Healthy churches do a lot if it. And, they do it well. Communication is a top priority for churches that want to remain healthy and be effective in ministry for the Lord and His Kingdom. I'm sure you want that for your church. This blog focuses on just one area of church life and ministry – your search for and calling of a new pastor. And reflecting on its contents just might help you improve other areas of ministry. Read on to find out more.
No matter what form of government your church has, searching for a new pastor from start to finish mandates frequent communication with your church members. Let's explore some ways an effective search team for your church can communicate with the members of the congregation.
Good, effective communication begins with the search team or board members communicating with one another. Open and honest communication is a must on this level. Everybody on your search team must talk about and pray together for one another, the applicants for the open position, the search process, the needs and evaluation of the church and community, the ideas and priorities that the Holy Spirit brings to mind, and the assessment and potential of each applicant. They should discuss what the Lord is saying to them in between, during, and after meetings, what feedback they are receiving from church members, what others are saying about the top applicants and final candidate, and why they are recommending the final candidate for their church. Introverts, as well as extroverts, must share equally. Your search team leader must insure that all team members contribute, and that "elephants" are never allowed to wander around in the room during meetings.
Your search team must also work hard at communicating with all applicants, their references, and especially the finalists. Every communication from an applicant or candidate deserves a brief response by phone, text, or e-mail. A key principle of communication with all applicants comes from Eph. 4:15, "speaking the truth in love." The same principle is true for all meetings of the search team. As far as possible, answer the questions posed by the applicants for your church leadership or search team. And always honor confidentiality within the search team and between the applicants.
Your search team needs to communicate with members of the congregation as it develops a profile of the needs and input from the church to use during the search process. Questionnaires and round table discussions can be very helpful for this kind of communication. Also useful can be guided discussions that occur during small groups, classes, and home group meetings. When you survey, do your best to communicate to the congregation a summary of the results.
Once your search team has completed its homework about the need, the church, and the community, the team is ready to communicate with potential sources of applicants and "fishing pools." This can be done by creating an advertisement or announcement about the need for the church. Use this document to broadcast the need. Also, ask church members, your denomination, and your local or community network of churches to share the need within their own networks. Be sure to notify all recipients of your ministry opening when this position is filled.
Also, use your church website and social media to announce your need for a pastor. The main page of your website should have a link to a page or pages about your opening. Ask church members to share the announcement or announcement links within their social networks. Searching church websites for ministry openings is one of the most common means of finding open positions in churches and then discovering more information about churches featuring an advertisement.
I have found that it is very helpful to create a search team prayer card to communicate the need for fervent intercession by church members. Ask church members to post these cards with the team's picture in prominent places at home or carry them in their Bibles. A picture of the prayer card can also be posted on cell phones and computers.
For more detail on the need for effective communication by your church's pastor search team, get a copy of my recent resource book, Pastor Search Checklist, available on Amazon or from Next Step Resources.
What pastor search communication tips can you add to this blog?