I am currently transitioning out of one student/family pastor position and into another. I will be leaving a church that I look at as family out of the obedience of God’s call to lead another church family that I know I will embrace and love just as much. As I’ve spent time reflecting on the past in one church and creating vision to cast in the other church, I’ve come to realize something. God has been gracious in every church transition/succession that I’ve gone through.
Whether it’s been a promotion from volunteer intern to paid staff in the same church or crossing states for another church. I’ve seen God be faithful and fruitful; never really leaving a down spiraling void in the area of ministry I’ve left behind. Especially after hearing some of the horror stories from old seminary and church buddies. I very rarely hear or see church transitions go smoothly and feel like I’ve been blessed to have either been a part of churches with smooth succession plans or created them myself. Not to say they’ve been perfect or that the one I’m currently leaving will be perfect. Nor does it mean you will have the complete control to do everything you want to when transitioning to a new season of life and ministry elsewhere. However there are several things I would’ve loved to hear when considering to leave a people in whom I’ve loved, have spent countless nights praying for and look at as family in order to obey God’s greater will elsewhere. Therefore here are a few personal pastoral pointers from me to you on what can make a faithful and fruitful succession with the sheep you have tended to and will continue to think of after you’re long gone.
1. Find a successor or a system to replace you.
You might be thinking “Duh.” This is a no brainer. You should’ve been doing this already. And you’re right. This is a no brainer… And hopefully this is already happening at your church. However, it’s still rarely done and when attempted, many realize how hard it really is to accomplish. Charles Spurgeon, who IMO was one of the greatest pastor/preachers of all time couldn’t (or just didn’t) do it while running a perceived successful pastor’s college. So I don’t care if delegating is a strength or a hassle. Find a person or system in which your ministry can sufficiently run without you. Of course, you need to be submissive to what the church elders/leaders who will be there when you leave may want to do with your position or in the choice (with no say from you) of who will replace you. But you’d be surprised at the Gospel soaked legacy you’ll leave behind by simply training lay leaders to lead as if you weren’t there and enable those who are called into ministry with responsibilities you were afraid to delegate away before. I believe that more churches are hurt by a pastor’s weak succession plan then a “moral failure.” The moral failures just get more airtime than the latter but the latter happens way more often to good churches with good pastors and good leaders and could have easily been prevented.
2. Personally share the news of your leaving to the people you were closest with before the church wide announcement.
There are certain people within your church and ministry that need to know your upcoming transition/departure before you announce it to the rest of the church. These are the people you have personally shared your life with weekly in Gospel community, who have co-labored with you for the Gospel in their sacrificial service for your ministry more than others or who have been affected by your direct ministry and discipleship and shouldn’t have to hear it from someone else but from your lips as you look at them in the eye. I personally tell my small group, all my leaders and certain students and parents before we made the announcement. When I say personally, I’m not talking about a text, tweet or email. I’m talking about a face to face or at least a phone conversation. Trust me, they will appreciate it and you can share more of your heart and situation then a somewhat canned, limited church wide announcement from the masses. I spent a whole 3 days making phone calls and having meetings with these people. It was heart wrenching and hard, yet completely worth it. They knew I appreciated their community, valued their service or was proud of their life change while being reminded that it was God at work, not me. I was also able to personally tell them how important it was to persevere in the work at hand. Make sure you don’t do this too far in advance of your church wide departure announcement because as you know, even the people you are closest to can have a hard time keeping this information privy to themselves and you don’t want to put the church or yourself into a tough spot before the time comes.
3. If you were the “Face” of the ministry, expect somewhat of a fallout and don’t feel guilty about it.
You just can’t control this part. Whether it’s because we live in a celebrity culture or because God genuinely used you in some people’s lives and they just started idolizing you or your style of ministry. Whatever the case, if you were the leader over a large amount of people, you will lose some just because you were the “face” for what they looked at church as. Once again, you can’t control this however you can control the guilt that follows. Not having a good succession plan, ya… feel convicted about that. Fallout from this though, expect it to happen. People who were only there for your presence or personality, they’ll leave and there’s nothing you can do about it. This is why it’s important that we don’t purposefully create a “celebrity” type ministry based off a personality on purpose. However it’s going to happen no matter what if you’re the one some constantly see up front (hence the label “the face”) and you shouldn’t feel guilty for being a leader or a good communicator so that you can be in that position. If they were there for the right reasons then they will stay for the right reasons. Other wise.. “Hakuna Matata” and spend that guilt on point #1 (the succession plan).
4. Make it about Jesus and those who will be doing the work, not about you.
If you’re leaving a ministry in good standing then everyone else will already make it about you. You need to make it about Jesus. His will, His plan, His grace. I once heard a leader I respect tell me to take one’s praise with a simple “thank you” and to not offend them with the whole stereotypical “It wasn’t me, it was all Jesus” comment back to one’s encouragement. I understand what he was saying but I can’t but help to say both things to my praisers because I’m just too prideful to take all of the glory and the stereotypical phrase is just too true to leave people behind with out saying. It’s Jesus who did do the work and who will continue to do so. I strive to be a good father to my kids to point them to a perfect Father who wants to adopt them into an even more fulfilling family. When they tell me I’m a good dad I will tell them it’s because I’m trying to emulate after that perfect Father in Heaven and without Him in my life I’d probably be a bad father. All Him, nothing in me. The same goes with my church family and the students who I look at as sons and daughters in so many ways. Sometimes people need to be reminded of this in lieu of your absence or in light of your fruitfulness. They also need to hear the praise of the person, people or system that is in place to take over your work. Remind them that the same Jesus that used you is in the church no matter who is leading. Yes, I know things will be different but that Jesus who is in your successor(s) is the same.
5. Find the time to say the things you’ve wanted to say.
Let’s get this straight… I’m not talking about that last-minute meeting where you chew off that staff member who always voted against your “too far out of the box & we don’t do things that way” ministry ideas or a phone call to that disgruntled, elder who always accused you of bringing satan’s music into the church. If it’s going to cause dissension, gossip, slander then you just need to shut up. I’m talking about the people you need to make a final plea for repentance, a final warning of certain choices that they are making, a final encouragement to those who have been faithful, a final “I love you” to those who have meant the most. The things you probably should’ve been doing all along but has been were put aside for programs, processes and other priorities. You finally had the time to think about what matters most again (the Gospel) so take advantage of this time to get back to how you should’ve been doing ministry in the first place. Passionately praising and encouraging those who have been faithful and compassionately pleading to those who are at the edge of hellish consequences in light of a redeeming Savior who is calling out to them.
6. Promote and Praise the Church (unless it’s heretical and that’s part of the reason why you’re leaving)
Until this point, I’ve pretty much assumed and haven’t addressed a transition out of a ministry position where you have been unhappy about or didn’t like the people you were serving. One reason why is because I haven’t been through that. The other reason is because I kind of don’t care if you have because it’s really no excuse to do this very thing.. Praise and promote the Church. In general and specifically your context. I know what you’re saying.. You don’t know my church situation, the people I work with, the crap I put up with, the stale vision I have been left with. Blah blah blah. I’m sorry but the apostle Paul wrote letters to churches he helped start where sons started sleeping with their stepmothers (1 Corinthians) and pastors started casting vision where there were extra “steps” beyond repentance and faith in order to receive the Gospel (Galatians). Never once did He not show love and compassion while praising Jesus’ church in general in those letters and I have a hard time showing sympathy and compassion to anyone who will leave a ministry behind slandering their church unless they are preaching straight up heresy. No church is perfect. The grass is not always greener on the other side. Maybe you have been unhappy or it truly has been tough for you and your family and God has opened up a door to another church and ministry. The last thing you should do is burn the bridges to that church as you ride off in the sunset. And if you do, know that the people you leave behind who have sniffed out the smoke from those burnt bridges will not just view the church you are leaving behind as messed up but the universal church in general as messed up. In a culture where most people don’t trust “organized religion” already it is easy for people to justify judgment on Jesus’ bride and the shepherds of the church needs to constantly promote and praise His bride despite her flaws, because Jesus loved us despite ours. Now if you’re leaving because it was teaching straight up heresy… well, burn that motha-brotha down.
7. Preach & point others to God’s sovereignty
Sometimes people will struggle or be hurt that you are leaving because of the impact that you made on them. Sometimes people will be glad that you are leaving. No matter the case, they need to hear that God is in control no matter the circumstances and season of life that the church is in or will soon be in. This is another stereotypical phrase one uses when leaving and it may go in one sheeps’ ear and out the other. However, like the Gospel, it’s one theme that we need to share repeatedly. The ones who are hurt won’t question God’s faithfulness during a tough season of change. The ones who are glad will be reminded to praise God in your leaving (not sure if that’s exactly a good thing) but ultimately it was God’s doing for it to get that far. He is the one who has a time for everything as He has revealed in Ecclesiastes and we must point our people to it for it’s the anchor of anticipated or discouraging change. Because He is constant through the change and our people easily forget that unless we open up the Scripture to them with it. We don’t call Jesus “King” for nothing.
8. Believe what you are preaching. (concerning God’s sovereignty)
There’s a good chance that you will question your ministry, your fruit and your faithfulness during this time of transition. Whether it’s because of people praising you and telling you how much they’re going to miss you or because they are saying “Good riddance, He really sucked.” It’s during these times that you need to be reminded yourself that God is in control whether you had a succession plan in place or didn’t. Believe, yourself what you are preaching and pointing others to concerning the sovereignty of God. If you made the Gospel the main thing, you need to trust that enough of your people received that and will stick to that no matter what happens to your ministry or what the people you left behind do with it. This will also help free you up to do what God is now calling you to do in your new ministry and season of life.
9. Submit & obey to your church authorities to the very end.
Don’t fall into the temptation of the lame duck season. Finish well. Finish faithful. Part of that faithfulness will be submitting to how the church wants you to go. I’ve been blessed to have churches who have sent me off well and I feel like I did everything I could to honor anything they asked of me before leaving. That’s not always the case when pastors transition out. Make it a priority when transitioning out of yours. God judges us out of our faithfulness and we don’t get a wild card toward the end of our life so we shouldn’t expect one at the end of the ministry we are transitioning out of.
