Scripture clearly indicates that no pastor – except Jesus – is a “permanent pastor.” As many have put it, “every pastor is an interim pastor.” Jesus went to great lengths – throughout the gospels but especially in the “Upper Room Discourse” of John 13-17 – to warn his leaders-in-training that He would be leaving them suddenly, but they would be okay. In fact, His departure would make way for the Holy Spirit to actually indwell them and multiply the Kingdom building work which Jesus began during His earthly ministry.
Subsequently, the Apostle Paul taught the church at Corinth (I Corinthians 1-4) that God sovereignly, providentially, moves pastors in and out of churches for His own good purposes. In many cases God moves pastors on because their unique part of Jesus’ Kingdom program has been fulfilled by them in a particular location.
So we need not be shocked when we experience the “coming and going” of our pastors.
Use this worksheet to create a “crisis succession plan” to use should your pastor – for whatever reason – suddenly become unable to do his ministry.
(1) Who will be the emergency, outside contact person? Is there a nearby pastor who would do this? (Some call this a CPR – a Critical Pastoral Resource.)
(2) How will the most important ministries of the church be “manned”?
(3) Who will the interim leader be (in the church)?
(4) Who will handle communication to the church and/or community regarding the crisis which took the pastor out of the pulpit?
(5) Who has been approached about preaching should the pastor suddenly become available?
(6) Who was the pastor counseling/training/discipling/mentoring and who will contact these people and provide a way forward for them?
(7) Will the church procure an interim pastor and if so, how?
(8) If the church seeks an interim pastor, who will orient him for the task?
(9) Will the church procure a church assessment or a demographic study, prior to hiring the interim pastor?
(10) What does the pastor normally do on a Sunday morning? Do we have these “bases” covered?
(11) Does the church have a well-understood mission that it can continue with in the pastor’s absence?
(12) Does the church have a unified and unifying vision which it will continue to pursue in the pastor’s absence?
(13) Has the congregational leadership done a SWOT analysis of the church within the past year or two? (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
(14) Is the church aware of its strengths?
(15) Does it have an articulated, actual, ministry strategy?
(16) Does the church have an up-to-date list of what the current pastor actually does? (This list should include EVERYTHING the pastor does for the church.)
(17) Does the church have a relevant ministry description which will be presented to the interim pastor?
(18) Is the church aware of its values? (What is of great importance to us as we pursue our mission)?
(19) Is the church clear on what it sees as the bottom-line qualifications for a senior pastor?
(20) Does the church have clearly defined leaders for all ministries?
(21) Who will fulfill each of the current pastor’s duties until an interim pastor arrives?
(22) Who should receive copies of this plan?
