Category: Assessments and Evaluations

Posted in Assessments and Evaluations, Change Management, Church Growth & Vitality, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Governance, Leadership Development, Managing Expectations, Team Building Tagged with

18 min 49 s

Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz & Rev. Todd Weir

How church leaders learned to see the bigger picture – from the balcony rather than just the dance floor;

Equipping lay leaders to be able to lead collaboratively with the next settled pastor…

Tips for the interim minister when following a strong successful settled pastorate (it’s not as easy as it sounds);

How to effect change at the cultural level, not just the program level – with examples;

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Posted in Assessments and Evaluations, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Leadership Development, Staff Tagged with

18 min 50 s

Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz & Rev. Todd Weir

Some specific examples of nurturing & empowering the staff during the interim time;

Implementing a staff evaluation process during the interim time – some specifics;

How having a staff evaluation process in place is so helpful to the next settled pastor;

Questions to ask to help staff thrive;

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Posted in Assessments and Evaluations, Buildings and Property, Change Management, Church Decline, Church Growth & Vitality, External Relations, Faith Formation, Healing / Grief Work, Legacy Churches / Church Closing, Managing Expectations, Mission and Vision, Stewardship Tagged with

16 min 07 s

Rev. Dr. Rochelle (Shelly) Stackhouse

  • Does your church have more property than it needs? Is much of your building unused most of the time? If so, you have lots of company! Many churches have significant real estate that’s fallow – unused – and yet they continue to pay for its upkeep. Of course, no one likes this situation or planned for this reality, yet churches often have difficulty moving forward. Put differently, churches often struggle to incorporate their property into a realistic understanding of their current mission and purpose as a faith community. Rev. Dr. Shelly Stackhouse, a long-experienced interim minister and now the Senior Director of Programs for the non-profit, “Partners for Sacred Places,” offers some key questions and a process to help such churches move forward in this episode titled, “Your Church Property Has a Mission Too.”

Does Your Church Have a Mission Statement for Its Property?

Interim ministers have the opportunity (obligation?) to help a congregation begin to assess their situation with their property;

  • How is our property being used?
  • How often?
  • Who’s using it?
  • What spaces could be used more fully?
  • What property should we offload? How and to whom?

Developing a mission statement for your property;

Understanding property as part of your mission – start by going room to room…

There are people in the wider community who are stakeholders in your property;

Honoring the grief in letting go of unused property;

It’s in the telling of stories that people come to feel the past has been honored, and then are open to a different future;

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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;
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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 28s

As fewer congregations are able to afford a full-time trained Interim Minister, working with an Interim Consultant on a part-time basis is proving to be an effective way that congregations in transition can have access to the change leadership skills and knowledge so valuable during such times. In this second of two podcasts about the emerging role of the Interim Consultant, Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver shares from her direct experience serving in this role in this episode titled, “What Does An Interim Consultant Do, and How Do They Go About It?”

How an Interim Consultant (IC) does their work;

How might an IC work with the leadership of the congregation?

When & how does an IC typically begin working with a congregation? With its Transition Team and/or Pastor Search Team?

Some of the tools the IC may use to guide their work with the congregation: Church Profile, History exercises, Appreciative Inquiry, etc.

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