I mentioned a few days ago about Dennis Burton and Wayne Oakes’s theory of “pinching”. Quite simply, a pinch is when expectations between a church and a pastor are not met. Two Sundays ago I presented the covenant agreement to Susan Song Baptist, with one significant difference. In the initial draft, Susan Song Baptist was going to pay the $300.00 for the Reflections meeting. (Essentially, the Reflections time is when a consultant comes from outside the church and evaluates their impressions of the Intentional Interim Ministry. It is a form of quality control that allows the Center for Congregational Health to tweak the ministry and/or the Intentional Interim pastor.) The $300.00 covers transportation and time for the consultant. But I made two mistakes in presenting it:
1) A key church leader was on vacation that Wednesday night I presented the covenant to the Transition Team. I had not yet identified him as a key leader and didn’t realize that his buy-in was necessary to getting the covenant approved.
2) I underestimated the congregation’s concern with money. As I have since learned, the previous pastor brought his extended family with him to church. And most of them tithed. So in addition to losing the pastor, there is a high level of anxiety in the church about finances. So $300.00 was looking like a huge sum to them. (Their average Sunday giving is right about $300.00).
3) I should've given more time for the church to process the document. Although we had discussed it, they had the covenant in writing for only one week before they were set to vote on it.
So last Sunday, right before the service was set to begin, I heard those fateful words that strike frustration into the heart of every pastor, interim or not, “Brother Taran, may we have a word with you?” The leader who was absent, as well as one who was present at the meeting, took me aside and they expressed their concerns. They thought that $300.00 was a lot of money and didn’t fully understand the role of the Reflections consultant. They told me that they would not sign the covenant as it now read.
Ouch.
Getting pinched is uncomfortable, especially right before the service!
3 comments:
So who preached?
I preached covenant free for one more Sunday.
I think you should hold out until you get that covenant signed. You've been in the league too long to take any less...
"Consultants" are universally reviled for their exorbitant prices. Sometimes you just have to swallow and sign on the dotted line.
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