Managing the relationship with former pastors of the church in such a way that enhances the ministry of the next settled pastor

Posted in Church Growth & Vitality, Conflict Management, Entering and Engaging the Congregation, External Relations, Pastoral Care, Staff Tagged with

16 min 58 s

Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz & Rev. Todd Weir

It’s about more than boundaries…

Having a pastoral conversation about moving on – framing the conversation as about their own life and ministry;

Who are you now? Who do you need to be? How are you going to be in a way that serves the church, and this next pastor?

Helping them to relate to the congregation in a new way and have a new story;

And about grief – about letting go of the host of emotions that get tangled up in us when we’ve served a beloved community for a long period of time.

Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz
Rev. Peter Ilgenfritz

Peter Ilgenfritz is the interim pastor at First Congregational Church in Littleton, New Hampshire.  He serves on the Program Advisory Board of the BTS (Bangor Theological Seminary) Center in Portland Maine and through the BTS Center will be co-facilitating a year-long course with leadership at 5 small churches in northern New England. He is also the convener of the Interim Minister Support Group for the New Hampshire Conference of the UCC. You can often find Peter out on the trails wandering, hiking, biking and skiing in the North Country.

Previously, he served as Interim Minister at the Congregational Church UCC of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, for two years concluding in 2022. Before that, he was pastor and member of the leadership staff team at University Congregational UCC in Seattle from 1994-2018.  He concluded his ministry of almost 25 years to follow a call to support and empower communities and individuals in times of transition and change.  

Peter’s call to the ministry of transformation was born in his experience of learning how to sail seven years ago in a little tippy boat on Lake Union in downtown Seattle.  He brings his curiosity, love of life and the opportunity and challenge of stepping away from the familiar into deeper wonder and joy to his ministry of Navigating Through Change. Https//:www.navigatingthroughchange.com.  His memoir about his experience learning to sail, Testing the Wind, is available from Coffeehouse Press.

Read the Transcript
Listen to Podbean