How do you choose a new pastor??

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

The pastor of the local church here is retiring at the end of August. In this Conference, the powers that be are trying to cut costs, and not hire new pastors. Instead, pastors will be responsible for 2-3 churches. Nobody in the nearby communities want to share pastors. So, I'm not sure how this is going to pan out. In a couple weeks, someone from the Conference is going to come out and "let us know" what they have decided. In the meantime, a group is being formed to "review" whoever the Conference sends over. The group will consist of 2 elders, 2 board members, and 2 people from the general congregation.

This bothers me. I would kind of like to have a say in which pastor is chosen. How is a pastor usually chosen for churches??

[Gregory Matthews]

Typically, the local congregation does not chose the pastor, the Conference does. However, more and more often, the local congregation will have some degree of say in who becomes the pastor. How much of a say will depend . . . . ..

I will illustrate the exception to the above by relating how the congregation I attend obtained its new pastor:

1) The congregation determined what it was looking for in a pastor, and selected an interview committee.

2) It obtained recommendations as to who might be good pastors and developed a list of about 30 (I do not remember exactly.) names.

3) The selection committee studied the list and chose individuals to be interviewed by three individuals from the committee.

4) These three individuals reported back to the full committee. The committee voted to ask the Conference to bring the selected person in for several days of getting acquainted with the congregation.

5) The congregation then voted whether or not to extend an invitation to the individual to become their pastor.

6) The selected person then either accepted or declined.

7) Ultimately, the Conference then hired the individual.

NOTE: During this process, an officer from the Conference attended each meeting of the full selection committee and provided advice and input as to both the process and individual names.

NOTE: About a year after we obtained our senior pastor, a position came open for an assistant pastor. The process was shortened in that the senior pastor presented a name to the congregation and to the Conference. That person was selected and became our assistant pastor.

NOTE: In selecting our senior pastor, three people ( and their families) were brought in to spend time with us. The congregation voted not to ask one. One declined our offer. The third person accepted. As I recall, it took us well over a year to have a new senior pastor in place.

NOTE: The process that I have outlined above is not typical. And, it is not typical for this Conference.

[aldona]

We have never had any say in who our pastor is...the Conference just allocates him and says "this is your pastor." We have not even had the luxury of having a "review" committee.

Thank goodness our current pastor is an excellent choice and we have been blessed to have him lead our church. Unfortunately, in the past, it has not always been the case.

AJ

[Gerr]

My observation has been:

1) If the church is large, if it pulls in a large tithe, like LLU church, they can pretty much tell the conference who they want. Then the decision is only up to the pastor wanted.

2) The conference may give you SOME semblance of having a choice and allow you to go through the process as Greg described.

3) Or the conference just sends you who they want as Aldona also mentioned. Sometimes you get a good one, and then you may get someone who is persona non grata in another church who is just being moved by the conference.

I've read in The Review that the rule in the world church at large is that a pastor has 2 or more churches. There are churches that may not see their pastor for a month or even less. We share our pastor with another church. One advantage for this is that it requires the members to take more interest and responsibility for the well-being of the church. Another is that it gives the elders or other members the opportunity to develop their speaking skills. And I can tell you that I have heard a number of lay people give better sermons than a number of preachers I've come across with over the years.

[GreatLakesGramma]

I have never belonged to a church that had a pastor all to itself. Once church we belonged to shared our pastor with 3 other churches. That was in Minnesota. The distance between his 2 farthest apart churches was 200 miles.

[Gerr]

In the few times when I was involved in the search for a pastor, I had the feeling that after it was said and done, those discussions with the conference as to whom we wanted, it was all a charade. We were given what the conference wanted.

[Woody]

Ultimately .... the conference is the one that hires her. The local church can indicate that they like or don't like her ... but it is the decision of the conference to hire her or not.

Each conference is different. And as Gregory stated ... they may give more power to one church compared to another. But I do think there is a trend to consulting more with the churches to see if they will be a good fit with the new ministeress.

[phkrause]

Since being here in the College Church at AUC, whoever the members chose for pastor became pastor, period. If the conference has to have there say they obviously have agreed each time.

[Woody]

I suspect you're right pk ... since it's the conference who writes the pay checks. :)

[aldona]

I suspect you're right pk ... since it's the conference who writes the pay checks.

No, it is actually us (the members) who write the pay checks...by writing our names on the envelopes marked "Tithe".

AJ

[Gerr]

Originally Posted By: Woody

I suspect you're right pk ... since it's the conference who writes the pay checks.

No, it is actually us (the members) who write the pay checks...by writing our names on the envelopes marked "Tithe".

AJ

You beat me to this response. And the conference (some?) seems to forget that.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Except for a short time in the early '60's the pastors for my church have always been responsible for only the one church. But membership is declining (mostly due to deaths of the old timers), and the Conference is not hiring new pastors to replace retiring ones. It's a bit of a bugaboo here. The Conference does have a list of people who are willing to fill in at different churches who need someone to give Sabbath sermons.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens.

[Dottie]

I have been a member in both situations. Once, we had a pastor who preached the same sermon three times each Sabbath, traveling from one church to another to another. One sermon was 9:30, the next 11:00, and the third at 12:30. No church was willing to have an afternoon sermon, and each wanted the pastor every week. I thought that was a bit hard on the pastor, but the people of that area were set in their ways.

Now, I belong to a church which, until recently, had 3 pastors; one senior pastor, one youth pastor, and one "associate." I'm not sure exactly what the associate's official position was, as there were calls for offerings to help in his ministry. Now, the senior pastor has retired, and the "associate" was asked to leave. We have a retired pastor (once a conference president) who is acting as senior pastor, and it's all in the middle of building a new church complex!!!

I do think, though, that the pastor will be assigned to the church by the conference.

[Woody]

The pastor doesn't receive her money from the members. She receives it from the conference. The conference writes the check. Some seem to forget that.