Interim Ministry 

 

Describing Interim Ministry / Value of Interim Ministry / Five Developmental Tasks / Training and Qualifications / Options for Interim Assistance / Geographic Areas / Cost / Scheduling / Contact

 

CG%20seminar.jpgDescribing Interim Ministry

When a preacher leaves, either by his or the church's initiation, it signals the beginning of a period that is full of opportunity for a church. The level of energy increases, often with both positive and negative possibilities. There may be enough positive charge to launch the church into an exciting new era of ministry. There may also be enough negative anxiety to catapult the church into a spiral of destructive conflict. These transitions also present the church with one of the greatest opportunities to learn from their past, define their strengths, and identify and remedy lingering patterns that have hindered their ministry effectiveness.  Questions fill the minds of church leaders:

  • How can a church capitalize on the unique opportunities presented by preacher transitioWhen When ns?
  • How should a church conduct the searching, interviewing, and selecting process to insure the best match between minister and congregation?

  • What can be done to maximize the first year or two of a preacher's new ministry to increase the possibilities of a long and effective relationship?

Interim Ministry is an intentional effort to deal with these important questions and seize the unique opportunities inherent in a period of transition.  It combines preaching, assessments of congregational effectiveness, one-to-one and group consultations, workshops, conflict resolution, team- building sessions, strategic planning, and a host of other methods to help a congregation craft a more productive future. 

Value of Interim Ministry

In a landmark book on church transitions, A Change of Pastors...and How It Affects Change in the Congregation, Loren Mead, a senior consultant with the Alban Institute, discusses two complementary but distinct issues that are concurrently at work when a church goes through a change of ministers.

  • Congregational Development - the set of knowledge, skills, and processes by which a congregation is brought to a better understanding of its ministry and becomes more effective in it and faithful to it.

  • Minister Placement - the set of knowledge, skills, and processes by which ministers are matched to positions that most fully challenge their gifts and abilities.

Frequently, the prominent and influential role of the minister in congregational development leads churches to believe that they must have a minister before they can move forward. Thus a church devotes most of its energies in the transition period to a minister search, but is not as intentional about congregational development, believing it will resume once the new minister is in place. In reality, however, the larger issue is congregational development, and the minister search is only one piece of this larger concern. Mead says:

"Congregations need times of reassessment, times in which to rethink their life and direction with some independence of ministerial leadership. Such opportunities, well-used, can bring about a maturity and strength a congregation needs to enter a more productive relationship with a new minister. A congregation that has been through a productive exploration of its program, process, context, and identity and that has rethought and recommitted itself to ministry is a congregation a minister might long to be connected with. (p. 12)

Five Developmental Tasks

To help facilitate more intentional development, Mead outlines five developmental tasks for the transition period.

Coming to terms with history - Congregational history is made up of the events and issues of our past, both the creative and useful, as well as the debilitating and destructive. History does not fully limit the future, but it profoundly shapes the possibilities, either as blockage or as fuel. Transition is a time to open a church's story and write new chapters. The losses associated with transition open up the repository of grief, and provide an excellent occasion to process unfinished business of previous losses. It also allows for the healing of old wounds and dealing with the ghosts that have haunted the church for a long time. Failure to do this leaves deposits of unresolved grief (anger, bitterness, apathy, avoidance or undeserved distrust of leaders) which often become booby traps for the new minister. 

Discovering a new identity - Identity is the unique personality of a church created by its history, location, size, beliefs, leadership, demographics, age groups, and patterns of social interaction.  Images for church identity come from a variety of sources such as church size, social location, purpose in ministry, etc. A church's situation in one of these areas may change, but the church may be slow to adjust to the new reality. For example, a neighborhood around a church may change, or growth may create a shift in member demographics, creating new sociological realities, but the church resists letting go of the previous identity based on the old demographics.

Allowing needed leadership change - Transitions often signal the need for some stirring among the leadership team or teams. Previous alignments with the departing minister may now be adjusted in anticipation of a new minister. New leaders may also emerge. Within Churches of Christ, there are a number of current issues about leadership functioning. These include: tendency toward collaborative leadership styles, cultural de-emphasis on positional leadership, shift from administrative oversight to relational shepherding as the dominant biblical metaphor for elders, trend toward multiple staff, assigning significant administrative power to deacons, and growing popularity of the senior minister model. These issues will often demand attention during the anxious period after a minister's departure. They are also intensified when considering how to navigate size transitions and eliminate growth barriers.

Reaffirming Connection to Faith Heritage - The transition period often provides opportunities for a congregation to redefine or reaffirm its connection to a faith heritage, which for Churches of Christ is the Restoration Movement.  It often involves utilizing the resources of the larger fellowship, perhaps a consultant from a church-associated college or university or a visit to/from an equipping church for benchmarking important ministry efforts.  This can expand the church's awareness of needs and possibilities as they experience how things are done effectively in other places.  It can also boost the churchs self-image, as the news of their ministry possibilities spreads among interested parties. 

Commitment to new directions in ministry - This task represents one of the ending stages of the transition process, and may be difficult to ascertain while a church is in the midst of a change. It assumes that a church has intentionally gone through the whole process of development, and thus has a new sense of self and a higher degree of confidence and direction. If this is the case, it increases the church's confidence that the minister chosen fits the needs for the next stage of ministry.

Training and Qualifications

The Interim Ministry Network is a 1,500 member international organization that exists solely to equip church leaders to help congregations in transition.  They have developed a well-defined three-phase system of training for those interested in church intervention.   This training sequence involves two weeks of intensive workshops and eight months of supervised practice in interim ministry and/or consultation.  I have completed all three phases of this training.  This is in addition to 20 years of experience in full-time congregational ministry, extensive graduate education in ministry, numerous other certifications, and several years of teaching on both undergraduate and graduate levels covering the full range of congregational ministry.  These experiences equip me to provide quality interim ministry leadership, empowering congregations to enter into God's desired future in their time and place.

Options for Interim Assistance

I offer two basic types of transition intervention: Contracted Ministry and Individualized Training and Consultation.  A congregation may wish to negotiate a specially designed intervention that combines elements of both.

With the first option, Contracted Ministry, I do the majority of the Sunday morning preaching over a period of six to twelve months.  After an initial assessment consisting of active listening, inventories, and other forms of feedback, I work with church leaders to arrive at a comprehensive plan of intervention.  This plan includes the key components that are important for the congregation to achieve its maximum potential for growth and impact in fulfilling its God-given mission.  The plan is implemented through sermons, Bible classes, planning procedures and workshops to help the congregation craft a more desirable future and prepare themselves for the arrival of their new preaching minister.  This includes special training on how to conduct the first two years of a new minister's tenure so as to secure the most productive long-term relationship.  Everything is conducted through deliberate team effort with the elders, staff ministers, preacher search and transition committee, deacons, ministry coordinators, and a carefully selected transition task force.  Occasionally, pre-work for participants is necessary to optimize the trainings and consultations.

Some sermons are targeted to specific transition issues, but most will be a simple practice of the ministry of the Word, helping to maintain the sense of stability and continuity a congregation needs during times of change.  Adult Bible classes cover a wide range of spiritual and congregational needs.  Helpful workshops are scheduled on select weekends.

These activities cover any or all of the five developmental tasks, and may go beyond to include other areas of congregational enrichment as needed.  Virtually any area of my preaching, teaching, training, and consulting background can be brought to bear on congregational needs.  Obviously, this is the most effective form of intervention, and has the most lasting impact on the congregation's future.

If a church chooses the option of Individualized Training and Consultation, I conduct an initial assessment of congregational needs utilizing interviews, evaluation instruments, church documents, websites, etc.  Based on these findings, I conduct an introductory workshop for one weekend. After this weekend, I present a proposal for a limited number of trainings and consultations that are targeted to specific groups within the congregation.

Geographic Areas

I offer these services to Churches of Christ anywhere in the United States, with an emphasis on Tennessee and Kentucky and bordering states.  Knoxville, Tennessee serves as the home base.  Flights are easily arranged to distant locations, with churches bearing all costs for travel and lodging. The amount of Sunday preaching appointments in a given month may be limited if long distances are involved.  

Cost

Costs vary depending on congregational size and the actual number of hours required for the activities. Travel, meals, and lodging must also be taken into account. Most interim arrangements involve several hours of workshops along with preaching or teaching.  In some cases, the congregation may charge a minimal fee per participant to help defray expenses.  If notebooks, specialized inventories, or learning instruments are used, they are provided at my cost, and are usually ordered by the congregation and drop-shipped to the workshop locations.  Churches may also be asked to photocopy materials for participant use. Most services involve a brief written agreement that clarifies these items.  Payment for services is generally due before departure from each intervention day or weekend.  Phone consultation or conference calls are available for an hourly fee. Every effort is put forth to make these interventions worth the costs involved.

Scheduling

Interim ministry services vary considerably depending upon congregational need.  Contracted ministries are especially demanding, and require longer periods.  These are not necessarily on a first-come-first-served basis, but are limited to situations where there is a good match between congregation and consultant.  Individualized trainings and consultations are generally conducted on first-come-first-served basis, and are accommodated as soon as my family and professional schedules allow. 

Contact

To request interim ministry services, please contact me at my office (865) 251-2257.  My mailing address is 7900 Johnson Drive, Campus Box 125, Knoxville, Tennessee  37998-0001.  My e-mail address is cgupton@jbc.edu.