Your church has just entered a season of pastoral ministry transition. What do you do now?
I suppose it depends. Some churches experience pastoral transitions so frequently that it’s not a significant event. They activate the pastoral search committee—again—and proceed much as they did the last time, and the time before that.
Other churches have had the same pastor serving for many years, perhaps a decade or more. They are unaccustomed to pastoral transitions, making the entire process feel both intimidating and awkward.
Regardless of where your church stands, you are entering a season of ministry that requires prayer, focus, collaboration, and patience. The purpose of this page is to outline basic first steps you can follow to get your pastoral search off to a solid start.
First, Don't Do Anything!
Wait—did you say, “don’t do anything?”
Correct! Don’t do anything…at least nothing related to starting the pastoral search process.
I am thinking that your pastor recently read a letter of resignation (or perhaps was terminated) and your congregation is experiencing a bit of shock. As a leader, you may be thinking “we gotta start looking for a new pastor…now!”
Give your congregation time to pray, work and think it through. Don’t ignore the fact that the church is in a season of transition, but don’t feed the congregation’s fears by making bold and drastic plans for an immediate launch into pastoral search.
As a leader in your congregation, your first priority is not to immediately go out and find a new pastor. Your first priority is to provide for the pastoral care of your congregation. Let me say that again; once your current pastor’s ministry is complete, the priority of church leadership is to provide for the pastoral care of the congregation.
The Prayer Priority
- DO NOT form a prayer team!
Wait—did you say, “do not form a prayer team?”
Correct. I would advise against forming a “prayer team,” unless by “team” you mean the entire congregation. Avoid giving the impression that praying for the pastoral search process is something reserved solely for a select group. Instead, communicate to the entire congregation that prayer is both a privilege and a responsibility—one that belongs to everyone in the congregation.
Let the church know that everyone will be kept in the loop and that prayer is a vital ministry for everyone – not just those labeled as the “prayer team.”
2. Embrace Luke 10:2
Luke 10:2 says:
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.
As a simple reminder, have your congregation set a repeating alarm on their cell phones to go off at 10:02 (a.m. and/or p.m.). When the alarm goes off, it will serve as a reminder to pray that the Lord of the harvest will send a laborer to the church to serve as pastor.
3. Communicate, communicate, communicate
Provide timely and appropriate pastoral search updates to the congregation—and “prayer‐atize” them.
Don’t just give information—tell the congregation how they can pray for each element of the update. Without getting too dramatic, explain what’s at stake and what you’re hoping to see God accomplish.
Grasp the wisdom of the "Gary Guideline"
Gary is an elder in a local church where I served as interim pastor. Along with other leaders from the congregation, he and I were part of the pastoral search committee. When it came to how the committee should operate, he put it this way. “There should be urgency but not panic. Patience but not compliancy.” (I thought that was brilliant!)
Urgency is a calm, deliberate, and focused motivation to respond swiftly to an important need.
Panic is an acute, overwhelming emotional reaction rooted in fear—often leading to irrational or hasty behavior.
Patience is the ability to endure difficult or delayed circumstances without frustration or loss of composure.
Complacency is passive acceptance of the status quo. It resists change or improvement even when better options are available.
