Guest commentary by Proctor Chambless
Having served in small churches and on Committees on Ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for a good while, I have created a mantra of sorts: Between the ways the United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church place its pastors, there is a BETTER way.
The Methodists have the bishops and superintendents who work with local church committees to place their pastors in their churches. One piece of good news with this style of polity is that the move is swift and minimally disruptive to the church – but not so much to the pastor and the pastor’s family. The district folk have been in conversation with the local parish leaders about the current pastor’s past and future and then someone makes a decision.
Let me confess that I am not an expert on the Methodist system; I have watched it work over the years having been friends with both Methodist ministers and Methodist members.
One piece of the “not so good news” with this system appears to be the perception of the politics involved with moving preachers around in their districts. A happy church wants to keep theirs; a not-so-happy church wants to shed theirs. Big churches look for stability. Small churches hope for the best. But here’s the thing: At least small churches know they will always have leadership.
Now let’s shift to the polity of the PC(USA). I would say that the majority of COMs in our denomination do not fully know the anxiety that falls upon a small church that loses her pastor. I am not going to dwell on the details of our current placement paradigm, but I can tell you from experience that anxiety builds swiftly when a small church hears pulpit supply, mission statement, PNC, MIF, vacancy dues and ‘probably 18 months to two years.’ I can tell you from experience that a church with an average of less than 100 participants in worship feels as though our current placement system is a “ball and chain” that quickly erodes a great deal of energy from the pews.
Somewhere in between there is a better way. And that is the conversation I would like to see the PC(USA) begin. I have one idea to get it started.
Perhaps we expand the designated pastor roll in our denomination. Churches with average worship attendance below 100 have the option of choosing from two streams of pastor placement. One stream is the traditional work of the presbytery through its COM with the local congregation developing its mission and then searching for that pastoral leadership that best fits that ministry, etc. A new stream would be something akin to what the Methodists do. These smaller churches would have the option of working with the presbytery to place a pastor in their pulpit. The presbytery would maintain a current list of those actively seeking a call (what a great way to place seminary graduates?). In conversation via the COM with the local congregation these candidates meet with the local PNC. One is chosen and installed. Each year, at an appropriate time in the latter part of the service year, the COM enters into conversation with the pastor and the church to see how the relationship is going. The option is there, then, to change or maintain.
The devil is in the details! I do believe this is a conversation that would be healthy for our denomination and definitely for our small churches. We are, indeed, a denomination of such churches. Perhaps this (or something like it) could lower the anxiety for both small churches and pastors seeking a call.
PROCTOR CHAMBLESS is interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Waycross, Georgia, and has served churches in six states, often in congregations with less than 150 in worship. He previously served as moderator of Savannah and North Alabama presbyteries and as interim presbytery executive in North Alabama.
