CHAPTER 1
WHAT IS TRANSITIONAL MINISTRY?
Molly Dale Smith
From the earliest days of my experience in transitional ministry, there havealways been those who have asked, "Don't you want to be a real priest?" Thishurtful question, not easy to hear, was always asked by good, well-meaningpeople—often the very people who really seemed to respond to my ministry. Theythought they were taking my side and encouraging me to advance in myprofessional life. The truth is that transitional ministry is real ministry thatmeets real needs. As I moved from place to place, I always discovered the samelack of understanding of this ministry. This book is an attempt to clear upmisunderstanding and to answer questions about transitional ministry. If youhave ever encountered a major change in the life of your congregation, this isfor you. And if you or your congregation have never experienced change, it isonly a matter of time. As Bob Dylan reminds us, times are a-changin'.
Recently I had to fill out a form that required me to list my addresses for thepast ten years. I knew I had moved frequently but had never counted the numberof moves. I was surprised to discover that I had lived at eight different placesin those ten years. No wonder attending to change and its consequences isimportant to me! But the fact is that even those who have lived in the samehouse, driven the same streets, and gone to the same church for years areimpacted by change. It creeps into every nook and cranny of twenty-first centurylife. With cell phones and the Internet, indispensable to daily life for most ofus, we discover that we don't have to move to encounter a new environment. Whilechange has always has been part of life, the fast pace of life today makesattending to change unavoidable. And the church is no different from any otheraspect of life. Many wish their church to be a stable harbor in a sea of change,but this is not the reality. The question is not will we encounter change, buthow will we respond?
What do we mean when we use this word "change"? The Stanford Dictionary ofPhilosophy begins an article on the subject with this caution: "Change is sopervasive in our lives that it almost defeats description and analysis."Nevertheless, any church member can tell you exactly what change is: Somethingis different. The pastor is called to a new position; the resulting feelings ofhelplessness heighten anxiety. Rapid growth is another kind of change. Ourfamiliar church is filled with strange faces and we cannot find a place to park.The comfortable haven of memory has become a place of strange and oftenunsettling ways.
A change may impact not just the local congregation but the entire community.When Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, Americans wanted to dosomething, to make it better in some way. We sent cases of water and boxes offood. A similar response followed 9/11. These horrific changes struck a deepchord in our hearts. We did what we could to help. My daughter, Andrea, wasliving in Manhattan on 9/11. I wanted to take away the pain of the disaster, butI couldn't. Andrea and her New York friends had to learn together what thiscatastrophe meant to them. During the days following, there were decisions tomake about the safety of life in the city. Some of her friends left; she quither job and moved closer to downtown to start a business.
About fifteen years ago, I went to a seminar about grief hosted by a localfuneral home. The speaker made the point that any change results in grief. Thisconcept intrigued me. Change, a difference in circumstance, whether good, bad,or indifferent, always results in some grief. The example given in the seminarcame from an episode of the old TV show All in the Family, Archie Bunker hadbeen given a promotion at work but the promotion meant that he could no longerbe a member of his bowling team. The promotion was great—more money, morestatus—but Archie lost his place in the community.
In spite of many challenges to this hypothesis, I have yet to find an example ofa change which did not result in some kind of loss and, hence, ensuing grief.This may seem to be a strong statement; however, a quick review of the griefcycle described by Elizabeth Kübler-Ross can help us to understand the variedresponses elicited by change. In this theory, grief can be shown in thefollowing behaviors: shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, andacceptance. While Kübler-Ross's work is best known for its application to deathand dying, Wikipedia points out that
Kübler-Ross originally applied these stages to any form of catastrophic personalloss. Others have noticed that any significant personal change can elicit thesechanges.... Additionally the change in circumstances does not always have tobe a negative one, just significant enough to cause a grief response to the loss(Scire, 2007). Accepting a new work position, for example, causes one to losetheir routine, workplace friendships, familiar drive to work, or even customarylunch sources.
The reality is that change has varied and often unexpected impacts on bothindividuals and groups.
William Bridges, in Managing Transitions, describes change as situational (newminister, new building) and external. Because change is external, we often haveno control over it. The real source of our anxiety is transition, "thepsychological process people go through to come to terms with the newsituation." Because Bridges' definitions provide the framework upon which thisbook rests, further elucidation of his thinking is worthwhile.
The starting point for transition is not the outcome but the ending you willhave to make to leave the old situation behind. Situational change hinges on thenew thing, but psychological transition depends on letting go of the old realityand the old identity you had before the change took place. Nothing so underminesorganizational change as the failure to think through who will have to let go ofwhat when change occurs.
I am reminded of the familiar saying, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail."Lack of meaningful attention to transition is failure to plan.
Transitional ministry refers to the ministry that takes place during the time oftransition. The transitional minister leads the congregation through the variousprocesses needed to work on issues arising out of the change. At the same time,this clergy person is also responsible for the ongoing ministry andresponsibilities typical of the settled pastor.
The helplessness experienced during change can be replaced by exercisingresponsibility. Obstacles presented by change can be turned into opportunityduring transition. This premise is the key to transitional ministry and to thisbook. Change will always be part of life, as will the period of transition thatis the result. Each change and its accompanying transition confront us with anopportunity. We can allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety,loss, anger, and even desperation, or we can embrace this opportunity to createa better future.
In my experience, congregations often are unprepared to deal with transition.People assume that life can go on as in the past, so the new feelings broughtabout by change are ignored. Each of the contributors to this book agrees thatlife is different—not necessarily worse—but different following major change.We, the writers, want to share with you the tools we have gained through ourtraining and experience.
The overarching image for this book is kitchen-table conversation. Imagine thatyou have told me about some major change in your congregation. You have manyquestions and much uncertainty about how to move forward. So, I have invited youto my house. Others who are transition experts have joined us. We sit around mykitchen table drinking coffee. You ask questions: "What do we do first? Whatabout conflict—already people are taking sides. Will change continue? How do wemake plans now? Can't we keep it positive?" In turn, each person addresses yourconcerns. When all have spoken, you may feel calm. You may have a sense of theissues and opportunities that lie ahead. This book is that kitchen-tableconversation. It is our hope that reading this book will prepare you for thejourney of your time of transition.
Three key hallmarks—task, training, and time—differentiate transitional ministryfrom other specialized ministries. The task is the work that must be done torespond to the change. This work prepares the congregation for a future whichwill be different than previously imagined because of the change. Bridges'sdefinitions, noted above, tell us that this task will center around thenecessity of letting go of the old and moving ahead to a new reality. Sometimeswe humans have a tendency to rush ahead to the next new thing, without attendingto feelings, our own or others. We want to fix the situation quickly and be backto "normal" life. I believe that failure to plan for the task of transition canbe a plan for failure. Once we have the task before us, the next component oftransitional ministry is training. The wisdom and experience of the trainedtransitional pastor or transitional consultant is needed to guide thecongregation in their work. Time, the final component, gives a clear signal tothe congregation that there is a specific task to be done and limited time inwhich to accomplish this work. So let's look more closely at the three "Ts" oftransitional ministry.
Task is the first component of this ministry. Some change occurs that places thecongregation in transition. This change is large enough that its impact isobvious to all. Here I must add a word of caution. There are some situations inwhich the change itself is not known or understood, only the results. Forexample, for no readily apparent reason, the church has become a place ofcliques and conflict. In spite of a lack of obvious cause, something has changedto move the congregation into the ambivalence of transition. The immediate goalwill be to discover the cause or causes.
In traditional interim ministry, this change was always the departure of thepastor. Experience taught the church that immediately calling a new clergyperson was often a formula for disaster. I often use the imperfect metaphor ofmarriage to explain this. When a married person becomes single—whether due todivorce or death —immediate remarriage is ill advised. The newly single personhas to grieve the loss of the marriage and then acquire a new identity as a"solo." Popular radio psychologist Dr. Joy Browne refers to this as the "one-yearrule." She tells her listeners, no new relationships until at least oneyear has passed. While I do not want to imply that the priest marries theparish, this bit of pop psychology makes sense for all kinds of relationships.As Loren Mead describes in the foreword to this book, the truth of this wisdomled the Alban Institute and the Interim Ministry Network to develop a wholeapproach to use this time to prepare for the future.
Traditionally, interim ministry refers to ministry during the time betweenpastors. The trained intentional interim comes to a congregation for a specifiedtime to help the congregation work on both past and present issues so that itmay prepare for the future and the arrival of a new pastor. Typically, this canbe accomplished in about one year. Nancy Miller writes of the specialized workof interim ministry in chapter 3. Occasionally the pastor leaves because ofmisconduct, and then the interim issues are different. The specialized servicesof an "after pastor" are required. Barry Miller will describe this in chapter11.
Certainly departure of a pastor is a major change, but it is not the only changethat precipitates transition within a congregation. In August 2005, HurricaneKatrina's fury changed Gulf Coast churches forever. Recovery from thisdevastation is still ongoing today. In chapter 9, Ben Helmer describes his workwith the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana as it struggled to cope with transition.
Changes are not always due to departure or disaster. A church may find thatgrowth has changed the character of the congregation. What was once a small tomedium pastor-centered church is now overflowing with people. The structures,both physical and organizational, cannot handle the demands being placed onthem. The congregation needs to move past the difficult "200 barrier," but thepastor and people do not have the skills or experience to move ahead. Experthelp is needed.
Sometimes change occurs slowly. Busy lives keep people from realizing that theneighborhood has changed. Most in the congregation are driving in from thesuburbs for Sunday worship. The drive gets longer and harder; attendance drops.Finally the leadership understands their context has changed and they mustchange too. Implicit in each of these changes is the possibility of a newfuture. The task of transitional ministry is to prepare for that future.
Training is the second component of transitional ministry. In the twenty-firstcentury, most clergy receive formal training prior to ordination. When I was inseminary, the classes were primarily theoretical (history, theology, andliturgy). They gave me a good theoretical foundation for the practice ofministry. Field education was where book learning was put into practice. Iimagine that most clergy who went to traditional seminaries found themselves, asdid
I, woefully ill-equipped for the practical reality of parish life. My realtraining in the praxis of ministry came from the good people of St. Matthew'sEpiscopal Church in Raytown, Missouri. They encouraged me to turn a head filledwith theology into action. They were patient as I learned to deal with each newsituation. In time each pastor learns, as I did, how to minister in acongregation. Both book knowledge and life experience teach us what we need toknow. Most clergy work diligently and faithfully to the best of their ability.But when things change, most of us are not equipped to respond to theextraordinary things that happen in transition. William Bridges points out thatpeople "expect to move straight from the old to the new. But this isn't a tripfrom one side of the street to the other. It's a journey from one identity tothe other and that takes time." The resulting heightened emotions mean thattransition is a difficult time for on-the-job training of the new cleric.
Even those of us who are comfortable with change and transition in daily lifemay falter when our church is in transition. We remember the words "Jesus Christis the same yesterday and today and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8) and mistakenlyapply them to the church. Frantic efforts to return to equilibrium exacerbatethe situation. Content people become anxious. Help is needed. Training gives thetransition minister the tools to respond to such anxiety. Dr. Murray Bowen'sfamily system theory as interpreted by Rabbi Edwin Friedman is a rich resourcefor this work. While Friedman's Generation to Generation (The Guilford Press,1985) is a standard seminary text, most clergy need additional training beforethey can incorporate the theory into their practice.
The nature of the transition task determines the specific training needed. Somekinds of training provide an understanding of human interactions that gives thetransitional minister a perspective from which to operate. Family system theory,which teaches the dynamics of interpersonal relationships and appreciativeinquiry, which will be described in chapter 7, are examples. Other skills suchas conflict resolution, strategic planning, and advanced pastoral care aregenerally helpful but may be more or less important depending on the task. Stillother training such as fund-raising and size transition are useful for specificcircumstances.
