How I get Started with a New Congregation: Priorities for the First Day, Week, Month – Transcript

Jim Latimer: Welcome to Coaching for Interims. We are about empowerment for interim ministers: best practices and quick help from interims for interims – wisdom from the field. My name is Reverend Jim Latimer, and today I have the pleasure of speaking with Reverend Henry Schoenfield. Henry is a professional certified coach as well as a trained spiritual director and a talented interim minister. Henry, what would you like to speak to us about in this segment?

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): In this segment we’re talking about the first things – getting started in an interim ministry setting. The thing that I find the most helpful for getting started is just getting to know people, getting to know as many people as possible, because congregations hold stories. They hold stories about themselves. They hold stories about the world. Often these stories are multifaceted. So I like to lean into the desire to build relationships as a way of getting to know the story that everybody shares. And sometimes in those stories, we’re going to find out where the history is in the congregation that needs to be addressed. Sometimes we’re going to find out the history in the town, or in the community. We might be able to hear into a beginning sense of how God has been moving through them, and is moving through them now.

Jim Latimer: So how do you do that? How do you get to know people? What’s your method?

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): I don’t know of any other way than just picking up the phone. Of course we’re speaking now in the middle, or towards the end of, the pandemic. That’s part of the context of this. In my current interim assignment I haven’t been able to meet with a lot of folks yet. Outside of Covid, I would just want to have a big meeting after church, and have a time to start getting to know folks, but outside of that, call people, email them.
Go to visit folks, whether it’s people in the congregation, other spiritual leaders in the community, other community leaders, etc. It’s about building relationships from the very beginning. Ultimately, every interim I’ve been in so far, there is a point where the work gets hard, and whether that’s because there’s some conflict to deal with, or whether that’s because of some expectations to deal with, lots of possibilities. But the thing is, if we have a relationship built up front then we’re going to have a lot more “capital” in those times when when it’s actually quite challenging.

Jim Latimer: So “capital” meaning there is some trust, right? Credibility or whatever other word…

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): Right. Without that, trying to get through a hard time constructively is really difficult. It may be impossible.

Jim Latimer: Good! So building relationships, as soon as possible – right up front – and in pandemic times we have fewer options – but the phone is always there. Zoom is always there. There are lots of things that we can do. Email is always there. But without having built relationships….

What’s another thing for how you get started engaged with a new interim?

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): I also like to learn about the history, and not just of the congregation, but of the community, and the relationship between the congregation and the community. I keep thinking about one of my mentors who said, “History is for those who come in late.” And I guarantee you, when in an interim call, we’re the ones who come in late. So, get to know as much history as you can. And there again, we’re really talking about stories. And the thing about getting to know stories: it’s not just getting to know the facts. In fact, we may not hear a lot of facts in the stories, but one of the things that’s going to do is it’s going to give us a clue about how the congregation holds the facts. That’s the story that people tell about the stories, which is as important as the stories themselves.

Jim Latimer: The stories people tell about their stories – an insightful concept. So, relationships – learning about the history – both the congregation and the community and their relationship. You go out and meet people in the community that aren’t part of the congregation, but yet share a context, a relationship with the congregation. Is there anything else that’s top of mind for you that you do in your early days of getting connected with a new interim congregation?

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): I think that’s the bulk of it. The other thing is to just show up, which I hope goes without saying.

Jim Latimer: What do you mean by that? How do you know you’re showing up?

Henry Schoenfield (he/him): How do I know when I’m showing up? Good question. I know that I’m showing up when I’m there. Or when I’m on calls that people don’t expect me to be on. When I’m in places that people don’t necessarily expect me to be; when they can see that I’m invested in who they are even in ways that they may not expect. So I suppose the way that I know that I’m showing up is by people’s response: “Oh! You’re here! Thank you for coming.”
That sort of thing. But really to be able to be present is, again, about building trust.

There’s a pattern to a lot of interim ministry. People have to be able to trust us. If they don’t trust, their anxiety isn’t going to be managed enough to go through the process. They’re not going to look at the things that they don’t want to look at. They’re not going to be able to move from where they are now to the next place if they’re not trusting us as their leader. So all of this stuff is about building trust.

Jim Latimer: And as fast as possible, because time is limited. It really comes down to that. That’s great! Thank you, Henry. That was rich. I loved all of it, and especially the last part about showing up, and people know that you’re showing up when they experience you as investing in them.

Thanks again, Henry. It’s been a joy to hear your wisdom and to see you again.

Henry Schoenfield (he/him):Thank you.

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