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10 Apr Interim Pastors

April 10, 2006 by |

Ron Ramsey, Bishop

A study I read said that filling a church pastoral vacancy now takes 18 months on the average. With that in mind, I have been pondering whether it is time for us to develop an Interim Pastoral system. Being an effective interim pastor requires a set of skills that are a bit different that those for a long-term pastorate.

Just wondering what your thoughts might be on the subject and whether you have had any expereince being an interim pastor or being in a church that has had an interim pastor.

2 Comments
  • J. Michael Caley
    Posted at 21:20h, 10 April

    I have not had any experience but have a pastor friend in a local denomination that at age 55 took on that role for his denomination in the West Michigan area. I had not seen him for about 4 years and recently bumped into him. He loves what he is doing. He loves the challenge of being able to walk a congregation through this critical transition time of assessing their needs and challenging their growth issues while waiting and praying through the process of preparing for their next permanent assignment. I was impressed with his passion for the church and the ability to be free to love and challenge each new assignment knowing there were no permanent strings attached either way. I found the idea very intriguing and I, for one, think it is a great one to pursue for our UB national church.

  • Mike Brown
    Posted at 15:18h, 22 May

    First time on Bishop Blog. The Blog is a great idea. I know the Interim topic has been up for awhile, but here is my short thought. It’s a good and needed idea. Not all churches need an interim, but many do. I’ve thought that since I was a student-attendee at College Park, and Bishop Meadows served as an interim when Ray Seilhammer left.
    Yes, very few of our churches are that large. I don’t think size should be the issue, but situation should be. Many different factors should determine interim need. In some cases it has been okay to tell a church, “We will use John Doe as your interim, and if he works out he will stay.” But…it leaves too many questions. And always some will say, “I don’t think he’s worked out so well.” It’s better if we have fulltime trained interims, so that up front, everyone is clear about expectations.
    Thanks…
    Mike Brown

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