By Dr. Grant Gordon

Promoting the Associate Pastor to Interim Senior Pastor 

Churches with multiple staff sometimes ask one of their staff to assume the duties of the interim senior pastor. At first glance, this appears to be very attractive because it is less expensive (especially appealing after a severance has been paid) and because it maintains stability by having familiar people in leadership. But this can backfire.  If the staff "interim senior" does well, some in the congregation inevitably put pressure on the Pastoral Search Committee to stop looking for a new pastor and to choose the one they have. This creates congregational conflict and derails the healthy search process. Further, when the new pastor is chosen from the outside, members may have difficulty shifting their loyalty to the new "outside" pastor.  Also, if the staff interim pastor begins to enjoy the new role of the senior pastor, later it will be difficult to shift back to the previous support role. Moreover, it is not unusual for tension to develop between the staff interim and the new pastor.  Instead, it is wise to call an Intentional Interim (sometimes called "Transitional") pastor from outside the congregation.

Hesitating about Vision and Direction

At times, congregations hesitate to make important decisions about their direction and expectations. I often hear, "We don't want to make any changes because the next pastor will want to be a part of the process." But the downside of this is that they risk not being sufficiently clear about what they want or need in a pastor.  It is much wiser to spend the interim time thinking creatively and specifically, rather than speaking in generalities (e.g., "we want to grow" or "we want to be relevant.")  This clarity will help both the congregation and the pastoral candidate to perceive better if there is a "fit."

Same People:  Encouraging the Board to Deal with the Transition

It seems to make sense for the main Leadership Board to assume the full task of dealing with the transitional issues. The problem with this approach is that the Board members seldom have time for this and are often so close to the situation that they cannot think creatively.  A much better process is to form a separate Transitional Task Force that is accountable to the Board and with one or two from the Board on it. The Task Force then looks at issues needing to be addressed and brings their recommendations to the main Board. In addition, forming a Transitional Task Force provides opportunity for broader input and more creative thinking.

Avoiding the Elephant in the Living Room

Too often, churches choose not to deal with past conflicts or dysfunctional behaviour because they hope things will automatically improve with a new pastor.  This seldom happens.  Further, they often expect the new pastor will deal with these matters.  This is actually unfair to the new pastor because it means that in the early months of ministry the new pastor will be drawn into a serious conflict. Even if the exiting pastor was perceived to have been the problem, the congregation needs to look at how it enabled this to happen and what it has learned from the experience.

Lack of Co-operation

Sometimes, the Search Committee does not work in sync with the Leadership Board. As a result the Search Committee begins searching before the main Board has clarified what the congregation needs. This is worsened when the Search Committee is not accountable to the Board. I recommend the Search Committee be accountable to the main Leadership Board.  This eliminates what happened in one church:  it became severely stuck when the Leadership Board wanted to go in one direction and the Search Committee wanted to find a pastor as soon as possible.

Scrapping the Past

Church leaders, wanting to move the church into new directions, can sometimes refuse to honour congregational traditions and longtime ministries because they fear the congregation will get stuck in the past. Yet, the opposite is more likely.  When those who prefer the past and the familiar feel that they are valued and that their past efforts are appreciated, they are more willing to let go of these. Indeed resistance often results when people feel minimized or feel that what they value is being taken away from them. Therefore, churches wanting to try new ministries and methods would do well to celebrate rather than control. It is true that grieving is a crucial part of the interim process, but it is also a time for celebrating God's past blessing and looking to the future.

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Grant Gordon has served as an intentional interim pastor at New Life Christian Church in Toronto.  Previously, he has served as intentional interim senior pastor at Grace Church in Newmarket, Ont. and at Kitchener MB Church. He is a trained mediator. He has a B.Th. from Tyndale College, an M.Div. from Gordon Conwell Seminary and an M.Th. and D.Min. from Princeton Theological Seminary.