Celebrating the Old, Welcoming the New: How Churches Nail Leadership Changes
Insights from the successful ones
~990 words - about four minutes of reading
The military developed After-Action Reviews (AARs) to formalize the evaluation of their exercises and discover what participants had learned that could be applied to future battle plans.
The quick format practices were then transferred to other contexts. Peter Drucker always counseled a working manager to write down the outcomes of a planned decision and then compare them six months later to see what happened.
I was recently reflecting on the past two years of Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ clients and what they did right in the process to achieve a successful outcome.
I served a dozen or so churches during that season. (two years but over 70 over the past 7 years) While the results are not final, all have gone well. (I don’t mark a real success until three years after handing over leadership)
The clients have been:
A mix of tribe, tradition, and governance approaches.
Nationwide – not just one region.
Founding Pastors and Non-Founding Pastors.
Some with internal candidates, some with external candidates, and some with both.
So, the above factors were not determinative.
What are the Common Factors?
Church Long-Term Health as Driver
In every case, the current leader, board, and other participating groups considered the church's long-term health. Current pastors surely have very personal concerns about their futures, but everyone wanted what was best for the church on a longer-term basis.
On that basis, decisions were made to benefit and serve all the parties well.
Current Senior Pastor Readiness
The current leader and their spouse were emotionally ready to enter the process. This was true whether the leader was in their 40s, 50s or 60s. All were ready to lean into the conversations and important decisions to be made.
While they did not always drive the process, they were ready to participate appropriately to help the church achieve a good outcome.
Did not set timelines too early.
People get fixated on a timeline. Boards want to see a timeline. But you never know until you start and get into it. We can usually establish one quickly, but when timelines drive the early season of the process, churches run into trouble.
Started early but were flexible
This is not a contradiction to the one preceding it.
Current pastors often take a very long-term view of their hand-off season. But once we get started in the process and they see the potential to be productive in their next season in a different way, the timelines get shorter.
Board teams wanted to do their job well and were fine with starting earlier rather than being rushed.
My current story is about a pastor who recently told me, “I am thinking about five years from now, but if you asked my wife, she would say tomorrow” (Not a client yet).
I responded, “When has it paid off to stop listening to your wife?”
Boards or equivalents stepped up
Almost all long-serving Senior Pastors (about 98% of my clients) receive a lot of deference to their leadership by the board. Founders certainly get that privilege.
Likewise, most churches I serve are staff-led, run, and managed daily.
At the same time, lay governance systems oversee the total work. A good board even supercharges the ministry's work there (that is part of the Building Better Boards process).
During this process, though, board members must step forward to own the process. This gives the congregation great confidence in the total transition. The people need to see the board taking action, even when they delegate some activities to a search team or other teams to work on during the process.
An essential step in planning a future succession plan is to reinforce the board’s strengths with the right players.
The pastors conducted the one-to-one, small group, and leader team meetings as coached.
In the Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ process design, the current senior pastor has assignments for specific conversations.
Almost every time, I get resistance. “Do I really have to do these?”
Each looked different in its scripts and questions, and we adapted to each church’s unique culture and situation. After those conversations, every pastor said, “I am so glad we did that. I dreaded it, but it was a marvelous season for me.”
Gave Enough Notice Publicly
This is a key part of the process. Senior Pastors need to give congregations adequate time to process the transition. That can look different depending on the search that will be required. However, each gave enough time for the process to work and hit the timeline targets.
With the guidance in the process, all hit their timelines for selecting the next leader and handoff. Those timelines had some contextual factors, but we can usually hit the dates on track when you have seen as many as I have.
Post-handoff agreements and ministry breaks were formulated well
About 85% of the client crop in the past two years had their current senior pastor remain in the community, with a significant majority continuing in a role at the church into the future. However, the teams worked hard to define those roles, how they would be monitored, and what length of sabbatical or break would be gifted to them post-handoff.
These breaks allowed for rest and reflection but also let the next leader to lead boldly without a former pastor in the shadows.
Celebrated Well
One of the Basic Succession Statements comes into play here: “The more a congregation can express their appreciation and affection for the current pastor, the more likely they are to embrace the next leader.” I have seen some marvelous and appropriate celebrations where the congregation has celebrated what God has done through that pastor’s leadership in their tenure.
Those celebrations enhance and encourage everyone in the process.
There are more to mention, but these are the essential ones.
Is it time to start talking about your plan?
Many who see my slides and examine my approach do not hire me, which is fine. But they do say: “You just saved us a lot of time and money.”
I am happy to do a private session for you; just let me know. Just reply to this email.
After that, we can also do a FREE Senior Pastor Smart Succession ™ Roadmap call with your team to map out some time considerations and pathways for you to consider.
MORE FREE STUFF FROM ME
Next Sunday Podcast – Featuring Jim Sheppard and Frank Bealer from Generis.
33 Basic Statements on Senior Pastor Succession – free booklet for US mailing addresses. Request here.
Emergency Succession Plan Template Request - every pastor and church needs one. Just email me for a free template you can use. Dave.Travis@Generis.com