Every discussion was closely filtered as I tried to remember my job… as I tried to remember they could still say “goodbye” in only a matter of months. Every thought was about five years down the road. In a position where my job was to get in, help to process and move forward, and get out… I just wanted to stay.Įvery part of me ached to be there. I felt myself sliding down a slippery slope and couldn’t find anything to grab onto. I began to welcome the interruptions in the office rather than dreading them. The tireless days were filled with joy and excitement. I served communion to a young adult who hadn’t stepped foot in the sanctuary in years. I got my first hug and a “thanks” from a youth. I took my confirmation class on a retreat.
TRANSITIONAL PASTOR MEANING UPDATE
So, I worked until I had nothing left to give at the church and then went home to run a few job searches, update my PIF, and pray that something – anything- would show up. What college will I go to? What seminary will I go to? Where will I work after graduation? Where will I work when this contract runs out? Where will I go when they find an installed pastor? Every day marking one more drop of sand in the hour glass. A side-line life I had lived since the beginning of time, it seemed. I was also trying to figure out my next step beyond this position. My days off were spent problem solving from my couch at home. on a good day, eating lunch at the desk as I kept working. Among other struggles, I barely slept and lost all sense of personal life and boundaries as I tried to dig myself out of the chaos I had jumped into (fall in youth ministry is anything but slow and peaceful – if you ever take a youth ministry job, start in December.) I sat down at my desk no later than 8:30 a.m. It was something I knew I was good at and even better, I would be serving with some fantastic, much more experienced pastors. A weird way to describe it, but an appropriate one I think. Until one party falls head over heels in love with the other. “Transitional” is a fancy word for “interim who can reapply and possibly stay,” but at the same time after a year, neither party would be caught off guard if it is decided that it is not a good fit and the contract isn’t renewed. After interviewing one another (and after they interviewed a few others), we agreed that it was a good fit for the time being.
TRANSITIONAL PASTOR MEANING FULL
The church needed someone at the desk and in the classroom until they could conduct a full search for an installed pastor. It is a filler for two parties – I needed a job as my contract ran out with my previous position and could not be renewed. Only five months into my first transitional position, I know this isn’t for me. I truly admire interim pastors who make a career out of going from one church to another and helping congregations work through loss, grief, discernment, and rebuilding. No course can teach you what to do when the one thing you want is likely the one thing you can’t have in that field of ministry.
I entered this position knowing the nature of it – I had even been through training for this, but no one can train you for the day that the good-for-now, transitional job becomes the dream job and renews a passion that had been packed away in a tidy little box and hidden in the back of the closet. But it is one of those hidden nights – one of those nights when I can’t sleep because of the nature of this fleeting call. I don’t know if anyone will ever read what I am writing now. I don’t know if anyone has ever actually written about the non-professional side of interim or transitional ministry – the side that stays well hidden, out of sight and out of mind, from the majority of the world.
0 kommentar(er)
