Sometimes you are the outgoing pastor, sometimes you are the new guy. Once you have been the new preacher, you evermore hope the old pastor gets it right. As the Lord said when commanding Israel to be kind to foreigners around them, “For you were strangers in Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). You’ve been there; you know how it feels.
There are several schools of thought on how the outgoing pastor can ease the transition of the incoming minister.
One says the pastor should train his lay leadership so well, with them doing their jobs and keeping their eyes on Jesus, that when the pastor moves on, the church transitions seamlessly to the new minister’s leadership.
A second says the outgoing pastor should work alongside the incoming preacher for weeks, months, up to a year, before leaving. However, few strong (incoming) pastors want to serve as backup to anyone for very long. Most of us have sufficient confidence in our Lord and our abilities to want the former pastor gone so we can get started.
The third school, to which I subscribe, has the outgoing pastor doing some or all of the following:
- Leave quickly after resigning (two weeks is plenty) and allow an interim pastor to handle the church transition. A transitional pastor can prepare the congregation for their new minister in ways you cannot.
- See that mature and godly members are in place to select the new pastor and to run the ongoing program of the church during the interim.
- If the lay leadership need training in finding a pastor or working with the next pastor, the interim minister is in a better position to do this than you.
Pray for your successor. Rejoice in his or her successes. And when members call you with criticism of unfamiliar methods, end the conversation as quickly as possible.
Ideally, you should move far enough away that you will not be tempted to drive back to your favorite restaurant, your longtime dentist, or a wedding/funeral you just “could not miss.”
One of the best things you can do for the next pastor is to get distance and pray for success far beyond anything you were able to accomplish.
