When a congregation welcomes a new pastor, it is an exciting time for both the congregation and the minister. To maximize this new beginning, it is important to prepare spiritually, cognitively and emotionally for a new chapter. Once a call…
How do you say hello to a new congregation when you can’t meet them in person?
Welcoming receptions with cookies and punch. Casual chat in church hallways before Sunday school. After-worship coffee hours topped with doughnuts. Potluck suppers laden with fried chicken and potato salad. Pastors new to their congregations have missed a lot of these…
Elijahs and Elishas
The handoff from one pastor to the next is always tricky. For everyone. I’m basically at the start of my career. Now we pastor-types don’t like to use such crass professional terminology, preferring to say “calling” or “vocation” or “ministry”…
New pastors, small churches
Update March 2015: The program described in this story has been renamed Small Church Residency Program. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), like many denominations, has two challenges: thousands of small churches in need of pastors and hundreds of new seminary graduates…
When It Comes to Congregational Vision May You Be With the Source
“We need to get a new pastor who will bring us vision and get us moving in the right direction”, or something similar, is the number one statement I hear from lay leaders of congregations during the transition from one…
How to welcome a new pastor to your church
When Beth McConnell was being introduced to our congregation as our new pastor, someone asked her what we could do to make her transition easier. Beth is too humble to give you this list. Over the decades, I have given…