Yesterday was my first worship experience at my new interim call/job. The congregation has two worship experiences... the early one changes every week from Folk/ Chicago Folk/ Blues Gospel/ Holden Folk. The late worship is Contemporary Praise, which I like and is the largest attended. The morning went well as I begin to learn the rhythm's of the congregation, and while the worship experiences seemed a bit disjointed to me, as I get use to them things should get smoother.
On my last post I said I would reflect on the challenges of being an Interim Pastor.
The first challenge interim's face is that of bringing change. While the congregation I'm serving in seems to embrace change, at least on the surface, I will be changing things. Not so much as changing programs or for that matter how things are done, but by just being me is a shock to the current congregational system. The former pastor was there for 25 years and people knew and understood his quirks and how he went about doing things. Now I come in, with my quirks and ways of doing things... and walla... change happens just by showing up.
The challenge in this is trying to honor the congregation's traditions and ways of doing, while knowing that I have to be me and be the person God has created me to be. So, while nuts and bolts admin and organization stuff will continue for the most part unabated and without much change... being me with my passions and giftedness will in all likelihood cause some friction. It is to be expected and for the most part everyone knows and understands this, but it will cause some heart-ache. I mentioned this in my opening message to them. While the pastor they had a great guy... he is still retired. And while I have great admiration and respect for him... he is still retired. I am not Pr. B and your new pastor is not going to be Pr. B either. Things at ### Lutheran are going to be different from now on. But God will provide and you will make it through this process.
The other challenge and the one that brings it's greatest difficulty is one of relationships. During the interim process the interim is suppose to engage with the congregation and yet be disengaged. To be IN, yet OUT. To love and care, yet..... well I'm not sure.
Many pastors are pastor's because they are relational human beings and quite naturally build relationships with people they are pastoring. The difficult part; is building relationships that naturally happen, then become friendships. This happens just by being you... your persona... your personality. It just happens. Why you might ask is this difficult? Because I will be leaving. I have a set end date, and I can't take them with me.
Friendships for interims in congregations they serve often have difficult endings for both the friend and the interim pastor. While many in the congregation may believe the interim is the best pastor for the congregation and even the interim may believe he or she is a match, many times these arrangements seldom work out.
And there is the challenge... to love the people yet not be connected. I hope and pray I can meet this challenge. I hope...
I will keep posting my reflections about this interim journey as I experience them.
See You Out On The Road
On my last post I said I would reflect on the challenges of being an Interim Pastor.
The first challenge interim's face is that of bringing change. While the congregation I'm serving in seems to embrace change, at least on the surface, I will be changing things. Not so much as changing programs or for that matter how things are done, but by just being me is a shock to the current congregational system. The former pastor was there for 25 years and people knew and understood his quirks and how he went about doing things. Now I come in, with my quirks and ways of doing things... and walla... change happens just by showing up.
The challenge in this is trying to honor the congregation's traditions and ways of doing, while knowing that I have to be me and be the person God has created me to be. So, while nuts and bolts admin and organization stuff will continue for the most part unabated and without much change... being me with my passions and giftedness will in all likelihood cause some friction. It is to be expected and for the most part everyone knows and understands this, but it will cause some heart-ache. I mentioned this in my opening message to them. While the pastor they had a great guy... he is still retired. And while I have great admiration and respect for him... he is still retired. I am not Pr. B and your new pastor is not going to be Pr. B either. Things at ### Lutheran are going to be different from now on. But God will provide and you will make it through this process.
The other challenge and the one that brings it's greatest difficulty is one of relationships. During the interim process the interim is suppose to engage with the congregation and yet be disengaged. To be IN, yet OUT. To love and care, yet..... well I'm not sure.
Many pastors are pastor's because they are relational human beings and quite naturally build relationships with people they are pastoring. The difficult part; is building relationships that naturally happen, then become friendships. This happens just by being you... your persona... your personality. It just happens. Why you might ask is this difficult? Because I will be leaving. I have a set end date, and I can't take them with me.
Friendships for interims in congregations they serve often have difficult endings for both the friend and the interim pastor. While many in the congregation may believe the interim is the best pastor for the congregation and even the interim may believe he or she is a match, many times these arrangements seldom work out.
And there is the challenge... to love the people yet not be connected. I hope and pray I can meet this challenge. I hope...
I will keep posting my reflections about this interim journey as I experience them.
See You Out On The Road
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