When Your Church is Without a Pasto By Dr. Dale Robbins I
t happens in every church sooner or later. Eventually, the beloved pastor that many looked to for spiritual guid- ance will depart for one reason or another. Occasionally, a minister may have the op- portunity to devote his entire life to one particular congregation until he retires (or is promoted to Heaven), but pastoral tran- sition occurs with far greater frequency in most churches.
Here are tips to follow to help your church during this transition:
– An interim period for any church may become tense and stressful, creating the possible atmosphere for any number of misunder- standings. It is very helpful for everyone to add an extra seasoning of patience and sweetness to their attitudes. Usually, once the pastor is gone, the congregation will discover many of the things he did. Sud- denly, the organization may not be run as smoothly as it once was, tasks may fall through the cracks or be forgotten about. It understanding and pitch in and help make up the shortfalls.
Help Contribute to Unity – During times of uncertainty within an organization, voices of discouragement and discontent can often be heard in the ran, but this is a - couragement is so needed to help promote peace and unity in the body. “Talk up” the church among your friends, speak encour- agement and help promote harmony.
– The lack of a permanent pastor can make some feel less enthused or connected with the church and may promote more frequent absences or visitations to other churches. However, if there was ever a time your church need- excuses to stay away, this should be a time to increase your faithfulness in every area. Don’t be a fair-weather friend of the church, but remain faithful even during such cloudy or uncertain times.
– During a leadership transition, church casualties to suffer, so it is vitally essen- tial for you to remain steadfast with your tithes and offerings. Remember, the tithe belongs to the Lord, and continue to be faithful to Him, regardless of the chang- ing nature of his church.
– What about the interim time between the pastor’s de- parture and the new pastor’s arrival? There is often a prevailing attitude that the spiri- tual focus and ministry of the church is suspended or stagnant during this period, but this shouldn’t be. God still has a vital purpose for every service, guest speaker, or the ministry of an interim pastor, and it is important for the congregation to remain faithful and engaged so that God’s intend- ed work can be accomplished.
– People in the church must always be persons sincerely devoted to prayer, but even more so dur- ing a time that their church is without a pastor. If he can, our enemy, Satan, will at- tempt to use the pastoral vacancy to incite are especially important during this time.
– Sometimes, people look at changes in church leader- ship as an opportunity to make changes of their own, perhaps to leave the church or to give up a position or responsibility. Not only is this a poor time to abandon the church, but it is a critical time to step up and volunteer more than normal. The church is not merely an agency to provide a relationship-based community, a family, where people serve and bless “each other” mutually… and it takes everyone’s partici- pation to make it work the way it should.
January/February 2022
Do your part to pray, contribute and help as suggested, but the church will do better if everyone remains calm and steadfast in faith. Ulti- mately our Lord Jesus cares more about His church more than any of us do. Trust and rest in the fact that He stated that “He” will build His church... and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it! (Matt 16:18)
This article (VL-170) is copyrighted © by Dr. Dale A. Robbins, 1990-2021, and is a publication of Victorious Publications, Grass Valley, CA - Nashville, TN.
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