Is creating content to communicate about lots of different things around your ministry taking up too much energy? Do you wish you had more administrative support? If so, this podcast titled, “Using AI in Church: How It Lightens My Administrative Load,” is for you. Reverend Tom Hathaway, a solo pastor with no administrative staff support, shares his innovative use of ChatGBT to streamline church administrative tasks such as creating sermon teasers, event descriptions and Bible reading plans, thereby helping him to work more efficiently and stay focused on what he uniquely can do and does best.

Creating a clear, simple statement of mission or purpose for a congregation is no easy feat, and the envy of every pastor I know is that their parishioners embrace it so well that they can share it by heart in their own words in a variety of situations.

In this episode titled, “How We Developed a Communication Plan to Clarify Our Congregation’s Mission,” small church pastor Rev. Tom Hathaway shares how they discovered three deeply resonant traits of the congregation and used them to guide ministry messaging both externally and internally in compelling and efficient ways.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Multigenerational thriving is the dream of every pastor for their congregation. And yet, it doesn’t happen simply by bringing people together. Rather, it results from having evolved a good strategy through careful listening and negotiating the needs and interests of people in their various stages of life.

In this episode titled, “Building Multigenerational Community: How We Found the Balance,” part 2 of the multigen series with Rev. Allison Palm and Sadie Kahn-Green, they share specifics about their strategy and programming that is making authentic and joyful multigenerational community a reality for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua.

Coming out of COVID, the challenge we had was, How can we learn how to be in community together again when we haven't been together in a while?

How can we welcome in new folks who are joining us so that they can get to know the community? And how can we help our community get to know our newer members? 

Sadie Con Green explains the decision to focus on having fun together as a congregation in the spring of 2023.

The congregation organized multi-generational events like game nights, a talent show, and a camping trip to foster interaction across age groups.

The success of these events led to the introduction of more age-specific events to cater to different needs and preferences.

The introduction of circle dinners and kids' movie nights allowed for both multi-generational and age-specific connections.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Many pastors say that multigenerational worship is important, yet admit that finding a healthy balance between togetherness and separateness is elusive. In this episode titled, “Multigenerational Worship: How We Found the Balance, and What It Looks Like,” Rev. Allison Palm and Sadie Kahn-Green of the Unitarian Universality Church in Nashua, NH, share their journey of innovation and discovery to finding a format that works well for their congregation and why.

It has been a journey of trying to figure out what it is we want our Sunday mornings to look like, and what really serves our community, which is a very multigenerational one.

Multigenerational - all together all the time -  worship was the ideal I believed in for faith formation when I started my ministry here 10 years ago.

Why a consistent rhythm of programming is important and what ours looks like;

The Wonder Box &

Switch-it-up Sundays

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

As fewer congregations are able to afford a full-time trained Interim Minister, working with an Interim Consultant on a part-time basis is proving to be an effective way that congregations in transition can have access to the change leadership skills and knowledge so valuable during such times. In this second of two podcasts about the emerging role of the Interim Consultant, Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver shares from her direct experience serving in this role in this episode titled, “What Does An Interim Consultant Do, and How Do They Go About It?”

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

How an Interim Consultant (IC) does their work;

How might an IC work with the leadership of the congregation?

When & how does an IC typically begin working with a congregation? With its Transition Team and/or Pastor Search Team?

Some of the tools the IC may use to guide their work with the congregation: Church Profile, History exercises, Appreciative Inquiry, etc.

Increasingly, congregations find themselves in a transition period – often when a pastor has left – and struggling to find someone with the change leadership skills and knowledge who can help them move forward. This is particularly true for congregations with diminishing resources. Trained Interim Ministers are in short supply and are often already working elsewhere. To this need, a new role is emerging, that of the Interim Consultant. An Interim Consultant has the necessary change leadership skills and can often serve several congregations at once on a part-time basis, therefore making this resource more available and affordable.

In this episode, titled, “What Is an Interim Consultant and How Might One Help Us?,” experienced Interim Consultant, Rev. Dr. Ruth Shaver, shares valuable insight from her direct experience.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

The work of congregational leadership has several components:

• the transitional work itself,

Lay leadership must be involved with the transitional work for there to be ownership of outcomes.

3 basic models for a congregation to work with an Interim Consultant –

• can’t afford a full-time trained (Intentional) Interim Minister;

Talented pastors know that a vision is essential to the congregation’s vitality. They also know that ownership of the vision by the people in the congregation is necessary for it to be effective. And yet, it’s not always clear whether the people own the vision, or if it’s really the pastor’s vision and the people are accepting it because they want to make the pastor happy. In this episode titled, “A Vision-Is It the Congregation’s or the Pastor’s? (and Why It Matters),” gifted pastor, Rev. Liz Miller, shares her experience with this challenge, and what she does in those instances when she sees that, in fact, there’s too much of herself in a vision and not enough of the congregation.

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Transitional ministry has many of the tasks of settled ministry, but with more urgency, especially if the congregation is anxious. This can lead the transitional minister over functioning by doing things the congregation can do themselves. And yet, effective transitional ministry that leaves the congregation in a healthier place, requires that the congregation have ownership for ministries past and present, as well as new ideas. In this episode, Rev. Liz Miller, shares her experience with this challenge in her first-time position as a transitional minister in this episode titled, “Using a Laidback Approach as a First-Time Transitional Minister.”

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

For a pastor who admits having been burned out early in ministry, embracing the bonfire metaphor for her ministry now seems dicey. Yet, Rev. Liz Miller offers this bonfire metaphor to describe a vibrant new stance and perspective for her ministry where she’s close to the heat of things, but no longer consumed by it; paying full attention, yet not holding tightly to particular outcomes. Listen to her lessons learned and new wisdom in this episode titled, “Moving from Burnout to Bonfire.”

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.

Many pastors give a lot to their ministries – much of their life and identity – in their efforts to be a “good pastor.” It works well…until it doesn’t. But then what? In this episode, Rev. Liz Miller speaks to what she discovered after experiencing severe burnout – what she calls “laidback” ministry. It’s a peak into her recent insightful book title, “Only Work Sundays: A Laidback Guide to Doing Less While Helping Your Church Thrive,” which she says came out of her experiments, failures & successes with a more laid-back approach to ministry;

For a transcript of this episode, please visit the Coachingforinterims.com website. In addition, subscribe to this podcast series if you want to be notified when additional podcasts are available.