news article

Rev. Cathy Stengel on itinerancy

October 23, 2018 / By Rev. Cathy Stengel, Rush UMC

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in The Fall 2018 (2018, issue 4) of teh Upper New York Advocate, which focused on intinerancy in the United Methodist Church.

Imagine having the same pastor from when you were born until you are on the verge of graduating from high school. Imagine having the same pastor who baptized your children preside at their weddings and then baptize your grandchildren.Rev

Maybe you can’t imagine, but it does happen. As I was leaving the superintendency, I was overseeing such a transition – when Jeff McDowell was leaving Bath Centenary UMC after 17 years of ministry, and Eleanor Collinsworth was appointed to be the next pastor. I was also about to make a transition myself, from seven years as a District Superintendent to Rush UMC where the pastor, Bill Pegg, had been for 22 years. Jeff was leaving to become a superintendent; Bill was retiring.

When churches have such long-term appointments, both the congregation and the leadership essentially have forgotten about the itinerancy. There are people in the congregation who have never experienced a pastoral change. This creates an environment of surprise, confusion, fear, anger, excitement, and a sense of disorientation. There is typically an understanding of the rationale for the pastor leaving – it’s a familiar experience to most people. However, when a pastor has shared such a long part of their lives, their stories, their connection to God, it’s not the same. The preaching style, the pastoral care routine, the leadership – have likely shifted slightly over time, but with the same person in the role of pastor. It’s uncomfortable when that changes.

As a District Superintendent I had to orient myself to the disorientation of the Staff Pastor Parish Relations Committee (S/PPRC). What? How does this work? Who does what, knows what, decides what? It required explaining the appointment process, even to some whose background was not United Methodist. Congregational life – interrupted. I needed to enter into the life of the church in a different way – serving as a gentle guide; acknowledging feelings and providing information on process, plan and expectations. The whirlwind of demands and needs in the ensuing weeks and months is a lot for a church to manage. After a long appointment there are many people who want to be a part of a big farewell celebration for the pastor who is leaving. There are lots of stories to be told, memories to be shared, gifts to be given.

The incoming pastor is there…just beyond sight, wondering and probably a little anxious about being the new pastor after so many years. Twenty years of ministry gives new meaning to “we’ve always done it this way.” Longterm pastors can be idealized before they’ve even turned in their keys, making it hard for the incoming pastor. Long or short, your incoming pastor is leaving a congregation that they have loved, and the transition is difficult, exciting, and filled with God’s Holy Spirit doing amazing things.

What did I learn?

Pastors – no matter how long you are staying, keep refreshing your S/PPRC  knowledge of the appointment system – how it works, what’s important. Remind your congregation after each Annual Conference that you have been reappointed to your current church, for another year, not forever. Invite the congregation to be in prayer for nearby churches receiving new pastors, let them hear the news, just to know that it happens.

Church leadership – keep your profile up to date, make yourself familiar with how appointments work. Don’t live in constant anxiety about “is it going to be this year?” Instead – continue to orient S/PPRC, teach about why it happens when it does. Never lose sight of the excitement of what God is and will be doing in your midst, even with a new pastor. After all, your incoming pastor, even after all these years, has been prayed in by the same system that brought you the pastor who is leaving.

It’s a journey we’re on together, and as we read in Scripture – God has gifted us all, every one. That doesn’t make us all the same, it makes us a part of the rich tapestry of diversity. We don’t have to stop missing those long-term congregations, or our pastors, no one can try and force us to do that – we just need to open the door a tiny bit to let the Holy Spirit show us that we are still and always in God’s hands.