12min 41 s
As pastor, does it sometimes feel like everyone in the congregation is your boss? Are you struggling to get back more time for yourself and feeling pretty exhausted? If so, you are not alone. Listen here as Rev. Anna Tew tells how she recovered from such a place by using the flexibility of pastoral ministry to her advantage.
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11min 29 s
As a pastor, having a part-time secular job on the side can bring added joy and satisfaction to your life. It can also provide an economic buffer in a changing church world. But where to start looking? What skills does a pastor have that would be valued in a secular job? In this episode, ELCA pastor Rev. Anna Tew tells how she came into a part-time coaching job at her CrossFit gym that is blessing her, and them, on multiple fronts!
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15 min 06 s
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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12 min 07s
Book came out of my experiments, failures & successes of a more laid-back approach to ministry;
Laidback means pastoring from the sidelines rather than from center court.
My Aha! moment after season of being burned out came when I wasn’t insisting on being in the center of everything & the church was still doing just fine;
I know I’ve done well equipping them when they own the ideas, not saying “Pastor Liz said we should…” As a transition pastor, key to be able to very quickly say: This is who I am. This is what you will experience working with me.
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For a pastor who admits having been burned out early in ministry, embracing the bonfire metaphor for her ministry now seems dicey. Yet, Rev. Liz Miller offers this bonfire metaphor to describe a vibrant new stance and perspective for her ministry where she’s close to the heat of things, but no longer consumed by it; paying full attention, yet not holding tightly to particular outcomes. Listen to her lessons learned and new wisdom in this episode titled, “Moving from Burnout to Bonfire.”
For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.
I moved from burnout in ministry 5 years in, to bonfire now – bonfires require constant tending, yet don’t want to over tend; find a rhythm that works;
And for me that’s what ministry feels like in the local church, keeping a close enough eye on things that you are connected and can respond when something needs you, but not being so close to it that you’re totally consumed and absorbed by what’s happening that you can’t respond when there’s a change.
Yet, it’s not about balance, per se; it’s more about having an awareness, a willingness to be off kilter a little bit and to just accept that you have to come and go and move in and move out as needed.
Laidback is very different from not paying attention. You are paying attention very much in the moment, yet laidback in the sense of not holding on tightly to a particular outcome;
The laidback approach is about being more attuned to the people and their gifts and their possibilities, rather than being attuned to expectations of a certain outcomes.
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12 min 28s
I’ve come to realize that transitional ministry in a church in transition feels very similar to a settled position, but it’s a lot more honest about the transitions that are happening there at the forefront, rather than in the background;
Avoid giving in to the sense of urgency by doing too much myself; rather, staying on the sidelines for equipping and empowering people;
A lot of helping the congregation reframe ownership for existing things or new ideas so it’s really coming from them, not just what a pastor said they should do;
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