be created that fits the context of the local church. There are many more resources available through our District Office and our Transitional Pastors and Coaches.
One of the key steps in preparing for search is to develop a Pastoral profile that addresses four key questions which significantly shape the search. These questions require diligent research and deliberation that should be done collaboratively:
1. Who were we as a church? (history, DNA)
2. Who are we now as a church? (our current reality)
3. What is important to us? (our values)
4. What is our context? (internal and external)
5. How do we want to relate to our community? (missional enagement)
6. Who do we hope to become? (vision)
7. What kind of pastoral leader do we need at this time in the life of our church?
We will continue to post links to recommended resources for the pastoral search at this page. Here are a few guiding documents to assist in organizing the search process.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Major Features of the Pastoral Search Process.doc | 39.5 KB |
| Steps in Calling a Senior Pastor.doc | 29.5 KB |
