Pastor Search Manual Available

The Christian Reformed Church’s Sustaining Pastoral Excellence office is making available a 71-page manual that can be used as a tool to help churches that have taken on “the daunting task” of searching for a new pastor.

The manual is titled More Than a Search Committee: Opportunities in Times of Transition  and is available both in a downloadable PDF document and a printed format.

Written by the staff of the Christian Reformed Church’s Office of Pastor-Church Relations, the training tool is geared especially for councils and search committees to help guide church members from the time they decide they need a new pastor until a new pastor arrives.

The free* manual is to be used in conjunction with Beginning Ministry Together: The Alban Handbook for Clergy,  a 2003 book  published by the Alban Institute that is also a resource for churches seeking a new pastor.

Instead of duplicating information, the tool references relevant chapters in the Alban book, helping to expand on recommendations to use during the time of opportunity and transition.

Also, for a limited time, churches in the process of searching for a pastor can receive one copy of Beginning Ministry Together at no cost. Additional copies may be purchased from the Alban Institute.

“Our desire is for you to move from reading to understanding to doing. We aim to help you look for  and examine opportunities throughout the process,” says the introduction to the manual.

In addition, says the introduction, “Our intent is that this training tool may help lead you into rich conversation as you seek and acknowledge the guiding  presence of God.”

On the cover, and throughout the text, is the image of  binoculars, which signify the need to take “a wide and careful look at your congregation and prospective pastors” during the search process.

A thread moving through the manual and the Alban book is that searching for a new pastor can be an important time for a congregation to take stock of where it is and where it senses God is leading it to be.

“Our invitation, or perhaps challenge, is for you to take the time that’s needed to ask the kinds of nuts and bolts questions that arise in the search process and to ask bigger picture kinds of questions,” says a letter of introduction.

“These bigger questions are not superfluous, and they are not hurdles or hoops. They’re actually part and parcel of a thorough search process for any  congregation, regardless of size, location, or history.”

More Than a Search Committee focuses on the attentiveness to calling, detail, discussion and mission that a church ought to use as it goes through this crucial process of what can be a time of grace-filled growth and change.

“This training tool is … is intended to encourage you in healthy processes of discerning God’s call for your congregation and to view the calling of a pastor as a part of that larger picture. To that end, may God bless you as you engage in this time of opportunity and discernment.”

*To order these free resources, call Faith Alive at 1-800-333-8300. (Shipping and handling charges will apply.)