Last week I wrote about the conundrum of what to tell a congregation when a staff member has resigned or been dismissed under less-than-ideal conditions. We explored the options of: Full disclosure – Telling a congregation the gory details of the departed staff member’s failures, or No disclosure – Saying nothing publicly about the departure, […]
The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: How Does This Happen?
Like an ill-fitting pair of shoes, ill-fitting staff members make for painful experiences for both the staff members themselves as well as the churches they serve. It’s not easy to address these situations, but it’s important that we face the facts and get these individuals re-trained or re-deployed. Today’s post will be the first of […]
The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: Four Possible Solutions
“It was he [the risen Christ] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers…” Ephesians 4:11 “…speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” […]
The Ill-Fitting Staff Member: The Best Solution For Many Situations
“A change will do you good” From the song by Sheryl Suzanne Crow, Sheryl Crow, Jeffrey Trott and Brian Mcleod “…dig up your unplowed ground…” From Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 10:12 I’ve written two posts now on the subject of ill-fitting staff members: church employees who – however gifted and dedicated – never were or […]
The Menu From The Pastor Café
Note: A number of years ago I wrote the Parable of the Headhunter (republished on this blog on November 29, 2023) to help congregational pastor search committees to have realistic expectations as they look for their next solo or senior pastor. The response to the “…Headhunter” was good, but I found that many church members […]
The Menu From The Pastor Café, Part Two
“You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometime, you’ll find, you get what you need.” The Rolling Stones Last week I began describing a tool that I developed a number of years ago to help pastoral search committees come to grips with what I term, “pastoral humanity,” or “pastoral limitations.” No […]
Internships: An Old Practice Getting A New Look
I’m excited to see a growing interest in the practice of churches employing interns: recent college or seminary graduates – or even their own budding “home grown” church members – to short-term opportunities to serve and grow. In my childhood in a Lutheran church, we typically had an intern on staff: a young man, right […]
Lame Ducks Can Still Fly – Twelve Projects Retiring Pastors Can Work On
There’s something happening in a church near you: the pastor is moving toward retirement. I’m told that the average age of pastors in America has risen to about sixty. While many pastors continue on in full-time ministry way past the typical retirement age of sixty-five, pastors at sixty are usually at least thinking about it. […]
Twenty Ways To Redeem Your Pastoral Retirement
Like finally reaching Wally World and finding it decrepit and closed, retirement is a profound disappointment to so many hard-working people who were led to see it as the exciting destination at the end of their labors. I was young and naïve when I heard that my Uncle Fred had just retired and was driving […]
Thirteen Challenges For The Retiring Pastor
“I feel like a man without a country” – Recently retired pastor I’ve been writing about the challenges faced by soon-to-retire or newly retired pastors. Here’s a slightly amended paragraph from my posts: Lame Ducks Can Still Fly: Twelve Projects Retiring Pastors Can Work On and Twenty Ways To Redeem Your Pastoral Retirement. No other […]
15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part One
The pastor shortage has become a serious matter in the evangelical world. A friend just told me that in his region of his evangelical (“Bible-believing”) denomination they will be losing one third of their pastors within the next few months. One third! My own thoughts about how we got to this point will become apparent […]
15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Two
The idea of a “pastor shortage” is a perplexing and troubling concept for us evangelicals. We don’t mind the idea of a pastor shortage among the other varieties of Christians; after all, they’re wrong (to varying degrees) and deserve to have pastor shortages! But it shouldn’t be happening in our camp. And I agree. It […]
Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Three
For the past two weeks (see 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part One and 15 Ways To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Part Two) I’ve been bemoaning our evangelical pastor shortage. Like most of my readers, I didn’t much care about theologically liberal churches suffering their pastor shortage, but now that it’s closer to […]
Twenty Ways (15 wasn’t enough) To Solve Our Pastor Shortage, Conclusion
Over the past three weeks I’ve shared fourteen ways in which we might move towards solving our pastor shortage in the evangelical world. While I’ve done some bemoaning of our situation, your responses have been encouraging. I have not felt like a “voice crying in the wilderness.” I’ve found that many of you share my […]
Why Pastors Should Commit Themselves To “Extended Stays”
Pastoral terms are too short. The average tenure of three to five years1 is not working well for anyone. There are, of course, no Bible verses that say that this is too short, for the pastorate as we know it today was not yet commonly practiced when the New Testament was completed. So I’m not […]
Ten Temptations Of The Departing Pastor
I wish this post was a short one: “Two Temptations Of The Departing Pastor,” or something like that. In truth, departing pastors have all sorts of temptations. All sorts. I’m going to dive right into my subject, and you’ll see what I mean. These are not exclusive to pastors who are leaving in disgrace or […]
The Last Temptation Of “Pastor Last”
Years ago, LEADERSHIP Magazine published a cartoon which depicted a grumpy looking pastor asking a colleague, “Ever have one of those days when you just HAVE TO rebuke someone?” Many pastors experience “one of those days” just after they’ve announced their resignation. They feel like they have to rebuke their church’s board, staff or maybe […]
Six Reasons Why We Struggle With The Coming And Going Of Pastors
The recent home-going of Dr. John MacArthur, senior pastor of Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California, has reminded us of a perennial challenge which I call the coming and going of pastors. After twenty centuries of struggling with the coming and going of our pastoral leaders, we’re still not very good at pastoral transitions. […]
