In the United Methodist Church, pastors are called to serve the church by focusing on three particular areas: Word, Sacrament, Order and Service. Being a steward of the Word, it is my job to make sure that we as a church are faithfully following the scriptural tradition of our faith. This includes preaching and teaching, but is not limited to this. Using the language of Scripture in prayer, posting blog posts like these, and discussing faith issues with those outside of the church (evangelism) are all ways in which the pastor serves the church in this area. Next there is the Sacrament, which is Holy Communion and Baptism. It is the pastor's duty to administer these two sacraments faithfully and, again, in accordance with the tradition of the church over the past two millennia. From properly handling the elements at the Lord's Supper to discussing the meaning of baptism with new members to providing reminders to the congregation that our chief identity resides in our baptism is all part of a pastor's task to be a faithful steward of the Sacrament. And finally, the call to Service describes the pastor's calling to be in faithful service to others, both within and outside of the congregation. This includes pastoral care and mission projects.
That leaves the third, and all too often final, the call to Order of the church. By "Order" we mean that the pastor is called to tend to the ways in which the congregation operates, both internally and externally. The Book of Discipline uses the phrase "temporal affairs" to describe this task. This can refer to anything from offering leadership seminars, attending meetings, organizing the office space, etc. Obviously the church has a lot of different moving parts, and the pastor cannot be directly responsible for each one of them; but ensuring that those parts are moving well, with purpose, and in accordance with the Book of Discipline is part of this duty.
Since the pastor is tasked with stewarding the order and organization of the church, the smaller the church, the more it will be impacted in this area. In my case, we have no paid staff other than the pastor, and I am responsible for the lion's share of the order in the church. In a larger church with many pastors, staff, and a large group of volunteers, the order of the church will remain largely unchanged for a considerable amount of time. The more directly involved the pastor is in the temporal affairs of the church, the more the church will notice a difference in the pastor's leadership of that church.
Perhaps the first thing most people will notice differently in one pastor over another is their personality and leadership style. As United Methodists, most of us will lead the congregation in similar ways, making sure that the required committees are functioning, that the mission is being fulfilled, etc. But right away there will be a change in the way the pastor leads this order. For example, moving from an extroverted pastor to a more introverted one will be noticed quickly. Or perhaps having a pastor with a participatory style of leadership versus one with a more directive style of leadership will be immediately apparent. Is your new pastor more resistant to change in general, or perhaps welcomes change more openly? In the beginning of a transition, we will be more likely to "feel" a difference due to the unique personality and leadership style of the pastor.
And due to this uniqueness in different individuals, the greater the difference in personality and leadership style between the departing and arriving pastors, the greater the difference will feel during the transition. Even if both of these pastors agrees on what is happening, how things should be conducted, and no changes are proposed between them, the transition will feel like a bigger change if the two pastors are very different. Conversely, if the pastors are very similar in personality and leadership style, then the congregation will not "feel" much difference in the order of the church, even if the new pastor wants to make some significant changes.
So this begs the question: do we want the transition to "feel" like there has been a big shift, or not? Well, this depends on the congregation. Some congregations are in a position where they sense a need for change in the order of temporal affairs; other congregations are in a position where they feel that a sense of stability in the order of temporal affairs is currently best for their mission. In other words, some churches want a change, others don't, and still some need change but don't want it! But regardless of whether or not change is good, we are likely to perceive this change based on these factors.
Now that I've thoroughly over-analyzed how the order of the church could change due to experiencing a pastoral transition, for the most part, the order of a healthy church does not and should not change radically with a new pastor. That is, if the church is healthy, fulfilling its God-given mission in its community and serving others sacrificially, then the temporal affairs of that church are not going to change drastically anytime soon. In seminary, we pastors are actually taught to avoid change in these temporal affairs as much as possible when moving to a new congregation, so that we can analyze the situation and together work with the congregation to discover new ways of organization that can help support and flourish the ministry of the church. But again, for the most part, churches do not and will not change drastically in the first year of receiving a new pastor.
This is because the church is not fundamentally about the pastor. The church is fundamentally about Jesus Christ, the Cornerstone of the church, and the goal of our work. We are the body of Christ redeemed by his blood, serving as his hands and feet to a broken and hurting world. A pastor is an important part of the picture, as a servant-leader in many ways to a congregation. But the church's affairs are a work of the people. No pastor should be doing the bulk of the ministry in a church; it's the pastor's job to help teach and equip the congregation to go out into the world to serve. So in a pastoral transition, while we may feel like there has been a significant change in the affairs of the church, the work that Christ has called us to do remains constant due to the work of the laity, the congregation, and that will remain constant even after this new pastor leaves.
No pastor can administer a church forever, but Christ is the eternal administrator, sorting the temporal affairs here on earth as they are in heaven. For this we give thanks, and we pray that during pastoral transitions, our churches would thrive, both in the greater picture and in the everyday labors of both the ministers and the congregations.
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