FocusOnTheFamily

So you're the new pastor

Written by Randy MacDonald

You’ve been waiting and waiting. Finally the phone rings and you’re offered the position you’ve been longing for. It’s been a long, grueling process of interviews, phone calls and candidating. After some initial celebrations – including your version of the “happy dance” – you stop just long enough for the panic to paralyze you.

There are so many questions and so much to do in so little time: leaving your current location, packing, selling or giving notice on your home, finding a new place to live, the move itself . . . the list seems endless. Your mind goes into overdrive as you list off all the things you have to do, and all the new things you want to do now that you’re in charge.

I’ve been a pastor now for almost 15 years and have been blessed to lead in two different congregations. I also work with my denomination to help pastors and churches find the right fit with each other. Every time I talk with pastors who are entering a new ministry, I love to give a few words of wisdom that I have learned along the way.

This is an emotion-filled time of life. There’s excitement, there’s grieving and these new beginnings can be some of the most memorable times in your ministry life! So where do you begin?

Listen

• Whether the previous pastor’s exit was positive or negative, remember that people will be hurting. This can be hard when your mind is full of new ministry options. If you can lay down your own agenda for a time, and resist the temptation to jump in and start all the good things you’ve been longing to implement, you will likely see some great things happen.
• Find and provide creative ways for people to talk about how they are processing the change. This gives the opportunity to see how the transition has affected their spiritual and family lives.

Be real

• Be you! Remember all those things that came out in the interview process? That’s what your new church family is wanting, so don’t change now.
• Model a healthy lifestyle by creating legitimate boundaries with your time and in your family. Creating boundaries you are comfortable with will show people you have a life outside of pastoral ministry.
• Find a connection into the community where you can meet new people who aren’t a part of your church – and just be a friend. Help your family connect into the community as well.

Take time

• Build bridges that are sustainable and will stand the test of time. Remember, the foundation is critical, and in the church, the foundation is relationships. It’s a natural tendency for pastors to cocoon themselves during these times. But embrace the long-lost gift of hospitality!
• However, if you have any negative residue from your previous ministry, you may tend to be guarded and have a hard time being open and transparent. If this is the case, perhaps one of the best things you can do is spend a week at a retreat centre – such as Kerith Creek – to help heal some of the wounds of pastoral ministry.

I heard a quote several years ago, which I’ve used repeatedly: “This is not a crowd to be pleased but a family to be loved.” And that is what Jesus did. Matthew 9:35-38 says, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’ ”

The church isn’t bricks, wood and mortar; it’s people. God loves His people, and, for a time, we have the honour of leading them with a servant’s heart.


Randy MacDonald is the director of church and community relations at Focus on the Family Canada.

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