Cultivating Connections & Support as an Interim Minister – Transcript

Jim Latimer
Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministers: best practices and quick help from interims for interims – wisdom from the field. I am your host Reverend Jim Latimer. Today I had the pleasure of having with me the Reverend Lynn Carman Bodden. Lynn is a long experienced interim with lots of experience and she is very articulate about that experience. So I’m delighted that she is with us today. Lynn, what would you like to speak to us about in this segment?

Lynn Carman Bodden
So what I thought I’d talk to you about today, Jim, is about cultivating connections for support. I have always found it extremely helpful to have connections with other people who do this ministry. Maybe some of the people who are listening have had the experience that I do, where people will say things to me like, “So how long are you going to be an ‘intern?'”

Jim Latimer
Intern! Right!

Lynn Carman Bodden
“Are you gonna get a real job?” And to have people who understand this work that I do, that you do, that others do, is just a blessing. And so in most of the places I’ve lived, I’ve tried to be a part of a group of interims, whether they were in my denomination, the United Church of Christ, or whether it was across denominational lines. And if people are ever interested in trying to start a group like that, and are part of the Interim Network, it is very easy to call the office and have them send you a list of all of the people who are in your zip code.

Jim Latimer
Interim Ministry Network, specifically….

Lynn Carman Bodden
Right. So that you can start start a group if you haven’t got a group in your area. Or they can let you know about groups that may exist. And of course, now there are support groups online and people can partake of those online. But I find that it is just a good place to debrief situations that are happening. It can be a very helpful place. If you’re a trained interim, it’s a good place to invite people in who may not have had training in hopes of offering them some things that might rub off by sharing that from other groups to enhance our practice together. Because we know of people who do this work who are not always skilled and can give the rest of us a bad name. And it’s a good way to be reminded of the universality of what happens in different congregations. And across denominational lines too, and even interfaith lines if you’re lucky enough to be in an area that somebody wants to participate who is a trained interim – a trained Rabbi or a trained minister in the Unitarian Universalist Association. And it’s another way to let people who serve at the judicatory level know that their people are plugged into a system.

Jim Latimer
One of the things that caught my attention at the very beginning of this is your specifically staying, Lynn, this isn’t a clergy group, per se. It’s with others doing interim ministry specifically. Right?

Lynn Carman Bodden
Right. It’s specific to interims. And one of the challenges that can exist in a group like this, that I have experienced that others in my group have experienced, is sometimes you may be in a group with the person who was there before you and who is now doing interim work. And that can change the conversation – the way that you talk about the situation. Because sometimes this work is debriefing about what happened with the person who was there before you in the life of the congregation you are now serving. And sometimes you may actually have a successor be in the group with you depending how long you are in an area. I lived in one area for 17 years, so that’s why some of that happened to me. So I do want to put that out on the table.

Jim Latimer
Of course.

Lynn Carman Bodden
And also in terms of cultivating connections and support, I always like to share with people what our colleague, Bill Peterson, who is United Church of Christ and no longer serving, always used to say in terms of support, was that every good interim needs a good doctor, a good therapist, and a good spiritual director. And I haven’t always had all three at the same time. But it is helpful to have that kind of support. Because there can be real difficult moments in this ministry, and it can feel very lonely. And it can be very taxing on us – body, mind and soul. And so having that resource is important.

Jim Latimer
A good doctor, a good therapist, and a good spiritual director. Nice. Yes.

Lynn Carman Bodden
And another that I share is that I am also a mentor coach with other interims. I try to share that with them. And I think especially the ability of a group to grant us perspective on what we do, and to give us ideas how to work through it. It may be that our colleagues been been there, as it were, where we are now. And also to have a safe place to share our concerns about the work that we’re doing. Sometimes apart from our denominational representatives.

Jim Latimer
What I’m hearing you say, Lynn, is that to do this work well and to be on our game, and to be clear headed – is what I’m hearing from you – we need a safe place where we can share with people who will hold our stories. In our own thinking, just by ourselves, we can do some things, but we won’t serve the congregation as well. Our thoughts won’t develop as much if we don’t process them with others in a confidential way. I said a lot more than you said, but that’s what I heard.

Lynn Carman Bodden
Exactly! That’s good. And it’s good that you shared it with us. And that’s how this works. It’s an organic thing that when two or more gathered, you know, good things can come out of it.

Jim Latimer
Oh my! Even biblical! Nice. Okay, Lynn, that’s great. And I love how the support is with peers, specifically other interim ministry peers. And then also those who are in different professions than our profession – spiritual directors, doctors, therapists, perhaps coaches and things like that.

Lynn Carman Bodden
Yep.

Jim Latimer
Wonderful. Thank you very much, Lynn.

Lynn Carman Bodden
Thank you for asking.

More Bits Of Wisdom from Rev. Lynn Carman Bodden
< < < Back to Rev. Lynn Carman Bodden’s Biography