PASTORS E-NEWSLETTER
AUGUST 2010
Hi fellow Pastors!
May you personally know God’s rich blessing in you ongoing service in His name. This issue contains a number of matters and opportunities that hopefully will enhance your ministry. If there are particular resources or training opportunities you would like us to consider please feel free to contact us with your suggestions.
DIRECTOR of PASTORAL DEVELOPMENT
During September and October, Viv Grice will be overseas on long service leave. Good luck to him. While Viv is away, Rev Stephen Jamieson will join the team part-time to provide support to pastors, churches and the rest of the team in issues related to pastoral placements and movements and pastoral crises. For most of the time, Steve will do this from Batemans Bay. Steve had been a Regional Minister with MSD for some years and therefore is familiar with healthy processes and the needs of pastors and churches. If you need to speak to someone about a possible move during that time or have a pastoral crisis, Steve can be contacted on 02 4471 3379 or svj@westnet.com.au. For any other matters, you can contact MSD at the Baptist Ministry Centre, Epping on 02 9868 9230.
TRAINING in WORSHIP LEADERSHIP
It was a joy to be a participant in the OneWorship Conference for Worship Leaders and Pastors last weekend at Gymea Baptist. It was pleasing to see about 120 persons involved from as far as Dubbo, Bathurst, Hughes (ACT), Wyong and Berry as well as numerous metropolitan churches. I would have liked to have seen a few more pastors engaged in such a conference. While it is important to utilize the gifts of members of our congregations in leading worship and in music teams, I am concerned that sometimes as pastors we have abdicated responsibility to oversee these worship and music teams. What contribution have we made in ensuring our worship leaders have a theological grasp of the nature of worship, the relationship between our everyday service (worship) and how this is expressed in our community gatherings.
I plan to take up a longer discussion on this issue in a further edition of this newsletter. However, when OneWorship holds a further conference (possibly in May 2111) you might consider not only encouraging your worship and music team to attend but to also accompany them.
INTENTIONAL INTERIM TRAINING
In earlier years, a common pattern for churches after a long ministry, whether successful or unsuccessful, was for the next pastor to stay for a relatively short space of time. Issues which needed to be confronted and worked through prior to the leader coming were not always dealt with. They then tended to erupt in the new pastor’s ministry, sometimes causing their premature departure.
One development in NSW over the last 15 years, in attempting to deal with this phenomenon has been the training of Intentional Interim pastors. Based upon a model developed in the USA, Intentional Interim Ministries seek to help a church take a deliberate look at itself prior to taking on a new lead pastor. Over a 12 – 18 months period an IIM pastor leads the church through a five task process, while simultaneously functioning in a normal pastoral role to sustain the church’s life.
The five tasks are:
- Coming to Terms with History
- Examining Leadership and Decision-Making Concerns
- Rethinking Linkages and Networking
- Clarifying The Congregation’s Identity
- Developing A Commitment to New Clergy Leadership and the Future
IIMinistry is not only for congregations in difficulty or conflict, although these might be ‘triggers’ for considering an IIM. Other ‘triggers’ might be departure of a long term lead minister; a loss of clarity about vision and purpose, a change in the church’s local context since the previous pastor commenced, etc.
MSD is committed to raising up trained IIM pastors who can assist churches in this important work.
If you considering the conclusion of full-time ministry or are in the latter years of ministry, we would ask you to consider training for either IIM or Interim Ministry work in 2011. Training sessions for both sets of skills are conducted annually. If you are interested or would like to know more then please contact Viv Grice on 0412 598 247 or vgrice@baptistnsw.asn.au. More detailed descriptions of the role are included in the linked article by Geoff Cramb on www.msd.org.au/resources.
VALUING PASTORS and ACCREDITATION
A common theme that emerges as MSD team members interact with pastors who are going through difficult seasons of ministry is that pastors often feel devalued by congregational members and/or church leaders. [Of course, this is also experienced within society generally.] Further, we are aware that among some Generation X’ers and Y the idea of ministry accreditation no longer has the same prominence as it may have previously.
MSD, however, is committed to championing those who respond to God’s call to pastoral ministry and providing what support we can in a variety of ways. One way we can all be supportive and show that we value pastors is to attend our Annual Accreditation Service where we recognize the setting apart of a new group of pastors as they make a public commitment to serving among our churches and other approved ministries. Such occasions are also opportunities for us to be both challenged and encouraged about our own call to ministry. This year’s Accreditation Service will be held at Gymea Baptist following the Directions 2012 discussions on Saturday September 18. Starting at 6.30pm until 8.00pm there will be 8 persons accredited that evening. The preacher will be Rev Murray Robertson from Spreydon Baptist Church, Christchurch, NZ and the guest artist will be PJ Wolf. We encourage you to be present to show support for your fellow pastors as they commence their journey into ministry.
FREE ONLINE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
There will be a free online Leadership conference on 9-10 September with 11 Christian Leaders from around the world, including Marcus Buckingham, Andy Stanley, Jim Blanchard, Erwin McManus, Bill Hybels, Craig Groeschel and others. Details can be found on http://www.forumwebcast.com/. You might consider registering.
PASTORS and SPOUSES ANNUAL DINNER
This is the last reminder for the Pastors and Spouses Dinner that MSD is putting on at the Bayview Room at Tradies Caringbah on Friday evening September 17 as part of the Baptist Churches Annual Conference (being held at Gymea). Our guest speaker will be Rev Allan Demond from NewHope Church, Victoria. This is another opportunity for us to champion and show appreciation for the contribution that pastors and spouses make to the work of God’s Kingdom among our churches and other ministries. If you haven’t already booked in, then we encourage you to get in soon so you don’t miss out as numbers are limited.
The cost of the three-course dinner will be $50 per head. However, Christian Super has again generously offered to provide some sponsorship to enable us to reduce the costs for pastors and spouses from rural churches and smaller churches where Pastors do not receive a full income. Registrations can be made by either booking on the MSD website or contacting Ros on adminmsd@baptistnsw.asn.au. Full payment will be required by Sept 3.
EXIT INTERVIEWS for PASTORS – FINISHING WELL
In last month’s newsletter I mentioned that we were reviewing the exit interview guidelines for pastors as they complete particular ministries. The intention of these is to assist pastors to finish well as they bring that ministry to an end. While MSD seeks to conduct exit interviews with all pastors as they bring their particular ministry to a close, we also encourage pastors to have exit interviews with the church leadership.
The MSD Exit interviews endeavour to assist pastors to leave well, plan their transitioning, to re-engage a new context or circumstance, identify family issues as well as issues that MSD might take up with the church. Such interviews also provide MSD with good general data on issues leading pastors to leave or change ministry contexts. Exit interviews with the church leadership provide opportunity to chat about finishing well, celebrating a shared journey and identifying joys and frustrations. We believe that such interviews assist pastors and church leaders to release and bless each other as they move into a new season of ministry. Copies of these exit interviews are available on www.msd.org.au/resources.
PASTORAL TEAMS DAY
Registrations for this workshop on October 29 are nearly full. Details can be found on www.msd.org.au/resources.
FINANCIAL PLANNING for PASTORS
In partnership with Christian Super, MSD is hosting a seminar day on financial planning for pastors. Entitled Pastors’ Financial Boot Camp the seminar day will be held at the Baptist Ministry Centre, Epping on Friday September 3. You should have received a separate email about this last Friday. Details can still be found on www.msd.org.au/resources.
May you be richly blessed in your own ministry service and be a blessing to others.
Ken Clendinning
Director of MSD
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