Transition Team Meeting

I have been remiss in not pointing out one of the most important elements of the Intentional Interim process: the Transition Team. The Team is self-selected from the congregation and must provide a cross section of the congregation that reflects the various ethnic, gender, and age differences within the church. Basically, you want every group (or clique!) within the congregation to have representation on the Transition Team.

Essentially, the Intentional Interim Minister (IIM) directs the Transition Team through the five developmental tasks and then they assist in working with the rest of the church through each task. The IIM also works to build things like community and conflict resolution techniques into the Transition Team so that it models these characteristics to the rest of the congregation.

Galatians 5:9 “A little leaven works through the whole batch of dough” is the verse that reminds me of the work of the Transition Team. Just as gossip and anger can spread until they infest the entire congregational body, so can love and community. By transforming a small group, the church can begin to change.

Last night at Susan Song Baptist we had our first Transition Team meeting. Unlike the typical church that goes through the II process, Susan Song is so small that the Transition Team consists of anyone who comes to church on Wednesday night (about 50% of the church membership!). In order to get to know one another we started off with the Quaker Questions. These elicited some interesting responses. There were two people who grew up with 9 or more siblings and three of the nine grew up in share-cropping families.

One interesting note is that one of the key members of the congregation (he’s in his mid sixties) is illiterate. I was tipped off to that fact shortly before I started calling on people to read the devotional text!

We worked on our decision making processes and reviewed the five developmental tasks. Then we ended with prayer requests and prayer. Overall they were pleased with meeting.

On the way out to our cars, I overheard one lady say to another "Judy, I found out something about you that I didn't know before!" Judy replied "I bet that we find out even more about each other before this process is over!"

It was music to my ears.