COREY PERRINE/NAPLES DAILY NEWS
5 By Tim Brown P
astors and congregations live in transition. Congregants come and congregants go. Pastors
arrive and pastors leave. In some contexts this is more common than in others, and it’s worth noting that there is a vocational push these days to encourage pastors to stay with a parish for a while. (For more on this topic, check out the “Slow Church” movement at
www.patheos.com/ blogs/slowchurch.) But even if a pastor stays for
many years at a particular parish, it’s more likely than not that at some point parishioners and clergy will experience the anxiety, pregnant joy and hand-wringing expectation that comes with calling a new minister. So let’s imagine that your parish
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has just said goodbye to a pastor, even one who is dearly beloved, and has now welcomed someone new. She’s in, she’s had her first Sunday, and now you’re wondering, “What’s next?” Based on my experience, here are
five things that happen when a new pastor arrives.
1. New people show up. Tey will. Te new pastor will speak to new people who don’t know or remember the last minister, and they will make this new pastor their own. She is their pastor. When you talk about “Pastor So-and-So’s way of doing things,” they won’t know the reference. Tey will desire, and start, new traditions. Tey’ll spark
some change, even as they hope for and create friendships with long- time members who loved the way things used to be. When a new pastor comes, so
do new people. Tis transition will require the congregation to love Christ enough to welcome the stranger and risk taking a chance on new ideas from new people.
2. Some people will leave. We don’t like to talk about this, and we don’t like to think about this, but it’s true. Perhaps they’re leaving because
the previous pastor’s departure gives them the freedom to also move on aſter being heavily involved. Perhaps they’ve been on the margins of the
They were new pastors: Sadí Omar Vila (left) was ordained in April 2015 and serves as associate pastor of Shepherd of the Glades Lutheran Church, Naples, Fla. Cinda Brucker (above), ordained in 2010, serves Trinity Lutheran Church, Hughesville, Pa.
things that happen when you get a new pastor
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