PASTORAL SEARCH COMMITTEE
Lead Healthy | Lead Free
COACHING AND CONSULTING
Can we start off being a little blunt here? Most churches/search committees don’t truly know what they are doing when they are searching for a new lead/senior pastor. Stay with us a bit... let us prove it to you.
The following is the extent of what most search committees do to choose their next pastor:
Look, there isn’t anything wrong with resumes or interviews. In fact, you need both of those as part of your search process. But no one uses the above process (nor even suggests using the above process) to pick a spouse for their child. So why is the process above ok for picking the person leading Jesus’ spouse (the Church)? We submit to you that it is not.
“Wait! Why would you give us all this information for free?”
We are so glad that you asked that too! Because we want you to succeed! We need you to succeed!
For some churches, all they will need is the basic outline that you can access through the link below. If you truly believe that your church can accomplish what it outlines without help, we bless you in Jesus’ name! We are still here to help if you get stuck along the way.
“But we can’t afford help from a search committee coach/consultant.”
Actually, you can afford that help. Churches without lead/senior pastors are not paying a salary to a lead/senior pastor. A portion of that monthly salary absolutely should be invested into getting the help that you need through this process if you, truly need/want the help. That is just a simple principle of good investment stewardship of His resources.
Look, if you truly can’t afford a search committee coach/consultant, then you probably can’t afford a pastor either…which means that your church needs to immediately begin teaching about giving and tithing, as well as prayer (and fasting, if you can), before you do anything else. We are here to help with all of this.
“What is the difference between a Pastoral Search Agency and a Pastoral Search Coach/Consultant?”
A Pastoral Search Agency first helps you define whom you are looking for in a pastor. They then do the work of searching for, sifting through, and initially interviewing potential candidates. They usually then present 2 - 4 vetted final candidates to your church board; who carries the search process from there. It is a GREAT service. But it doesn't help you prepare your church for the transition that they are about to walk through. It doesn't correct problems that will otherwise persist into the new pastor's tenure. That can lead to finding great candidates who don't want to come to your church because you didn't do the work to fix the broken and be the great church that you are. And finally, it doesn't help you navigate how to best handle the 2 - 4 candidates that you are given.
“A Pastoral Search Coach/Consultant does all of that?”
Yes! And so much more. A Pastoral Seach Coach/Consultant can help you best navigate the entire process yourselves, or work beautifully alongside and with a Pastoral Search Agency. (In fact, the agency will often greatly appreciate the work that you have done with the coach/consultant before contacting the agency!)
“What about our denominational leadership?”
Don't assume that all denominational leaders understand how to best navigate the pastoral search process. Many of them have spent most of their time on the pastoral side of that process; and have not received training on best practices concerning the church side of it. Nothing against them at all... just don't assume that they know what they may not know. A little test is to pair their advice against the bullet points at the top of this page. The closer their advice is to sounding like those bullet points, the more that you will need a coach/consultant to help your church through the search process. (And hopefully can help your denominational leader as well!)
On that note, a good Pastoral Seach Coach/Consultant will readily work with and alongside denomination leadership. And most of the time, your denominational leadership will GREATLY appreciate the work that you accomplished with your coach/consultant.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Do you want your church to be fully prepared to properly find and hire your new pastor?
Do you want your church to be fully prepared to receive and successfully launch your new pastor?
Do you want to feel confident that the pastor you hired, is in fact, the right pastor for your church?
Absolutely!
Click here to apply for a FREE consultation with us.
Not ready yet to talk to us? Still needing to see more? No problem. Click the banner below to see the basic outline of our Pastoral Search Committee Operating System.
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Post a quickly (and often poorly) written job ad.
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Collect and review resumes, without clear review parameters.
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Schedule one or two rounds of (usually) virtual interviews – again with unclear parameters concerning the interview process and without truly understanding “what good looks like”.
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And then finally have one, weekend long, in-person meet up with the top candidate pick; that ends with either:
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A “Ministry Marriage” on Sunday night of that weekend… or
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The Search Committee calling the next best candidate on Monday morning to schedule their weekend meet-up / “Ministry Marriage” event.
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So, what should be done differently?
We are so glad that you asked!
We have created a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) detailing the process we recommend using to search for your next pastor. We call it the Pastoral Search Committee Operating System.
At the bottom is a link to the basic outline of the process we recommend and coach/consult search committees to utilize.
Some of you will read through this and quickly realize that you need help through this process. We are here to help you as well.
Whichever camp you are in, here is our ask of you: be humbly honest in evaluating if you need/want help or not. Proverbs 16:18 says that “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall”. This Biblical proverb very much applies to you, your church, and your pastoral search.
If you know you need help, please get it! We are called by the Lord to give it as best we can.