8/17/2010 10:51:35 AM This month I want to reflect on five questions that have been on my mind lately. These questions come out of my ministry context as I serve part time as a Transitional Leader and Coach in a couple of congregations. My responses to the questions are not absolute answers but rather my approach at this point in my journey. I am constantly learning as I go and invite you to join me on that quest for the best practices in transitional situations.
If you would, I would appreciate your response to the questions I'm asking or with questions of your own. Visit the TLN blog listed at the end of this article to comment.
My Five Burning Questions
1. How do I exit well, even if the church I'm working with doesn't have their next pastor in place?
Exiting isn't always a black and white issue. It can be if the search process is complete when you are finished your assignment. If the search process is not quite complete for some reason, the approach I've been taking is to simply re-arrange my relationship to suit their needs.
I've talked to other Transitional Leaders who have passed the baton over to a different kind of Transitional Leader who can give leadership for the next leg of the transitional journey. If a new pastor is coming but just hasn't arrived yet, it may be about finding a way to embed some of the changes that have been made so as not to loose momentum before the pastor gets there.
2. How do I use my influence without pushing the church and its leaders towards my personal preferences and values?
Every one of us has preferences regardless of whether we are inside or outside that church or denomination. We value different things, have style preferences, convictions about the church should be. The principle I follow when serving a congregations I wouldn't necessary choose as my home church is to honor their values and encourage them in God given purpose and unique vision. I may be a seed sower for a future vision whose time has not come but I'm learning to see God at work with the church I see not the church I'd like to see.
Choosing a "coach-like" posture when working with congregations verses a "consultant-like" posture will make a difference. A consultant by definition has "answers" and "plans" where a coach has "questions", "ears to listen" and a "process" to lead that congregation through.
The facilitator hat that we wear as Transitional Leaders also helps us help congregations find clarity around vision and common ground as they make changes and move forward.
Just the other day I sat in a leadership meeting and for the most part, I was able to be an objective voice but I caught myself on one occasion providing a solution that was out in left field. I realized that I was attempting to project my preference on their discussion. They found their way through that difficult conversation I learned again the value of building trust, listening, asking good questions and being very strategic about advice giving.
3. How do I gauge where I am in the transitional journey and make sure I'm on track with the goals of a transition?
The transitional process is often "iterative" which means that steps in the transitional journey may need to be repeated more than once. Closure will look different the first month compared to the sixth or 12th month and may resurface from time to time. You may be able to deal with or work with presenting conflicts one month but a little later the real issue surfaces so you're back into the thick of relationship renewal.
The transitional process is ongoing even after we leave but here's how I would describe how you know if you're getting near the end of your journey. In general terms, if a church has experienced healthy and meaningful closure to the past, is able to relate in love and with respect for one another, is engaged in healthy ways with God, knows fairly clearly who they are and where God is leading them (as much as is possible before they engage their next senior leader) - it would seem to me that you are getting closer to the end of your transitional coaching journey.
4. How do I keep myself motivated to continue "leaning in" to the work of leading, coaching, facilitating their transition when I'm not as enthusiatic as I once was?
Motivation is interesting. I've faced this head on as I have not always been motivated to give myself enthusiatically to a church I've been working with for several months without as much change or progress as I'd like to see.
For starters, I've realized my need to check in with God to see if He still wants you to keep serving in that situation. If there is a clear no, then I'd plan my exit. If it's a yes, like I have with one church I'm still working with after 18 months of partnership, I find energy to serve that congregation and to be honest, I've grown to love these people very much.
I believe that if some job or task or opportunity is what God wants you to do, He'll motivate you to keep going. Now you need to know who you are, what your strengths are and live with realistic expectations but if that is true, Isaiah 40 comes to mind as does Matthew 11. You may be burning the candle at both ends and trying to do too much in too little time - if that's the case, you're not as bright as you think you are.
One other lesson I'm learning is to stay in touch with my emotions (energy in motion). If I live in my head and don't make it a practice to keep in touch with my heart I'll loose my motivation.
5. How do I support the search process without "picking the candidate" that I think is the best fit for the church?
I may be right in knowing that a certain candidate is a good fit but that doesn't give me permission to share that opinion and try to persuade a search committee in their selection. I believe that people need to come to their own conclusions and be empowered to make decisions based on good process and good information. That is what I can bring to the search process not advice on who to pick.
If a church needs help seeing who they are and what type of leader will match their needs and vision, I can hold up a mirror and speak into that in helpful ways. The clearer the leadership and search committee are about who they are, the easier it will be to discern who will match that body with complimentary gifts and strengths
As far as speaking with potential candidates, I think I can serve to help that candidate understand the church so they can look inward to see if they are a good fit for that congregation. One of the gifts I can give the search process is to fan the fire of spiritual and relationship renewal so that healthy dialogue continues between people and there is fostered a healthy listening posture to how God is guiding His church.
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Comments
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Re: Five Burning Questions
Created by A friend
Cam,
You have done a great job and I have learned much from you. I hope you have your “listening ear” on now because there is truth in what Ed is saying. It is a pastor’s role to influence people to God’s way of thinking and God has placed you in a position of influence in our church. Ed has pointed out that you must not overlook your role as our shepherd in this transitional process because even though you are temporary, you are still our pastor and your flock is relying on your education and experience and spirituality to guide us. My question to you is: “How can you coach people who aren’t willing to be coached?” You already know that you can only help people who want to be helped. And “How can you ask good questions of people who will never turn to you for your listening ear or your good advice?” These are people for whom God-given values are not of much importance, so it may be a better idea to point them towards biblical values instead of honoring their own values. It is obvious that you have reached the end of your limits with this congregation, so you need to keep in mind that God did not place you in these circumstances because of your capabilities—He placed you here because of who you are. And it is time for you to exercise the spiritual authority that God has given you and to rely solely on God’s Word to cut through to their hearts and transform them. They know you now and you have built enough trust in them to be able to speak God’s truth into their lives and allow the power of the Holy Spirit to cut through the heavy fog in their minds that is clouding their judgment and keeping them from making God-honoring decisions. It is time for God to take over and do the things that we cannot do and we have to provide the opportunity for Him to do that by being His vessels and “rightly handling the word of truth in times of transition” as Ed has already mentioned.
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Re: Five Burning Questions
Created by A friend
Ed Drewlo,
You are a brilliant man and you have hit the bull’s eye with this one. I serve on the board of one of the congregations Cam is working with and it is amazing how you can see this without even knowing our circumstances. Our church is completely inward focused with no interest in making disciples or being disciples. You are also right that Cam would have to have the credibility to be directive and I can say that I’ve watched him struggle to build that credibility with our members. It’s not because of anything he did, it is actually because he was brought into a situation where trust did not exist. The congregation was already unhappy with the board’s decision to put our church into transition and the decision was made without their input. Since they felt their trust had been betrayed, they were very suspicious of Cam when he was hired by this board to take over and he had to try to build trust with people who have a long-time history of mistrust and broken relationships.
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Re: Five Burning Questions
Created by Ed Drewlo
Cam, thanks for your thoughtful comments on aspects of transitional ministry that we all think about from time to time. With regard to influencing the process, acting as a coach, instead of a consultant, I think you had some very helpful suggestions. However, I think it's important to remember that as transition pastors we are still pastors -- seeking to guide church leaders and staff in relation to good biblical and theological thinking. Too often we resort to mere business management technique rather than guiding by principles from God's Word even though these two aren't necessarily incompatable. I think it's important to establish our credibility as pastoral transitional leaders by rightly handling the Word of truth in times of transition. For example, I think it's important to help leaders see that church ministry vision needs to be related to Christ's or Paul's vision and passion of going to make disciples. Especially in this time when there are so many different ideas on how to do church ministry based on what is happening down the street or on some method that someone has read about, it's important for us to lead with some solid theological thinking about church life and ministry keeping the reality of the current culture also in mind. Yes, we need to listen, but there also is a time when we might find it necessary to be somewhat directive. But we have to have the credibility to do so.
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