What Is an Interim Consultant and How Might One Help Us?

Posted in Assessments and Evaluations, Change Management, Church Decline, Church Growth & Vitality, Coaching and Counseling, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Leadership Development, Search Committees Tagged with

12 min 09s

Increasingly, congregations find themselves in a transition period – often when a pastor has left – and struggling to find someone with the change leadership skills and knowledge who can help them move forward. This is particularly true for congregations with diminishing resources. Trained Interim Ministers are in short supply and are often already working elsewhere. To this need, a new role is emerging, that of the Interim Consultant. An Interim Consultant has the necessary change leadership skills and can often serve several congregations at once on a part-time basis, therefore making this resource more available and affordable.

In this episode, titled, “What Is an Interim Consultant and How Might One Help Us?,” experienced Interim Consultant, Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver, shares valuable insight from her direct experience.

Interim Consultant (IC) is a way of working with churches in transition without their being the Interim Minister of the church.

The work of congregational leadership has several components:

  • the transitional work itself,
  • the pastoral leadership, and
  • the administrative leadership.

Lay leadership must be involved with the transitional work for there to be ownership of outcomes.

3 basic models for a congregation to work with an Interim Consultant –

  1. Cong. can’t afford a full-time trained (Intentional) Interim Minister;
  2. Supplement the work of the existing IM who doesn’t have the needed transitional leadership skills;
  3. Current pastor is retiring and cong. wants to get started with the transitional work before current pastor leaves;

Rev. Dr. Ruth E. Shaver is an Intentional Interim and Transitional Ministry Specialist in the United Church of Christ. In that role, she has served four congregations as Intentional Interim Pastor, most recently the newly formed Covenant Partnership of Lakeville United Church of Christ in Lakeville, Massachusetts, and North Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Shaver is an Interim Consultant in the Southeast Region of the Southern New England Conference, a role that is developing as the need for such consultants grows. She is also the Moderator of the Old Colony Association.

Shaver is the Academic Dean of PATHWAYS Theological Education, Inc. (www.pathwaystheological.org), a non-seminary education program for lay leaders, candidates for ministry, and clergy seeking continuing education. PATHWAYS is the online education partner for PROJECT PROCLAIM, an innovative preaching program of the Southern New England Conference developed as part of the Lilly Foundation’s Compelling Preaching Grant.

Rev. Dr. Shaver is a faculty member of the Interim Ministry Network and serves as a member of the Manual on Local Church rollout team for the United Church of Christ. She is a past Fellow of Sinai and Synapses (2017-2019 cohort). She holds a Doctor of Ministry (I Wonder: Scientific Exploration and Experimentation as a Practice of Christian Faith) from Lancaster Theological Seminary, a Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Soviet and East European Studies from Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies (then in the College of Liberal Arts). Shaver resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where she roots for Boston sports teams, cooks, reads, and enjoys every opportunity to visit museums and go kayaking with friends.

For questions about interim ministry, you can reach her at revdrruthucc@icor1348.com.

For questions about PATHWAYS, RuthShaver@PATHWAYSTheological.org.

You can also call or text her at (814) 206-8192.

For more information about PROJECT PROCLAIM, please visit https://www.sneucc.org/projectproclaim.

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