Potential Traps/Danger Points for the Ministerial Director

If a pastor is moving to a new church/district because they are given that choice, your work here will be much different than if a pastor is being moved because it was necessary to move them.

For those instances where a pastoral move is happening for all the right reasons, here's a page with some resources you can use to minister effectively to a pastor in transition.

Sometimes a move becomes necessary for their own protection from a church so dysfunctional that staying would harm the pastor. But we all know that sometimes a move is needed to give the pastor another chance to do better than he or she has been currently doing.

The biggest mistake that can be made here is not telling the pastor why they are being moved so that they will have ample time and motivation to shore up those areas of their pastoral or personal life that caused the need for the move to take place. That may well put you at odds with the pastor, at least at first. But if you can show that you are there for them, chances are they will be more ready to hear your counsel on how to grow and learn from their previous assignment.

This will be much easier for you to do if they know that it wasn't you that forced the move. This is a good time to lean on a committee and lay the blame there. That's part of their function, so that decisions such as this are not personalized to someone like you. But that does not mean that you cannot be frank with them as you talk with them. They will be more apt to hear you when you speak if they know you are in their corner and that you want to do all you can to help them succeed.

Be prepared to spend extra time with a pastor experiencing a move under these circumstances. They are likely to need extra support during the transition and immediately following. If they do not receive some coaching and support during this sensitive time, they might well turn om the conference administration and on you as well.

Pastoral Moves

Pastoral Moves