How can a pastor avoid common pitfalls and make the most of opportunities when moving from one congregation to the next? In this episode we speak with Lovett H. Weems, Jr., about how to plan for a pastoral transition, leave well, and get off to a strong start in a new church.

Transcript

Ann A. Michel

Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Announcer: How can a pastor avoid common pitfalls and make the most of opportunities when moving from one congregation to the next? In this episode we speak with Lovett H. Weems, Jr., about how to plan for a pastoral transition, leave well, and get off to a strong start in a new church.

Ann Michel: I’m Ann Michel, host of this Leading Ideas Talks podcast. And I’m happy to be talking again with my esteemed colleague, Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr. Lovett is the founding director of our Lewis Center for Church leadership and he’s now serving with us as a senior consultant. We’re going to be chatting today about the subject of pastoral transitions. When a clergy person leaves one church and begins ministry in another. So welcome, Lovett, glad to have you here today.

Lovett Weems: Thank you, happy to be with you.

Ann Michel: So over the years, Lovett, of course, has been a prominent voice on so many important subjects related to church leadership but the subject of pastoral transition has been one that has received a lot of his attention through research and teaching and various workshops that he’s taught over the years. Let me begin by asking this: why is it so important for congregations and for pastoral leaders to be intentional when a change in clergy leadership is occurring?

Lovett Weems: Transitions are always times of great opportunity and great vulnerability. They’re great opportunities because you have new leadership coming, or a leader is going into a new situation. But there’s also great vulnerability because someone is going from what’s known to what’s unknown and a congregation is going from what’s known to what’s unknown. So, at a personal level, for the pastor, for any family, for any networks of support, it’s a critical time. But for organizations, including congregations, any time there is a change of leadership it’s a very important time and needs to be handled very well.

Ann Michel: I’ve heard you talk in many different situations on how leaders really grow during critical junctures. And I think that probably a transition is that time of a critical juncture when there’s an opportunity for growing as a leader. Do you think that’s the case?

Lovett Weems: Absolutely. But there’s also a tendency for someone to think, whether this is a pastor or someone at a secular job, that what they have done up to that point was good enough to bring them this far and it will be good enough to take them the next step. And it almost never is. It seems like that you’re going to be doing something very similar to what you’ve done before. and you’re going to be in the same denomination. And you may even be going to a church that’s somewhat similar to the church you’ve served. and yet, we have to realize that everything is changing. And so, the very skills that a pastor used in their early days to pay attention, to notice what’s going on, to pick up signals about how they’re being received, you have to do that again. So with time, pastors gain confidence. But sometimes it can be overconfidence. I’ve seen this, I’ve done this, I can do it. And yet, they need to go back into a learning mode in order to be able to make the most out of this new opportunity.

Ann Michel: Yeah, so it’s important for even an experienced pastor to recognize that a change is always going to bring new challenges and new ways of growing, really. I think many of our listeners, whether they’re pastors or congregants, may well have lived through pastoral transitions, perhaps many. Some might have gone well, perha