By Mark Dance
When I got the unexpected call to serve as an interim (transitional) pastor of a metro Nashville church, I explained to the committee that I had no interim training or experience. I pressed my case further with the intensity of Jonah that I had a full-time ministry at Lifeway with at least 30 events a year scheduled for the next two years.
Unfazed, this church committee had done their homework and was convinced I would be a good fit for this season of transition. Retrospectively, they were right.
This post may be helpful to some of you now, and others of you later when your season of ministry changes. Here are five practical lessons I learned in the 17 months I recently served as an interim (transitional) pastor.
Pursue training now
I never seriously considered being an interim until I was asked to serve as one. Seek training today if you intend to help other churches through pastoral transitions later. Training opportunities are available by some Baptist state conventions, associations, and networks.
If not, a new online option is Interim Pastor University by Dr. Thom and Sam Rainer. This video-based training can help you become certified as an interim pastor in as little as 12 months.
Recruit a mentor
Dan Garland was my primary interim ministry mentor, although Henry Webb and Steve Holt also coached me up along the way. Dr. Garland is currently in his 15th interim pastorate and will be happy to help you too: dan.garland@lifeway.com.
Dan often calmly reminded me to pastor that church as I pastored the other churches I’d led for 27 years. In my experience, most pastoral leadership is transferable from church to church.
If you have led churches before, you already know how to love, lead, and feed them well…so pastor on!
Pastor with abandon
Since you are their primary pastor for this season, love them like you are never going to leave them. In a sense, all pastors are interims who will leave when we have fulfilled God’s purpose for us there.
Although this interim pastorate was uniquely different from my other three pastorates, it was no less fulfilling. I told that church to think of me as their “grand-pastor.” This term of endearment reminded them, and myself, that although I am a genuine part of their family, I am not the leader they need in the long run.
Set realistic goals
It was very tempting for me to try to fix every leak, put out every dumpster fire, or milk every metaphor (too late!). My simple goal was to leave that church healthier than I found it by focusing on two simple objectives: unity of hearts and clarity of vision.
UNITY. Every church is a dysfunctional family to some extent, but you can help them pick up as many land mines as possible before they hire a new pastor. I formed a leadership team of elected decision makers who needed to be in the same room once a month.
Interims are in the perfect position to be ministers of reconciliation and unity.
CLARITY. Most churches have a website with clever declarations of vision, values, purpose…blah, blah, blah. Help them clarify what is essential to them and rally around that simple, unified vision.
I don’t recommend you add a new vision, just clarify the one they already have so that they can rally around it, as well as articulate it well to potential pastors and members.
Pastor by grace
You are going to make some mistakes, so save some of the grace you preach about for yourself.
The church you serve will also need grace to work through their grief, anger, or both; depending on how messy your predecessor’s exit was. But where sin abounds, grace abounds even more (Romans 5:20).
Interim pastoral ministry is unpredictable and sometimes messy, but there is no good reason why you cannot help a church move the ball forward before their new lead pastor steps onto their campus. The payoff at the end of your interim is when you move from the sidelines to the stands to cheer them all on from a distance.
You know, like a grand-pastor.
MARK DANCE (@markdance) serves as director of Lifeway Pastors, is the husband of Janet, father to Holly and Brad, and recently ended an interim pastorate at First Baptist Church, Mt Juliet, Tennessee.
