(ABP) — When the only pastor an entire generation at a church has known leaves, there's no set model for ensuring a smooth transition, experts say. The right way to do it at one time in a church's history may be wrong at another time. And orchestrating a succession at a megachurch is much different than easing into one in a smaller community.
Examples abound. Pastor and three-time Southern Baptist Convention President Adrian Rogers retired in 2005 from Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis, Tenn., and the church has struggled to rebound. Critics said W.A. Criswell would not or could not let go of First Baptist Church of Dallas after Joel Gregory took over in the 1990s. And First Baptist Church of Atlanta tried unsuccessfully to facilitate a co-pastor for Charles Stanley, who was nearing retirement at the time.
Charles Johnson knows something about the difficulties that come in the wake of long-term pastorates. He currently teaches at Atlanta's McAfee School of Theology and serves as interim pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn. But, in his previous life as a full-time pastor, Johnson twice followed beloved long-term ministers — Hardy Clemons at Second Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas; and Buckner Fanning at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio.
Theology and ecclesiology play roles in how a successor is selected, Johnson said. The apostle Paul recognized that “if this Jesus movement is going to get beyond the narrow confines of Judaism … then we're going to really have to employ the diversity principle,” he said.
While some megachurches accept new pastors who are groomed by the existing pastor or who are related to that pastor, many Baptist congregations avoid that route. Historically, Baptists have selected pastors after search committee recommendations and on the basis of congregational acceptance.
In Johnson's opinion, Second Baptist had “a team concept of ministry,” while ministry at Trinity Baptist was “very personality-centered.” That made all the difference, he said.
“Hardy Clemons had implemented multilateral leadership,” Johnson said. “The culture at Second Baptist was a culture of diversity … not focused on the senior minister. That culture did not exist at Trinity.”
The first test for many megachurches in surviving multiple generations comes when the current pastor resigns.
“There has yet to be a really successful succession in a super church. Most are led by a patriarch-visionary founder or someone who reinvents a vision for a church,” Gregory said in a 1997 interview.
Five years earlier, he had resigned after two years at First Baptist in Dallas. He had taken the pulpit following a beloved pastor who led the prominent congregation for more than 50 years. Gregory later wrote a book, Too Great a Temptation, about the obstacles he faced leading from such a position.
Most estimates show that megachurches comprise less than 1 percent of churches in the United States. But they may not all be as fragile as Gregory's assessment implies. According to Christian Century, the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found half of megachurch respondents compared their congregation to a “close-knit family” with “extensive use of small-group fellowship.” Megachurch supporters are hedging their bets that these “families” will help the church pull through when the Joel Osteens, Bill Hybels, and Robert Schullers of the world retire.
But whether in churches mega-sized or smaller, the underlying question when a dynamic pastor steps down is how to manage the succession. Some pastors believe in mandatory interim periods. Some think the pastor should stay to mentor the newcomer. Others think the predecessor should get as far away from the church as possible — preferably out of town.
George Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, said Wilshire was able to transition well. Bruce McIver had led it for 30 years before Mason arrived. He remained for another 12 years as pastor emeritus.
“Having known my predecessor a little bit and understanding that I was quite young when I was called to the church, I took it as an opportunity rather than a challenge or an obstacle,” Mason said. He added that McIver had “immense wisdom to offer me and could be a mentor to me.”
But Winfred Moore, the 30-year leader of First Baptist Church of Amarillo, Texas, moved away from Amarillo after his retirement simply to give the church some room. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have returned in recent years and have a good relationship with current pastor Howie Batson.
“I have seen some places where the pastor who had been there for a long time had stayed in the church from day one,” Moore, a regent emeritus of Baylor University, said. “If he is not real careful, he will be doing things that the new pastor should be doing. … I would have had a hard time if I had stayed from day one. I'm afraid I would have been in the way, even if I didn't intend it at all.”
Mike Clingenpeel, pastor of River Road Church in Richmond, Va., followed James Slatton, who had spent more than 30 years there. At a previous church, Clingenpeel's predecessor had been there for 32 years. Needless to say, he's “comfortable” following those with staying power, but he offered a caveat.
“There are horror stories. Sometimes there are predecessors who can't let go, who don't know how to stop being pastor, who have across the years developed the role of being pastor and it is so wrapped into their own identity that they can't establish an identity apart from being a pastor,” Clingenpeel said. “When that happens, to lose one's pastoral role is to lose one's identity. And that is a great threat.”
Therein lies a major factor in the succession: The predecessor must support the replacement by affirming him or her and ensuring ample freedom.
“At every opportunity, … [McIver] assured people that I was his pastor [and] that he couldn't be happier about that,” Mason said. “Even if there were times that he might not have agreed with decisions that I made, he never, ever allowed himself to be triangled between me and the congregation.”
If a former pastor stays within the congregation, he or she loses the right to criticize the new guy or gal, Moore added. Before he left, he said he told the church, “Now this person is going to want to change some things, and you not only let him, you help him.”
Johnson agrees: “The outgoing pastor simply cannot view those changes as a negative referendum on his ministry.”
And although some large churches now look to bring in new pastors as soon as possible after one resigns or retires, Johnson and others say a prescribed interim between the two is healthy.
“I think some really wonderful things happen in the interim of our lives, and that can happen in an institution as well,” Clingenpeel said. “A time of transition allows a congregation to sort of grasp again their identity and their mission.”
Ultimately, people can't just “turn it off and turn it on that fast,” he said. Apparently, good things come with time and even ripen with age — pastors and churches included.
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