It is the season of the year when one quarter of all United Methodist clergy will be packing their books, pianos, exercise equipment, etc., and moving to greener pastorates. A similar percentage of Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc., move each summer, and anxiously enroll their children in a new school district. We all wish that pastorates were longer. There is a high cost to moving; not just to those who pay the bills and those who mourn the loss of a favorite pastor, friend, or healthcare provider, but also, in the lost momentum of congregations that are feeling their way in a changing religious marketplace.
Denominations are often divided into two camps; there are those who have some kind of dating process, where congregations send a delegation out to dance with prospective clergy before calling them to move in and be their pastor. Then there are appointive denominations, like the United Methodist. They have a Bishop (or a dartboard) that picks the best pastor for each church. The Bishop sends District Superintendents out like used car salesmen to negotiate the deal. I have not seen any statistics that one system is any better than the other in lengthening the term or making the pastor/congregation marriage happier.
I do know that most call system denominations provide a process where congregations and pastors are encourage to do extensive self-evaluation to determine their unique needs, gifts, geographic context, cultural insights, etc. Some denominations use trained transitional consultants or intentional interims to guide this process. I think this is a healthy, even if it doesn’t result in a better clergy/church matchup. I think the primary focus should be on maintaining congregational momentum and clergy family health.
These two factors are related. Unless a congregation has a sense of its own value, its own unique vocation, and its God-given vision for its context, then it cannot survive the repeated changing of pastoral leadership that we are experiencing today. This is the momentum that whatever clergy placement systems must seek to preserve. Unless a clergy person is emotionally mature, aware of their own weaknesses, and willing to break with the expectations of others in order to use their spiritual gifts and further the health of their family, they can not provide good pastoral leadership.
When I entered ministry some thirty odd years ago, I thought success depended upon keeping myself and my churches in the middle of a broad path. I hid the ways in which I was different and how my family had specific needs, because I wanted to be seen as a standardized United Methodist clergy, able to be appointed anywhere. I kept saying to the lay leadership of my churches, these are the things you must do in order to be a ‘real’ United Methodist church, abiding within the appointive system. Then I was shocked, when these well taught laity demanded that the next pastor be average; that is not too old or too young or of the ‘wrong’ ethnicity.
We live in a time of diversity. Clergy persons and congregations are no longer interchangeable items, like Eli Whitney's musket parts. Because our Wesleyan tradition was born during the industrial revolution and continues to incorporate the business practices of the modern era (1780 to 1980), have a propensity to resent diversity. Meanwhile, the postmoderns who participate in our churches expect it. They want their local church to become the congregation that its particular context needs. They want their clergy-persons to be honest, transparent, and willing to establish team ministries that will last beyond their tenure in this location.