An experienced senior pastor told me just before my ordination in 1974 that year one of a pastorate was infatuation, year two was toleration, and year three was abomination. He laughed as he shared that nugget, but I sensed that he believed there was something to it. Enjoy the honeymoon, he seemed to be saying, because it will end soon enough. In the fall of 2012, I completed a 38-year pastorate. That’s not the longest one on record, but it’s far longer than the average pastorate. People often congratulate me for staying on such a long course. Then they ask me: “How did you do it?”
My first response is that I didn’t do it by some grand design. Entering as solo pastor of a small congregation right out of seminary, I knew that I wanted to stay long enough to learn a lot and give something back. I had resolved, God willing, to stay beyond the five-year mark. My second response is that it was really a series of four pastorates – four major chapters – all in one sitting.
Chapter one. There were about 50 in worship. The neighborhood was semi-rural, with a large farm behind the church building and a cluster of homes near it on a narrow dead-end lane. The church had had three pastors in the decade preceding my arrival. It was a rather common “three years and out” pattern for small congregations, at least back then. As I was coming right out of seminary, still in my 20s, the unspoken expectation of the congregation was that I would be there for about three years. They simply hoped these would be three good years — and then I would go somewhere else, and they would begin yet another pastoral search.
When I began my fourth year there, I realized that I had new opportunities to share the vision and expand the congregation’s sense of itself and its mission. There was no dramatic change, but a threshold had been crossed and the dynamics of trust and openness were changing in positive ways. That continued to increase in years five, six, and seven.
It was a happy time for the congregation and for me. They began believing that they were not merely a stepping-stone for young pastors needing to get to some experience under their belts before becoming seasoned pastors. I was enjoying seeing the congregation grow numerically and in self-understanding. The first pastorate culminated in the addition of a second Sunday morning worship gathering and a modest building project, both in the five-to-seven-year period. These energized me and brought forth gifts in me that would otherwise have remained dormant or underutilized.
Chapter two. At about the seven-year mark I experienced some restlessness (my seven-year itch?). I wrote and circulated a new resume. Some interviews came and went well, but they effectively served to confirm my sense of calling to where I was. As time passed, I began to realize that I was moving into a new pastorate without moving. The congregation was a good bit different after seven years — and so was I.
The second pastorate was marked by the development of staff colleagues. Adding an associate pastor was a major initiative, even though she was hired on an experimental basis of 12 hours a week for three months. That was renewed for a quarter year at a time until the one-year mark she was made full-time. Next, we added niche ministry leaders, all part-time. We added these one-by-one, usually without funding in hand. The church had no endowment for a safety net, so it was an adventure in faith and vision — and it was working.
A second building project added needed Christian education and community space, and toward the end of this pastorate, we began experimenting with a third worship gathering.
A kind of liturgical renewal began in this chapter, which had us shifting from communion once a month (where did Protestants come up with that?) to every three weeks to every other week to weekly during Advent and Lent and, finally, weekly Eucharist. This progression stretched well over a decade. No one left because of it and the positive responses were strong. Word and sacrament were not competing but cooperating.
Chapter three. My third pastorate, beginning around year fifteen, included studying for a Doctor of Ministry degree. The classwork, spread over more than half a decade, along with writing a dissertation on an aspect of preaching, sharpened my pastoring skills and affirmed my sense of the kind of pastor I had become and intended to continue being. Because of the demands of the academic work, greater collegiality developed on our staff. They covered for me whenever needed and their gifts grew accordingly, which I loved witnessing.
After completing that degree, I accepted a part-time mentoring role at a seminary for three years, which had me away for the better part of a week for eight months a year. The elder board gave enthusiastic permission for me to do this, seeing it as an extension of our congregation’s ministry. Through it we had a number of short-term pastoral interns spend time on our staff, one eventually joining our staff as an associate pastor.
My planned absences became the occasion for good things to happen: particularly for gifts to emerge in others, both staff members and non-staff members, and a greater understanding of team ministry to take hold.
Having long read about spiritual directors, I finally sought out one and have stayed in a relationship with a director since then. Through his writings, Eugene Peterson was having a great influence on me, calling me to attend to my soul and not just be a busy pastor.
In all my chapters there were some interviews for other pastorates and one for a seminary position, all initiated by others. A few of these caught my interest but none worked out, either by their decision or mine. Just as in the seven-year itch, these served to strengthen my sense of calling to keep serving where I was.
Chapter four. The final lap, at just over a decade the longest chapter, featured growing global and local outreach. We had teams going on mission trips as many as two to three times a year. Some were in Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina. Some were to Kenya, where we worked with a Kenyan local church in establishing an orphanage. We funded the construction of another orphanage in Bangladesh and supported 30 children there in partnership with a Bangla ministry. Locally, we started a food pantry. We undertook our largest – and by far most challenging – building addition.
And the planning for my retirement and a healthy transition for the church and for me began. The administrative load had grown considerably and, frankly, tired me at times. I had to work to keep my visionary posture clear and focused; I didn’t always succeed in this. In this fourth pastorate, I found myself returning to some aspects of pastoral care that had dropped off in my second and third chapters, returning with greater joy than I had previously known in them.
A casual observer likely wouldn’t have noticed these as distinct pastorates, but those closest to me, chiefly my wife and my close colleagues, could see changes in me and in my work. In retrospect, I could see that four pastorates had occurred, each lasting seven to 11 years, all while serving one congregation that was changing and experiencing different seasons even as I was.
In each pastorate, continuing education events, major conferences, and opportunities to serve beyond the parish enriched me and kept me fresh. With thanks to the Lord of the church, my long pastorate was filled with great joy and satisfaction and, for the most part, I think stayed fresh and vital.
Three weeks after the 38th anniversary of my installation, I stepped away and one year later moved away from the area.
From my personal experience and my observations of other pastorates, I offer these insights. Note that I am often using generalizations, which means there will be many exceptions and a need for contextualization in diverse settings.
- It usually takes at least seven years for a good pastorate to develop and mature. I think 7-10 years is a reasonable span for a healthy pastorate to develop.
- In the 3-10-year window, assuming a pastorate is going well, there is increasing permission given to the pastor to lead innovatively at deeper and farther-reaching levels.
- Major events, whether planned or emergent, can become springboards for new chapters and emphases. Wise pastors look for those events as opportunities to serve and to grow in effectiveness.
- In the chapters of my long pastorate, different gifts developed and were employed. In my later years, I returned to some of the dynamics of my early years, dynamics that had given way to other concerns. My essential cluster of pastoral gifts didn’t radically change, but those gifts deepened in effectiveness and gained greater focus. Other gifts and skills came alongside them, often in response to challenges and circumstances. With time, some subsided.
- Overall those years I was always in at least one covenant group with other pastors. In my third chapter, I sought out a spiritual director and have had one for the rest of my years, including in my retirement.
- I kept personal disciplines that helped me to stay fresh, among them:
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- Keeping weekly sabbath, usually on the same day of the week.
- Logging hours and staying within boundaries (my average workweek was about 52 hours).
- Taking all my vacation and study leave time.
- Taking sabbaticals. Confession: it took me too long to do my first one. In my final chapter, I worked out an agreement with the board of elders to take one month of study leave/sabbatical a year instead of the classic three months every seven years.
- A long pastorate, assuming it is a healthy and satisfying one, can be wonderful for the pastor and congregation, but it can be very difficult for that pastor’s immediate successor.
- We haven’t done enough work on healthy pastoral transitions in general, both for congregations and pastors, but particularly at the end of a long-tenured pastor.
Now in my tenth year of retirement, I look back at my long pastorate in four shorter pastorates with great joy and satisfaction. While not the right model for every pastor, perhaps not even for most, it is a good and healthy model, one that served one congregation and me very well.
Harry J. Heintz retired from a 38-year pastorate at Brunswick Presbyterian Church in Troy, New York, in 2012. He now is parish associate at Perinton Presbyterian Church, Fairport, New York, and adjunct professor of preaching at Northeastern Seminary, Rochester, New York.
