Every recently arrived pastor feels the presence of the preceding minister. This can be a positive or a negative feeling. A pastor leaving a church can provide several categories of information to make sure his or her legacy is a positive one
Records
The membership roll should be up to date. It should include:
• Name of each member
• Current address
• Date of membership
• Method of membership (baptism, confirmation, transfer, or reinstatement)
In several denominations these records are kept by a lay volunteer. In most large congregations membership records are maintained by a paid staff member. Nevertheless, the departing minister should check to be sure that the membership roster is in order. A constituent roster should include persons who identify with the congregation but are not carried on the membership roll. This list may be nearly as long as the membership roster.
If a picture directory has been prepared, a copy of the two most recent editions should be given to the new minister. A list of shut-ins and others who need special attention from the pastor should be available. In many respects, the most valuable list of names a predecessor can leave behind is that of prospective new members, but too often it is carried in the pastor's head, and no written record exists.
The new minister will be grateful for a roster of all leaders and workers. It should include a list of all officers and also a list of Sunday school teachers, ushers, and others with special responsibilities. As a general rule, charter members expect a little extra deference, so if today's membership roll includes any charter members, their status should be noted.
If a new building has been constructed during the past several years, the successor will find it useful to receive a list of the names of the persons on the building committee. One reason this group deserves special attention is the widespread tendency for one or more members of the building committee to drop into inactivity after completion of construction. The new minister may be in a position to reactivate those former leaders by means of some active listening.
These ten financial records should be made available to the incoming minister:
• Last year's budget
• This year's budget
• Proposed budget for next year
• Financial statement for last year
• Financial statement for year to date
• Amount and repayment schedule of any current indebtedness, including accumulated unpaid bills
• Total expenditures on a year-by-year basis for the past twelve years
• Total receipts from member giving (excluding loans, rentals, etc.) for each of the past twelve years
• Amount given by each of the top twenty contributors last year (without names attached to the dollar figures)
• Sources of all benevolence giving, including special offerings, designated gifts, and budgeted items. The attendance records should include:
• Average attendance at Sunday morning worship for each of the past twelve years
• Sunday-by-Sunday worship attendance record for the past calendar year plus to date for this year
• Average attendance for each Sunday school class
• Average attendance for special services such as Easter, Christmas Eve, the annual meeting, and other special occasions
A copy of the history of this congregation should be made available to the new minister. Several pastors have left to their successor a file, or a bound volume, of the bulletins for the past year and of each issue of the parish newsletter.
Ideally, this bundle of a dozen different sets of records should be gathered by a group of lay volunteers, not the departing minister, and given to the successor either immediately on arrival or even before arrival. The greater the lay ownership in putting this package together, the more helpful those members can be to the new minister. The departing pastor should make it happen rather than do it.
Real Estate
A new minister should receive a key to every door that will lock in the building. Most older buildings have distinctive characteristics or idiosyncrasies, and the new minister should be advised about the doors that will not lock, the rooms that cannot be heated without overheating the rest of the building, and the public address system that picks up local fire department calls.
If the congregation provides a church-owned residence for the pastor, it should be repaired and improved during the period of vacancy. The departing minister should be honest rather than polite in providing a complete list of all necessary repairs.
If, as is increasingly common, the congregation pays a housing allowance rather than providing a church-owned residence, the departing minister could raise the question with the finance committee as to whether the allowance is adequate for a newcomer to purchase a home at current interest rates.
If the congregation owns a gymnasium, fellowship hall, or other building space used by nonmembers, the new minister should receive a list of policies and rules governing the facility and a schedule of the projected events for the next several months.
Program
A three or four-page list might include:
• Strongest groups, classes, organizations, choirs, and programs.
• Proposals for new programs now in the planning stage
• The most important annual events (such as the traditional format for Christmas Eve, the schedule for Easter Sunday, or the annual celebration of the congregation's founding)
• Traditional role of the choir
• Regular weekly schedule, including any seasonal changes
• Traditional responsibilities of any staff person (Does the associate minister always preach the Sunday after Easter? Who leads the worship experience on laity Sunday?)
• Special warnings on what is "off limits here"
• Local traditions for weddings, funerals, baptisms, farewells to departing members, a rose on the altar for the birth of a baby, or installation services for new officers
• Comments on the distinctive responsibilities and roles of special program staff, both lay and volunteer
Community
Ensure that the new pastor receives:
• A map of the community, preferably with homes of members spotted on it
• An economic and social statement about the community (often available from the local chamber of commerce or planning agency)
• Information about the local school systems, both public and private
• Traditional expectations of that congregation in regard to the role of the pastor as a community leader
• A list of the churches in the community or neighborhood with a few comments about relationships between this congregation and each of the others in programming (such as a union Thanksgiving service)
• Any special local tax provision for which the new minister may be held responsible
• A list of community events and programs this congregation and/or its pastor traditionally have shared in, such as the baccalaureate program for high school seniors or organ recitals.
People
Perhaps the one possibility that produces considerable anxiety among the laity is that the departing minister might leave for the successor an annotated membership file describing all the characteristics, problems, faults, weaknesses, and shortcomings of each member. Obviously that should be avoided!
The departing minister might consider, however, a few notes on individuals who possess unfulfilled potential or who see themselves in the line of succession for certain leadership positions or who hold community leadership responsibilities. Some new pastors also appreciate being advised, "You should know that Mabel Jones is Harold Brown's sister."
The most useful "list" in this category may be the creation of a committee that will take the initiative and spend a few weeks helping the new minister become oriented to the community and acquainted with the members. Too often the call committee disbands after planning the reception for the new pastor.
Personal Concerns
Many new pastors appreciate knowing whom the predecessor chose as family physician, dentist, babysitter, or automobile mechanic, and who services the parsonage plumbing. Some pastors also leave behind a note on the vacation schedule followed by the departing pastor or the names of ministers who might fill the pulpit in an emergency. Others may suggest special recreational and holiday opportunities.
Victories and Defeats
One of the most effective methods of helping the new minister gain a sense of the distinctive legacy left by the predecessor accomplished by one pastor who left behind two lists. One was labeled, "The six most meaningful highlights of my ministry here." The other was headed, "My six most serious mistakes." To make such lists requires a considerable sense of personal and professional security on the part of the predecessor, but it can be very helpful to the new minister.
Other Pastors
Organize several neighboring pastors to call on the new minister. Few pastors take the initiative to meet their new ministerial neighbors.
Unsolved Problems
"I know that none of my predecessors had a pleasant relationship with this choir director, and I haven't either," reflected one minister to himself as he was preparing to leave, "but maybe my successor will be able to work out a better relationship." Substitute for "choir director" such titles as custodian, organist, church secretary, associate minister, or director of Christian education, and that reflection covers thousands of situations.
If the departing minister is convinced that a serious and continuing problem exists, it may be appropriate to attempt to resolve it before leaving rather than passing that legacy on to the successor. This same generalization applies to that leak in the roof, the church school budget, or to the need to rotate a long-term member out of a particular office. It often is easier for the departing minister to face these unpleasant situations than for the new pastor.
A Healthy Termination
Whenever the pastor-parish relationship is terminated, some people feel a sense of loss and grief. In the case of most long pastorates, this grief may be so profound that it automatically casts the successor in an "interim pastor" role.
The departing minister often can reduce the unproductive dimensions of the termination by an early announcement of the decision to leave, by cooperation with the congregation's desire to plan an impressive good-by party, and by a willingness to accept a farewell gift. The humble minister who gives the people only a week or two to adjust to the announcement and who refuses to participate in any farewell events may be helping to convert grief into a destructive response—with the successor becoming the recipient of those negative feelings.
The congregation must be given time to recover from the shock of the announcement, to plan a farewell event, and to become adjusted to the fact that a change will be made. People, like horses, do not like to be surprised. Sometimes they react to surprises with destructive behavior.
Finally, a pastor should not use that last sermon as the occasion to unload years of pent-up hostility. That may be a therapeutic exercise for the departing minister, but it also undercuts the people's respect for the office of pastor—and the successor who will inherit that office inherits the attitude.
The task of preparing this legacy sounds like a big load to place on the departing minister. It is—and some will not accept it. They should turn most of the work over to a lay committee.
There is another value in this checklist, however. It also can be used by the prospective new minister as a resource in suggesting expectations for the members to consider as they prepare to welcome their next pastor.
