Succession Planning By Sylvan Knobloch, Church Health and Staff Development March 7, 2016 Chuck Swindoll, at age 91, said he would consider it a privilege to die while preaching, collapsing from a heart attack with his chin hitting the pulpit on the way as he went down. Going on to Glory for some pastors may be the ultimate departure, but most will gently fade into eternal rest. Succession planning is relevant today. Pastors, who have served their churches for an extended period, realize their departure and the calling of a new pastor will be a traumatic experience for their congregation. These pastors desire a biblical way to shepherd their churches through the turbulent waters transition. These pastors know even a skilled interim pastor will not avoid the pitfalls of this kind of congregational adjustment. These pastors discover that the succession plan allows the pastor and church leaders and the newly called pastor to jointly shepherd the congregation. There is a biblical way to make this journey. It's a pastor succession plan. The method is biblical. The story of Moses and Joshua is an intentional succession plan that was created to fulfill God s promise to bring salvation to the world through Abraham. The pastor succession plan is a deliberate process initiated by the pastor and church leaders to shepherd the church through the pastoral transition. The Pastoral Succession Plan described here to list the steps in the process and brings relief to the congregation, pastor, and his wife as they discuss and share honestly their personal emotions and limitations. Clarify the senior pastor s expectations for the succession process. Chuck s board asked him to create a succession plan. As he began the process, Chuck was captivated by John 14:12. I assure you: The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. He discovered Jesus focus was not on who but on what. 1 The steps to successful succession planning. Planning on the Deep Dive When preparing for a deep dive one considers the dive s conditions. The conditions to consider are the depth the temperature, current, low visibility, surge, equipment load, anxiety, fatigue and more. What are the stressors involved in a pastoral transition: 1 Biblical Success Planning by Gayla Congdon https://ym.christianleadershipalliance.org/page/biblicalplanning last access 3/8/2016 1
The pastor s stress may involve: What will his role be in the church after stepping down as pastor? Will he remain in the church? What role will his wife have in the church? The church itself will go through stress with the departure of a long-term pastor. The calling of an interim and the search for a new senior pastor takes time and is very demanding on the leadership of the church. While most people in the church logically understand the need for their pastor to retire, emotionally they are still not ready to let go. The natural grieving process will impact the congregation and its members in different ways. Some will leave; others will begin second-guessing and blaming others for the pastor s departure. Others will have a sense that the church will never be the same again or a feeling of uncertainty about the church s future. Often during this time giving falls off. The church leadership is not immune from the transition as new leaders emerge and other leaders back out of areas of responsibility. How can these stressors be prevented? The succession planning process is one way to make the process less traumatic for the pastor and the congregation since pastor and the congregation are on the journey together. Deep Dive Preparation. Dive Deeper: Evaluate the Church s values. 1. Clarify the Values, Mission and Vision of the church. Values are essential since the church s mission and culture flow from these values. It is important that the successful succession process includes a time of evaluating the church s values by the pastor and church leaders. Take the time to study the church s values and determine which category the church s value best fit, and evaluate each value. Ask the question does this value help the church to become a Christ-centric church? It is important since church culture is an amalgamation its values, attitudes, and behaviors. If the church s values are not developing a Christ-centric church culture, that value must be corrected. An excellent resource to discern the church s values is Patrick Lencioni s discussion of four types of values in his book The Advantage. Core Values are cultural cornerstones and are never compromised. These values will provide the ultimate guide for employee behavior at all levels. Collins and Porras research in Built to Last discovered that enduring, successful companies adhered strictly to a fundamental set of principles that guide their behaviors and decisions over time. Pastor and leaders clarify the church s core values that the church holds as non-negotiable. Aspirational Values are the values a company prefers but currently lacks in behavior. For example, Discipleship might a value the church leaders 2
aspire to adopt, believing it is necessary for the future growth of the church, but it is not amalgamated into the congregation's life. Permission to Play Value are values that reflect the minimum behavior and social style of team members. These values qualify candidates for acceptance on a team. Accidental Values are values that arise spontaneously and may not always serve the good of an organization. They can prevent an organization from flourishing and even sabotage the church s success. An example is the value of Unity, when preserving church unity is more important that protecting the integrity of the church. The pastor and church leaders need to clarify their values; since from values flow the church s mission statement, vision, and strategy. The clarification will bring the church mission, vision, and strategy into alignment with the church's values. Create an excel spreadsheet with four columns, one for each of the values identified. Evaluate each value, asking is the value a reflection of the attitudes and behavior of the congregation? Is value a demonstration of an attitude and behavior and a reflection of a Christ- centric church culture? What values need to be diminished in influence? What values need to be embraced? What new values need to be adopted? As leaders begin to plan how these changes will be inaugurated, you are on your way to clarifying a Christ-centric church culture. 2. Dive Deeper take the Transformational Church Assessment Survey. Leaders are to ask if the ministries identified through the Transformational Church Survey match with the church s culture: the church s values, attitudes, and behaviors. For example, if the congregation sees the need to become a cross Cultural church to reach its diverse community but is not currently culturally diverse then they are not matching the culture they want. "Diversity" may be an "Aspirational Value"; how will the leaders lead the congregation to adopt it as a "Core Value"? The leaders will identify the steps necessary to become a culturally diverse congregation. The Diversity Value ultimately will need to be reflected in the church s attitudes and behaviors. What adjustment will church members be required to make? How will these changes impact the succession and transition of the new senior pastor? How will this help our church develop a more Christ-centric church culture based on biblical values, attitudes, and behaviors? Consider all the adjustments that the new ministries identified will require and how these will impact the succession plan? 3. Diving Deeper by measuring the church s effectiveness. Is the church accomplishing its Mission? Answer these four questions: 3
What are our church s strengths? What are we doing well? What do others say we are doing well? What are our church s challenges both internally and externally? What are our church s threats both from within the church and outside the church? What are our church s opportunities for ministry, both by doing what we are doing better and what new opportunities are before us? 5. Diving Deeper what are the current pastor s requirements and skills? What will be the requirements and skills for the future leader? Assessment of present requirements Assessment of future requirements for for the senior pastor senior pastor Establishing current skill set of the Establishing future skill set of the senior pastor senior pastor 6. Diving Deeper These are some of the questions the leaders will want to consider when considering the attributes of the new pastor. What is the church s ministry area? What are the anticipated changes in the community s demographics within the next five years? What are the unique challenges the community will face? How will the unique changes in the community impact the church? What will be the growing age group in the community? Will the community be declining or growing? Who will be moving into the community? Will the church need to become more cross-cultural or will the church need to begin a new work? How will the community s lifestyle segments evolve within the next five years? What segment will grow and what will decrease? 7. Dive Deeper using the information you have discovered, identify what the new senior pastor will need to move your church to become a relevant Christcentric ministry. What managing skills will he need in leading the church? What leadership skills will he need to increase the church s effectiveness? What leadership skills will he need to to reinforce the core values? What leadership skills will he need to manage the change needed to begin new ministries? From the list of attributes the new pastor will need to bring about the change, determine which skills are negotiable and which are non-negotiable. For example, if your church has a strong administrator detail oriented person the new pastor may not need that skill; however, he will need the ability to build and sustain a ministry team. 4
In 1 Timothy 3:1- Paul lists church leader characteristics. Character traits Emotional intelligence Skills Abilities Experiences Knowledge Self Care Family life Doctrinal Self-starter Returning to the boat. It is now time to bring all the information gathered together and assemble this information into a useable report. If applicable, the pastor identifies a current church staff member he believes measures up to the attributes agreed on by the church leaders. If someone exists and he fits the criteria gathered in the report, then this person should be given first consideration. Moses identified Joshua as his successor, this account in Judges 1-9 demonstrates how Joshua led the people of Israel to conquer the Promised Land. However, it is important to remember that Paul was not among the original 12 disciples. Sometimes it is necessary to bring someone in from outside the church. Remember while Peter is the missionary to the Jewish people, Paul's assignment is to reach the Gentile people. In this incident it may be advisable to share with the church that the pastoral search team will not consider current staff, church members, or family members of the church for the role of senior pastor. It is important to let the church s mission and values become the guiding star for the pastor search process as it begins. After considering the question of mission and core values, the leaders are prepared to develop the pastoral profile taking into account the characteristics, abilities (skill-set), gifts, experience and personality the new pastor will need to begin leading the church through the transition. Now it is time to initiate the search by announcing the opening and soliciting resumes. Accept recommendations The search will require patience. It might be helpful to develop a timeline and benchmarks for the process; the schedule will encourage the team to keep focused on the task and the process moving forward. The pastoral profile will be placed on the web beginning the search. The IBSA Stepby-Step Manual will be a helpful resource. The pastor involvement in the selecting of his successor is necessary. 5
Heading Back to Shore: 1. Develop a timeline for the process of search for a new pastor. 2. The financial team will gather for the purpose of developing a pay package for the prospective pastor while at the same time maintaining the current pastor s compensation. 3. The pastor is encouraged to develop his coaching and mentoring skills. He may want to consider training to equip him for his next ministry steps in this journey. 4. The church s leaders should begin to discuss with the senior pastor his new role identity in the church when the search and transition time is complete. The church leaders should encourage the pastor during the search time to explore what his passions are and how he can continue to grow. The goal is for the pastor to recognize what finishing well will look like for him when he transitions from the role of senior pastor. The church leaders are affirming the pastor s valuable experience, knowledge, and skills and desire to focus these on Kingdom pursuits. They covenant with him their support in these endeavors. This discussion, while difficult, will affirm the pastor and help him make a smooth transition at the right time. Do not neglect to include the pastor s wife in these discussions concerning her role identity in the church. Going back out to sea - Searching and selecting the new candidate The successful candidate is selected and approved by the church and the transition process begins. The pastor will develop with the leaders a timeline to establish the benchmarks for the transition period. The goal of the process will be to create a transition moving in this direction. The pastor New Pastor Influence Former Pastor Influence will intentionally work to transfer influence to the new pastor allowing him to become the greater while the former pastor s influence decreases, John 3: 30. The relationship between the two men requires a level of high trust and a servant s heart in both, to allow for a smooth transition. The relationship between the pastors is essential. It is our prayer the relationship between them will continue to grow even after the official transition has ended. 6
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 The new candidate learns from the retiring pastor ministry tasks, methods, and develops necessary relationships in the congregation, community and with IBSA, prior to the passing of the pastoral mantle. The new candidate participates in the departing pastor s work and receives coaching The new candidate begins to take a more active role in leading and directing the work of the church. The departing pastor observes and coaches. The new candidate takes on all leadership, and the retiring pastor becomes Stage 4 his trusted confidant. The successful transition will result in a strong bond between the new senior pastor and the departing pastor. Much like Paul s characterization of his relationship between he and Timothy and Titus. He describes them as that of a father and son in 1 Tim 1:2 and Titus 1:4. Coming into port. Determine how the church will honor the departing pastor. Celebrate the ministry of the retiring pastor and his dream to finishing well as he pursuits new Kingdom endeavors. It may or may not be in the church. Do not neglect to include his wife in the celebration and her dreams to finish well. Honor the retiring pastor Honor officially the new senior pastor, celebrate the calling and providence of God s watch care of the church through this transition. Going back to sea with a clarified mission, innovation, and talent. Now the work begins. The leaders intentionally amalgamate the church's Christ-centric values and missional direction into the congregational life resulting in attitudinal and behavioral maturity. The leaders know culture eats strategy for lunch and will continue to give attention to the development of the new values and attitudes required to impact the church s culture. For the new strategy to blossom, the leaders and congregation must consistently encourage those new Christ-centric behaviors and attitudes that will shape new Christ-centric church culture. Protecting the culture may require the shifting of ministry roles, staff and supporting by-laws. The new journey now begins. 7