Senior Minister Seach Committee
AN INTERIM TIME
From the Fountain ~ February, 5th 2006
Few topics around First Congregational have been so talked about recently, as the “interim”. Why do we need it? What is it? What are the rules about what happens when a minister leaves?
Many have asked my thoughts about this process and our future. I have tried to talk with various folks and groups about these topics, but felt it might be best to use the Fountain to talk more about this.
I believe that we need the benefit of an interim time. Roger Schwanhausser and our Transition team have been working harder than most of us know to do the right and faithful thing for our church. Susan Townsley, our conference minister, has been working alongside them. And they are modeling what we most need to do now, and that is to prayerfully and faithfully ask for God’s direction and leading. You should know this and I hope you will support them, in prayer and other ways, as they do. In a short time this group will announce that a person has been found to lead us through this time.
I know all of us are anxious to move ahead as quickly as possible and the truth is that we will. But the interim is not just a holding period that lets a congregation regroup in order to call a new minister. That may be the interim’s least important task. It is not a fallow or unproductive time.
There will also be a time to look ahead. It will be a time for our congregation to define, on its own, but with the help of the interim minister, what its real strengths are. The church can rediscover a shared dream, restate its purpose and clarify our vision and mission as God’s people.
There will also be a time to look at our history. We really need to understand our past as fully as we can. There is much in our heritage which can direct us, but there are also wounds which need to be healed, practices that might be examined and voices which need to be heard. I know this is not the easy part of an interim but it might be the most important. Congregations which fail to make the best use of the interim time tend to repeat their history with the new minister. This can lead to pain and confusion for the minister and prevent the congregation from meeting its goals of spiritual growth for its members and ministry to its community.
Friends, this interim will shape us for a long time. And so we must walk into this time with a good and open spirit, trusting that God is with us and leading us, and treating each other as a brother or sister in Christ. I encourage you to be engaged in this process and see it for the gift it is. Support the transition team, welcome the new interim minister and receive the gifts God has given them. And pray for our church, giving thanks and seeking direction.
In the past few days and weeks I have felt a good and new spirit within our church. I can’t tell you how wonderful that feels to me and I hope you have felt it also. Let us build upon that growing sense of a new day. I just know that God has wonderful things in store for his people at First Congregational. Let us receive and accept all that God gives us and let us give and share all that God asks of us. And mostly may we let Jesus be the one who leads us.
I ask this of you my faithful friends and I pray for God’s blessing upon each one of you and our beloved church.
Peace,
Mark+