According to www.ChurchManagement.com, 65% of churches have no pastoral succession plan in place. This is unwise. After all, the truth is that churches will have their senior pastors leave by way of retirement, death, resignation, or when another assignment comes along.
When a church does not have a plan at all for succession, it can be detrimental: sometimes congregants leave, or sometimes there is no one available to offer proper quality preaching every week. And when it comes to a long-tenured pastor retiring, the succession plan becomes even more important because of the deep connection the congregation has with that pastor. A pastoral succession plan should be used in two primary situations:
- As a replacement system in place for when a pastor retires
- As a plan of action for when a pastor abruptly leaves.
For the first, the healthiest situation is one where a pastor who has been at a church long term sees that their time is ending. Picture a marathon runner passing the baton to the next runner. There is a smooth hand-off and the race continues.
The second plan is not really one that the church can plan for. This is when the pastor leaves for another assignment or a negative reason such as resignation, sickness, or even death. While this article will focus on a long-term plan for a healthy transition, the sudden plan does need some attention.
Here are six essentials of any pastoral succession plan:
1. Have a Plan
Most churches have no plan at all. The church board or primary leadership team needs to formulate a plan if the current pastor was to abruptly leave. Pastoral succession also means that church leaders need to create a plan for the current pastor to retire at an appropriate age. Preparation for the healthy pastoral succession of the current pastor will require the pastor and a chosen succession team to work in conjunction.
2. A Willing Pastor
For the plan to work, the current pastor must be willing. This is more important than the plan itself. If the current pastor is reluctant or resistant then there is no chance that a healthy “passing of the baton” will ever work. The focus would become, “How do we get the pastor to be willing to do this?”
It is important to note that some pastors don’t want to retire due to not having enough retirement in the form of a 401k or Roth IRA. In these situations, the pastor may fight against a succession plan and stay longer than they should. Subsequently, the church may suffer because they have a leader that is motivated primarily by finances. Even though this article will not deal with this problem, it is an issue that churches will need to address.
Many times, the church knows before the pastor does that it is time for new leadership. This conversation can be awkward and even hurtful to the pastor. The best way to approach the conversation is to have someone who is a trusted leader in the church and who is close to the pastor. The take must also be one of celebration of the pastor instead of it seeming like the pastor is being punished by being pushed out. But at the end of the day, the pastor must be noble and humble to care enough for the church to go down this path.
3. A Willing Succession Team
Once there is a willing pastor, there has to be a succession team that is chosen by the primary leadership of the church. The succession team must care deeply for their pastor and deeply for their church. If they resent the pastor then they will not be effective in helping the plan come to fruition. The other problem will be if they really would like to see the current pastor continue longer in the current role. If this is the case then there will be more arguments than solutions when the team wants to make the plan.
4. A Clear Communication Strategy for the Church
Once the plan is in place and an appropriate timeline has been agreed upon, then the church will need to employ a clear communication strategy. The church board will need to communicate with leadership and have conversations. Then they will need to continue to communicate downstream to the greater church. The strategy will need to have digital elements of a video announcement, a written announcement, a timeline, and a plan of how this will take place. They will need to stick to the plan no matter how they feel.
When there is a communication strategy that is well planned out, then it gives the leadership and congregation time to process their feelings. The clear communication strategy will also give the church comfort in knowing this has been prayed about, agreed upon, and will be executed with grace.
5. The Next Pastor
After the communication has been processed and the congregation has time to deal with the news of a transition, it is then time for the church to start looking toward the future. The succession plan should have a phase where the new pastor will serve alongside the current pastor, and then the current pastor over time will fade into the background.
But first, the church needs to find the next pastor. This search will need to be covered with prayer. The church will use the succession team or have another team to help find the next pastor.
A great way to find quality candidates is to use the services of a church search firm. The church search firm can screen out candidates who do not match the agreed-upon needs of the church. They can do the hard work on the back end so the church can focus on a few quality candidates.
The next pastor will need to be on board as well with the succession plan. Just like an unwilling senior pastor can hamstring the process, so can a resistant prospective pastor. Humility and nobility will be key attributes for this plan to come to fruition.
6. Intentional Prayer
Finally, all these steps need intentional prayer. This is a very spiritual matter and will require the church to pray through the whole process. A succession can ignite a church to bond together in prayer over the plans that God has for them. The leadership will need to send out prayer needs each month, enlist a prayer team for the plan, and find ways to engage the greater congregation in prayer.
The term “succession plan” has the word “success” in it. For a church to have continued success after their senior leader leaves, it will need to have a succession plan while the leader is still in place. A succession plan must include mature and humble church leaders as well as a senior pastor who exhibits the same qualities.
No matter the size of the church, the style of the church, or the denomination of the church, every church needs a succession plan on paper to ensure the future success of the church.
