Staying Sane While Serving a High Maintenance Congregation
10 min 20 s
Rev. Dr. Jill H. Small
- How the pastor / physician analogy can help
- How I deal with ultimatums and criticisms from parishioners
Category: Boundaries
Getting Started With a New Interim Job: My 30 / 60 / 90 day plan
9 min 45 s
Rev. Philomena Hare
- Getting to know the congregation is not just during my first 30 days
- Why setting good boundaries at the start is so important
- How I give feedback to the congregation
- Why I write monthly reports
Discerning a Call to an Interim Position
8 min 34 s
Rev. Philomena Hare
- Getting clarity that interim ministry is for you – questions to ask yourself
- Beware trying to discern in isolation
- Why having a community of practice is so important
Managing Difficult Staff Relationships
9 min 17 s
Rev. Philomena Hare
- Don’t shy away from conflict, but….
- Is it ok to have staff changes during the interim time?
- Congregations usually know there is a problem, but…
- Why staff performance evaluations are so important
Walking into Staff Conflict Unawares
10 min 04 s
Rev. Lynn Carman Bodden
- Managing staff conflict
- Seeing the pattern of conflict within the system
- Asking questions they might not think to ask
- Complexities of multi-staff congregations
- Getting clarity about your role vis-à-vis other staff
Bi-vocation ministry: How might it work?
14 min 15 s
Rev. Quentin Chin
- Thinking about what else I can do as a bi-vocational pastor
- What is the congregation’s obligation to the pastor in terms of fair pay?
- Setting healthy boundaries for time worked as a bi-vocational pastor
- Get agreement on expectations ahead of time
Thinking realistically about part-time ministry
10 min 58 s
Rev. Quentin Chin
- Helping the congregation think realistically about part-time ministry
- Reframing part-time ministry from loss to gain
- Ideas for how to lead Confirmation, preaching, etc., in new ways
- Is attending church suppers considered “work” for the pastor? If so, how to negotiate that
What Can Churches Share Besides a Pastor?
13 min 28 s
Rev. Gail Irwin
- Non-threatening ways to help a congregation declining in numbers begin to think about sharing a pastor (or their building) with another congregation;
- Using your position as the interim minister to investigate the wider community on behalf of the cong.
- Good questions an entering interim minister can ask to help a congregation declining in numbers gain a positive mindset;
Church Bullies: Taking the Person more Seriously than the Behavior
11 min 59 s
Rev. Pegi Ridout
- Why understanding and managing bullying behavior effectively is so critical to the health of a congregation;
- Pegi’s 3 types of church bullies (Canaries, Porcupines, Skunks)
- Strategies for dealing with each type of bully;
- Some bullies have an important message for the congregation;
Managing Staff Challenges with Confidence during the Interim Time
10 min 19 s
Rev. Holly MillerShank
- Some routine things the interim minister can do to create containers for the challenging staff conversations that will likely come;
- The plusses and minuses of having a staff person report to a committee versus reporting to an individual person;
- Recommended staff practices to put in place as the Interim;
- Some difficult conversations that interims need to have with staff;
- Tips for teambuilding among the staff;
- Creating accountability relationships with staff;