Category: Finishing and Exiting

Posted in Change Management, Contracting and Negotiating Before Beginning, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Finishing and Exiting, Managing Expectations, Mission and Vision, Team Building Tagged with

10 min 49 s

Rev. Erica Avena

  • It begins with your first interview with them
  • What to ask in your first interview
  • How I form and use a transition team
  • How soon to define the goals of the interim period
  • How I get buy-in from the congregation on the goals of the interim period
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Posted in Assessments and Evaluations, Change Management, Finishing and Exiting, Legacy Churches / Church Closing, Mission and Vision Tagged with

09 min 54 s

Rev. Dr. Jonathan New

  • What is “faithfulness” for a church?
  • How a congregation’s notion of faithfulness affects the interim experience
  • Telltale signs that a church is coming to its end (It’s not always obvious)
  • Helping a congregation to faithfully think through a “threshold” point where closure is a real possibility
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Posted in Contracting and Negotiating Before Beginning, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Finishing and Exiting, Self-Care Tagged with

10 min 41 s

Rev. Arlen Vernava

Joining stands on the shoulders of farewell;

The nature of your last farewell will hugely influence how you join your next community of faith;

Joining has 5 practices:

  • Giving thanks
  • Celebration
  • Forgiving
  • Making friends
  • Blessing (both affirming & challenging);

Joining is about sharing your heart and receiving theirs.

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Posted in Boundaries, Church Decline, Contracting and Negotiating Before Beginning, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, Finishing and Exiting, Leadership Development, Self-Care, Team Building, Volunteers Tagged with

15 min 06 s

Rev. Heidi Johnston

As an Interim Minister, have you ever wondered about the rest of the story? You know – feedback about the impact of your ministry on the congregation after you left? In this episode, settled ELCA pastor, Rev. Heidi Johnston, expresses her gratitude to the Intentional Interim Minister who preceded her, including specifics of how the IM set her up for success.

Particular things IM did to set me up for success –

The IM expressed clear boundaries about the number of hours/week she would work & equipped laity to negotiate the use of pastoral time and energy – focusing and prioritizing;

IM didn’t work beyond her stated limit of working hours when temped to do so – and helped the congregation understand why and adapt;

Two, she led leadership through honest sometimes hard conversations about their current reality – and its implications for calling next pastor;

IM presented new limitations as opportunities, not losses, which led to a new joy in opportunities for more hands-on ministry for lay people.

Three – The transition conversations nudged people beyond all the ways the past was more abundant – celebrate the wonderful things of the past, and also name past hurts and conflicts – helped me not to get blindsided by issues the congregation may be sweeping under the rug.

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