What is a Transitional Pastor?

The other day, I posted an announcement about serving at Bloomingdale Friends church for the remainder of 2017 as their Transitional Pastor. I want to follow that up by writing a little about what a transitional pastor is (and isn’t).

If you really want to dig into what the position entails, Dan Garland wrote a great article several years back for Deacon Magazine.

In a nutshell, a transitional pastors role is to ensure that the congregation is as healthy as possible before calling their next pastor. This is a step beyond the traditional interim role, that typically provides regular pulpit supply week to week, while the church leadership conducts their search. The transitional pastor also interacts with church leadership during their search process to help identify any “blind spots” as they prepare for staff change. It may be helping the church to identify their current identity and calling as they move forward in helping to build the Kingdom. It may even involve helping the congregation to streamline their ministries and programs, looking at the “why behind the what”

It will be an adventure. But following God always is.

 

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