It’s never easy when the senior pastor resigns.
These days, the headlines are filled with pastors who are forced to leave their church (often because of moral failure), but the reality is that the vast majority of the time, pastors leave because it’s time, they sense a new calling, or they retire.
Even in the healthiest churches, there’s so much on the line during a senior pastor vacancy.
With the age of the average senior pastor now being in their late fifties, succession is poised to become a critical issue no church can ignore.
Even if you think you won’t go through it soon, preparing well for the day when it inevitably happens can help. And in many ways, pastoral succession is already a crisis. Hopefully, for your church, it won’t be.
After all, pastoral succession never seems urgent. Until it is. And that can usher in challenging times and lots of anxiety if mishandled.
Do pastoral succession well, though, and it sets your church up for long-term success. Mess it up, and what took years to build could vaporize in a week.
Here are seven things your church should do as soon as it becomes clear the pastor is leaving.Pastoral succession never seems urgent. Until it is.CLICK TO TWEET
1. Focus on Vision: Remind People What Will Never Change
When a leader leaves, it can feel like everything is changing, but in the case of the church, that’s not true.
In a healthy church, the leader might change, but the mission never does. It’s your job to remind the church of that.
In fact, a vacancy can be a time to reignite the mission. Focusing on the mission of your church during a vacancy will help remind people why they do what they do. And why is a fantastic motivator.In a healthy church, the leader might change, but the mission never does. It’s your job to remind the church of that.CLICK TO TWEET
2. Get Wise Counsel and Lean Into Expertise
If you’re fortunate, you’ll only have to navigate a senior pastor vacancy every decade or two. Which by nature means neither you nor your team is an expert in the subject.
If you’re fortunate, you’ll only have to navigate a senior pastor vacancy every decade or two. Which by nature means neither you nor your team is an expert in the subject.
Fortunately, there are resources and leaders who can help.
While it’s easy to think you’ll ‘save money’ by doing the transition internally, a bad vacancy or a poor hire can cost you a fortune in the long run. It’s not unheard of for a church to lose 20-50% of its members and attendees in a bad transition.
Investing a few hundred dollars in a course and some books is a good start, and for complex searches, it almost always makes sense to pull in an expert to work one-on-one with you.
If you think of expertise as an investment, not an expense, you’ll see a much great return in the future.If you think of expertise as an investment, not an expense, you’ll see a much great return in the future.CLICK TO TWEET
