Ten Ways An Interim Pastor Can Jumpstart The Revitalization Process

Before we can consider the role of the interim pastor in church revitalization, I think I would do well to clarify who these guys are that I’m talking about.

Broadly speaking, there are two categories of interim (or some say, “transitional”) pastorates:

The exploratory or trial interim pastorate is undertaken by an individual who is unsure whether he wants a long-term leadership ministry with the church. Alternatively, some churches are  unsure about whether they want the individual for a long-term ministry and suggest a temporary arrangement. Whoever does the initiating, these pastorates are essentially long-term candidating relationships. While these pastorates have their dangers, I actually initiated this once and it turned out very well.

The intentional or strategic interim pastorate is undertaken by an individual who has no intention of becoming the church’s long-term pastor. (For obvious reasons, please don’t say “permanent pastor,” unless you’re talking about Jesus.) In some cases he signs a limited-term contract (two months or one year, for instance) while in other situations he commits himself to stay until the church has called and is ready to install a new, long-term pastor.

In today’s world, terms such as transition pastor, strategic or intentional interim pastor usually imply some level of intentionality: the pastor comes to town with a strategy, a plan or a process which he has probably used before in previous one to three-year interim adventures.

Your author completed 8 of these, lasting from 8 months to 35 months in duration. Most of them required significant relocation. They each ended well and left us thanking God with overwhelming gratitude for His grace.

I’m afraid I have to mention that there is also such a thing as an unintentional interim pastorate, which sometimes occurs when a would-be long-term pastor follows a “beloved pastor,” who served the church in an exemplary manner for many years.

In any case, an interim pastor is a real pastor, he’s not just a guest preacher – though some believers refer to anyone who delivers a sermon to their congregation as an “interim pastor.”

Actual interim pastors, whether intentional or not, whether full time or part time, should be paid well and treated with respect. A gentleman who attended our second interim congregation, who seemed to think  I was a pretty good preacher, told me that I could be “a real pastor.”

Among intentional or strategic interim pastorates there exists a continuum from those who, at one end of the spectrum, merely preach sermons and perform pastoral care, to those who, at the other end of the spectrum, work extremely hard at refreshing, repairing or redeveloping the church.

That brings us to an old debate: How far can an interim pastor take a dying church into a revitalization process?

My views on this – based on Scripture, other people’s stories and my own experiences – were considered radical 23 years ago; these days I’m not getting much argument on the subject.

In fact, 20 years ago a denominational leader told me that “The only thing an interim pastor can do is to give a church a good slap in the face.” Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Here’s the gist of what I’m saying: At the very least, a good, intentional interim pastor can jumpstart the revitalization process. He may not be able to stay for the entire turnaround, but he can get the turnaround under way.

Some say that it takes as many years for a church turnaround as it takes miles for an aircraft carrier’s U-turn: 7.

Others say the revitalization pastor should think in terms of 10 years.

But God did an awful lot of revitalization through a reluctant prophet in an evil city in 40 days.

So, at the very least, however long the complete U-turn is going to take, the interim pastor can get the process under way.

BTW: Here’s who I’m writing this for: current interim pastors, potential interim pastors, churches which are soon to be in need of interim pastors and denominational leaders who are not quite sure how much interim pastors can help them.

So, in summary form, here are 10 ways the interim pastor can get the process started:  

1. Demonstrate the kind of acceptance and appreciation for the “survivors” who are still with the church that they perhaps have not had for a long time, but need to experience before they are willing to follow a shepherd again.
2. Exude hope, constantly, in his conversations, prayers, lessons, sermons, presentations, assessment…I’ll say it again, “God can make this church a really great church!”¹
3. Conduct an assessment process that leads to a confrontation of the congregation with their church’s actual condition. This process will take from 1 to 3 months and will be used in the interim pastor’s ministry and will be a great gift for the church’s new, long-term pastor.
4. Teach the congregation what a heaven-sent revitalization could and should look like.
5. Model and teach concerted, passionate, church-revitalization prayer. There is nothing more important for the declining church to passionately pray the right kind of prayers.
6. Teach and preach God’s word carefully, boldly, personally and powerfully, while expecting God’s Spirit to use His Word in the transformation of the discouraged, disheartened congregation.
7. Lead the church through a prayerful, Scripture-based, strategic planning adventure. You don’t need a sophisticated system run by a sophisticated consultant. What you seriously need is serious prayer (especially!), serious Bible study and serious, honest conversation that involves much more time than one, rushed, pizza-encrusted weekend.
8. Carefully but bravely address the church’s relational, structural and procedural problems. If it “ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But you can bet that some things are “broke” and in need of being fixed.
9. Boldly confront serious organizational dysfunction and seriously problematic members. The interim pastor is the perfect candidate to face down bullies, perpetual victims and fraudulent share-holders (who think they own the church).
10. Help the church to find and call a great new long-term pastor. Coaching the pastoral search team might be one of the best and most enjoyable things which the interim pastor does.

Want to discuss any of this with me?  I’d be happy to start the dialogue at churchwhisperer@gmail.com.

Want more detail on any of this?  See my 20 posts on the subject of interim ministry on my blog: https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/category/interim-pastoring/, my 267 posts on church health and revitalization on my blog: https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/category/church-health-revitalization/, or my book on interim pastorates: REDEVELOPMENT: Transitional Pastorates That Transform Churches, or my book on church revitalization: The Revitalization Playbook.  Find them both at: https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/books/

¹I said this so many times in interim congregations that I wrote a book, ideal for small groups or classes, called A Really Great Church! Find it on  https://helpingchurchesthrive.com/books/