BENEFITS OF AN INTENTIONAL INTERIM
An interim pastor can turn a church with problems into a church ready for progress
Nola Deffenbaugh
January 1, 1993
It was a minister's nightmare. The search committee had said there weren't any serious problems, but before his boxes were unpacked, the interim pastor (my husband, Jerry) learned that thirty people had left the church when the last minister was pressured to leave after serving not quite three years.
Why wasn't the last minister acceptable? The secretary, the custodian, and many others complained to Jerry that Brian didn't leave his study doors open. He had even drawn curtains across the window. What's more, the secretary did not always know where he was. That's just not the way Timothy, their former beloved pastor of twenty-three years, had done things.
The more Jerry heard from the secretary and custodian, the more he realized any minister who was not a mirror reflection of Timothy would have a hard time. These two people slanted everything the new minister did differently as bad. They were disruptive and divisive. The negative climate they created had contributed to Brian's ineffectiveness.
Temporary troubleshooter
Though this scenario is difficult, it's just what a specialized interim minister is trained and called to confront. This in-between-ministers time is proving to be valuable for congregations, not just to give them continuity until a new pastor arrives, but to provide a designated period to resolve problems, evaluate themselves, overcome the grief or anger many feel from losing their last pastor, and to select priorities and goals for the future.
Frequently, in the rush to get a new minister on board, congregations don't take the time to resolve issues. Thus, the new pastor inherits the problems. The intentional interim ministry is changing that.
Just as we're more aware of dysfunctional families in today's world, ...
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