We've had a few weeks without any entries regarding the search committee, so I'll pass some notes along here. I’ve been thinking about this “live blogging” of a pastoral search and balancing the fact that some might find this helpful verses the confidentiality which we keep as a committee. My intention is to be somewhat circumspect and emphasize that this is how we are approaching this task and other strategies would work equally well. I hope some might find it helpful.
The PSC (Pastor Search Committee) put together a Search Committee covenant. I think we’re going to put it up on our church’s website, but I would prefer not to link to our church through Coffeespoons. We signed the covenant and shared it with Lakeview. They appreciated (or feigned appreciation for) the fact that we communicated our expectations for ourselves and for the church in the document.
We then decided that to give the church an opportunity to identify our own strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. We conducted break-out sessions after a Sunday evening service and divided the congregation into smaller groups to get their perspective on these issues. I should mention that there were a few in the church (though not on the committee) who found it to be a waste of time, apparently thinking that we should simply go into seclusion for eighteen months and then signal our choice for the new pastor with white smoke. We then went through their responses so that we now have a good idea of the church's self perception. (It was almost identical to our own evaluation of these areas of our church).
The committee has also spent several meetings identifying the particular procedures we will use for interacting with candidates. We have received several resumes over the last few months. As the chairman, I will call each name we receive and will have an initial conversation with them to see if they are still interested in being a candidate for the position. Following this conversation we will begin the process of prayerfully considering the various candidates. When we have a few that we want to hear we will go and attend a worship service at the church where they are currently pastoring.
Looking ahead, I have been somewhat concerned about the level of theological understanding of Lakeview Baptist. Oddly, I think our church has a strong understanding of tier one and tier three level doctrines, but not as much of tier two doctrines. Essentially, whatever the pastor has believed, the church has followed. For example, I don't know that our church has a position on the issue of open or closed communion, accepting those baptized by immersion in another tradition, or divorced deacons. My concern is that when we begin the process of talking with candidates we will get some questions that we have not previously addressed as a church.
So in an effort to begin a conversation on these questions, each PSC meeting will include a discussion about a sections of the BF&M. My hope is that it will help us have a clearer understanding of our theological foundation. Then when we begin to speak with a pastor we will have a better understanding of our own beliefs and a framework for discussing his.
The PSC (Pastor Search Committee) put together a Search Committee covenant. I think we’re going to put it up on our church’s website, but I would prefer not to link to our church through Coffeespoons. We signed the covenant and shared it with Lakeview. They appreciated (or feigned appreciation for) the fact that we communicated our expectations for ourselves and for the church in the document.
We then decided that to give the church an opportunity to identify our own strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. We conducted break-out sessions after a Sunday evening service and divided the congregation into smaller groups to get their perspective on these issues. I should mention that there were a few in the church (though not on the committee) who found it to be a waste of time, apparently thinking that we should simply go into seclusion for eighteen months and then signal our choice for the new pastor with white smoke. We then went through their responses so that we now have a good idea of the church's self perception. (It was almost identical to our own evaluation of these areas of our church).
The committee has also spent several meetings identifying the particular procedures we will use for interacting with candidates. We have received several resumes over the last few months. As the chairman, I will call each name we receive and will have an initial conversation with them to see if they are still interested in being a candidate for the position. Following this conversation we will begin the process of prayerfully considering the various candidates. When we have a few that we want to hear we will go and attend a worship service at the church where they are currently pastoring.
Looking ahead, I have been somewhat concerned about the level of theological understanding of Lakeview Baptist. Oddly, I think our church has a strong understanding of tier one and tier three level doctrines, but not as much of tier two doctrines. Essentially, whatever the pastor has believed, the church has followed. For example, I don't know that our church has a position on the issue of open or closed communion, accepting those baptized by immersion in another tradition, or divorced deacons. My concern is that when we begin the process of talking with candidates we will get some questions that we have not previously addressed as a church.
So in an effort to begin a conversation on these questions, each PSC meeting will include a discussion about a sections of the BF&M. My hope is that it will help us have a clearer understanding of our theological foundation. Then when we begin to speak with a pastor we will have a better understanding of our own beliefs and a framework for discussing his.
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5 comments:
Dunking new believers, divorced prospective deacons, you may as well add lady deacons(since it is well known that the women get the job done...just no title)and you may add divorced ministers...I've know three in So. Bapt. churches.
anon
Anon,
Those are all definately tier two issues, but I didn't include them for Lakeview. I do have a good idea of where Lakeview stands on them. The church would generally be unsupportive of each of the situations you describe.
Interestingly, I had a church parking lot conversation with a church family member last night about general family interest in church administration. We had a congregational lunch meeting after church to approve the budget with a paltry turnout. Some leaders were disappointed believing that the family doesn't care about big church decisions. Our pastor's response was that they 1. probably don't feel like their attendance will truly influence the process since the budget committee, elders, and the staff had already signed off on the budget and 2. hopefully, trust those leaders to do a good job. Definitely a tension in how much to include the whole family while it's not always efficient to have hundreds of decision-makers but so that they feel included in the process and contribute some insights the committees may not have discovered.
Bonita,
I recently had a similar conversation. The night we had our breakout session, attendance was quite low. As a committee, we decided it was because of one of two things: either everyone trusted us to properly evaluate the church, or they just didn't care.
Feedback, Morning attendance, and giving, lead me to conclude that the first possibility is the correct one.
Why does the art used in this post remind me of the old Soviet Union? "Work! Build! For Mother Russia!"
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