{"id":3032,"date":"2025-09-22T11:33:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T01:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/?p=3032"},"modified":"2025-09-22T11:34:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T01:34:00","slug":"calling-a-new-pastor-12-issues-to-consider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/2025\/09\/22\/calling-a-new-pastor-12-issues-to-consider\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling a New Pastor: 12 Issues to Consider"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Imagine! As a member of your church\u2019s governance board you\u2019ve been appointed chair of the Search Committee for a new senior pastor. The current senior pastor leaves in 6 months to take a new call. Under their ministry, over the last 12 years the church has doubled in size to average currently 280 adult worship attenders. Two years ago the church added an associate pastor to oversee pastoral care and develop the church\u2019s small group ministry. In addition there\u2019s a full time employed receptionist\/administrative assistant. \u00a0How do you go about this challenging task?<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>12 Sets of Questions for the Search Committee to Consider<\/strong><\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>What level of <strong>prayer support<\/strong> has been engaged for this Committee? What else is needed? How should communication flow between the Committee and intercessors?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>Have you considered an <strong>intentional interim pastor<\/strong> instead of a permanent placement? When a long serving (10 years plus) senior pastor leaves, usually the next senior pastor has a more negative, short term ministry experience. Also, an intentional interim is particularly helpful when there\u2019s been a conflict\/crisis (eg. church split, death of the pastor\u2019s spouse, loss of missional direction or staff conflict) during the current senior pastor\u2019s incumbency. A trained and skilled intentional interim can facilitate healing and help refocus the church\u2019s direction. If you feel an intentional interim is the better option for your church, at this point in time, I suggest you give only brief consideration to questions 3-12 below and present a report with your recommendation to your church\u2019s governance board.<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>What is the <strong>church\u2019s missional DNA<\/strong>? Missional DNA comprises a church\u2019s:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Foundational Purpose &#8211; Its reason for existing eg. to love (God and people) and evangelism;<\/li>\n \n<li>Basic Beliefs &#8211;\u00a0 4-7 \u2013 not just doctrinal beliefs, but also communal and cultural beliefs eg. people can change;<\/li>\n \n<li>Core Values &#8211; 4-7 essential principles that generate a sense of emotional commitment and inform your missional direction &#8211; the \u2018what matters most\u2019 of your Christian community;<br \/><br \/>(Why no more than 7 beliefs and values? Because people won\u2019t remember them.)<\/li>\n \n<li>Motivational Vision \u2013 A vision is a picture of your church\u2019s preferred future. (While the vision must be owned and adopted by the governance board and supported by the leadership ministry team the core of a vision is given by God to individual leaders<br \/><br \/>\u2013 eg. Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah, Peter, Paul. The senior pastor therefore as the church\u2019s missional and pastoral leader should discern the core of the vision and needs to cast the vision via their preaching, teaching, leadership, personal example and pastoral conversations. A church\u2019s vision is like a long-term goal, usually for 5-10 years into the future<em>.<\/em>)<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n \n<li>Develop a summary of your <strong>church\u2019s history<\/strong> &#8211; why, when and how was your church started? What have been the key events, programs and attendance growth pattern between now and then?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>Where would you place your church on the following <strong>biblical, theological and liturgical polarities<\/strong> and why?:<br \/><br \/>conservative\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026&#8230;\u2026\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.\u2026\u2026.liberal traditional\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..\u2026.contemporary informal\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 liturgical<br \/><br \/>To what extent does your church\u2019s position on the above polarities affect its ability to achieve its vision? Also what implications does that have for the new pastor you would call?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>How would you describe your <strong>church\u2019s<\/strong> <strong>local mission zone<\/strong>&#8211; (<em>i<\/em>.e. the geographic and ethnographic community in which your church is located and from which at least 80% of your current active members come)?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>As vision is usually 5-10 years, does the vision under the <strong>leadership of the current senior pastor<\/strong> still continue, or is a new vision needed for the future?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>If the current vision is not yet fulfilled how will the <strong>role description<\/strong> of the new senior pastor relate to the next phase needed for the church\u2019s life and mission?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>If a new vision is needed what <strong>type of leadership<\/strong> does your church need from the new senior pastor?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>How will the new <strong>senior pastor\u2019s role relate<\/strong> to the governance board, staff and lay leaders?<br \/><br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>How would you <strong>recruit a new senior pastor<\/strong> \u2013 from within the local church? (This has the advantage of internal suitable candidates being already committed to the church\u2019s missional DNA and also they know the church \u2013 its members, leaders, systems and culture) or external? (External offers more chance of finding someone with the appropriate gifts and experience<em>.<\/em>)<br \/><\/li>\n \n<li>If external, how will you <strong>find an appropriate candidate<\/strong>?\n<ul>\n<li>From denominational policy\/ networks,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Via Christian media advertising<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Through referrals \u2013 eg. from coaches, mentors, professional supervisors, suggestions of current members?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>By advertising in secular media,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Other? (<em>Please list<\/em>.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Finally\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once the Search Committee believes it has adequately answered the above questions take your proposal to the governance board for approval. Once approval has been given by the board, depending on denominational and\/or local church polity, a final decision may need to be referred to the denomination and\/or a members meeting. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note \u2013 I have not addressed the issue of an appropriate remuneration package for the future senior pastor. In some churches, that is a matter of denominational polity. In others it is decided by the governance board and may be subject to negotiation with the successful applicant. You may also wish to recommend having a crossover period whereby the current senior pastor and the incoming senior pastor work together to facilitate the transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/graham-beattie\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Graham Beattie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want some free leadership tools check out our site <a href=\"https:\/\/www.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leadership succession in a church is a critical factor for success. Graham Beattie offers 12 tips on getting this right to avoid a world of unnecessary pain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21,96],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-change-management","category-culture-organisational","category-succession-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3032"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3059,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3032\/revisions\/3059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.australiancoachingcollective.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}