The Intentional Interim Minister Process

This is the Intentional Ministry Process that ERUCC followed from January 2024 to January 2026. We are currently in the final stage of interviewing and calling a new settled pastor.

A Proposed Intentional Interim Ministry (IIM) Process – (18 to 24 Months)

Introduction: (A Brief Overview)

The story of the significance of the “journey in the wilderness” has been with us since Moses led the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt to their new home, The Promised Land.

Present day congregations can reenact this powerful biblical story through the process of intentional interim ministry.  This potent time provides the congregation with the same challenges and opportunities which Moses and the Israelites encountered:

• To leave behind any limiting behaviors and attitudes which keep a community looking toward its past and to decide which worthwhile aspects of history, tradition, and practice will be carried into the future.
• To see more effective ways to organize for present ministry; to develop and incorporate new leadership; and to find more inclusive ways of making decisions.
• To take a fresh look at who are the others on the journey with you and how you relate to one another, the neighborhood and community, and other partners in ministry.
• To clarify your identity as the people of God and develop an energetic vision which will call the congregation to better meet the spiritual growth needs of its members to enhance their ministry, in surrounding communities and the world.

 

3 to 4 Months: Settling In, Getting Acquainted, Selecting and Training a Transition Team

• An adjustment period for the congregation and the new intentional interim minister
• Selection of Transition Team Members (members of this team should represent a broad cross section of the congregation) Extraordinary efforts should be made to include some people who may not be current church officers
• Training Period for Transition Team
• Transition Team Planning and Action Plan Development

 

3 to 4 Months: Focus Point #1 – HERITAGE [i]

• Developing a healthy perspective on the service, leadership, and personality of all former minister(s). Carefully putting the tenure of the most recent pastor(s) in proper perspective
• Exploring in an open manner the total history of the faith community
• Learning from previous “watershed” events (both highs and lows) in the life of the faith community. Admitting what has not worked and honoring and celebrating what the congregation has accomplished.
• Deciding what is important from the past that needs to be carried into the future, and what “excess baggage” should be left behind (This is a time to ask, what, if anything, prevents the congregation from venturing out and exploring new ways of being church.)
• Encouraging an appropriate expression of feelings about the past that allows for grieving, accepting, and moving on
• Managing conflict (if any) in productive ways

 

3 to 4 Months: Focus Point #2 – MISSION

• Determining whether the faith community’s image of itself is realistic
• Developing a new or renewed vision for the faith community
• Seeing the interim period as an opportunity for renewal and growth
• Helping the faith community see itself as an entity separate and apart from any pastor, thus separating the congregation’s identity from the personalities and leadership styles of former and future pastors
• Managing conflict (if any) in productive ways

 

3 to 4 Months: Focus Point #3 – LEADERSHIP

• Being explicit about lay leadership shifts. Recognizing burnout and dropout of leaders, honoring past leaders and finding ways to keep them involved
• Considering future lay leadership needs and potentially expanding the leadership base
• Reviewing the professional staffing needs (What is the right-sized staff for the current and emerging congregation.)
• Learning about healthy, realistic and open decision-making processes and structures
• Creating an atmosphere that honors and maximizes the opportunities of diversity in the faith community
• Updating governing documents such as constitution, bylaws, covenants, job descriptions, policies and procedures
• Managing conflicts (if any) in productive ways

 

3 to 4 Months: Focus Point #4 – CONNECTIONS

• Clarifying the faith community’s theological position (or multiple positions)
• Assessing denominational commitments and involvement
• Examining the history of the relationship: dollars and trust
• Developing a healthy partnership with the denominational (judicatory) office
• Acknowledging the faith community’s tendency to see the denomination through a former pastor’s eyes
• Becoming acquainted with denominational resources at local, conference and national levels
• Reviewing relationships with other mission enterprises that are not directly related to the denomination
• Managing conflict (if any) in productive ways

 

3 to 4 Months: Focus Point #5 – FUTURE

• Developing wide ownership of, and excitement about, the shared vision for the future
• Setting clear and shared expectations about the desired personal, professional, and leadership traits and skills of the new pastor you will be seeking
• Selecting a Senior Pastor Search Committee and Launching the Search Process (Make regular appeals for patience and fervent prayers by all who are part of the Church Family)
• If a new Senior Pastor is identified, begin bringing good closure of the interim period
• Begin working on a clean exit for the Intentional Interim Pastor
• Begin implementing meaningful installation and start-up plans for the newly identified Senior Pastor
• Managing conflict (if any) in productive ways

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[i] The primary congregation development steps used during this Intentional Interim Ministry process are taken or adapted, with permission, from the Center for Congregational Health’s Intentional Interim Ministry Training and Resource Notebook, copyright 2006, 4^th Revision 2010.  B. Leslie Robinson, Jr., Editor

(Dr. Robinson is the teaching associate who serves with Dr. Marvin L. Morgan, when he teaches interim courses.)

January 2024 – January 2026

 

From January, 2024 to January, 2026, The Rev. Dr. Marvin L. Morgan served as ERUCC’s Intentional Interim Minister. Pastor Morgan, who lives with his wife in Atlanta and whose home church is First Congregational Church in Atlanta, GA, skills, knowledge, and aptitudes include:

• Experience as an Intentional Interim, having served in this role for seven congregations prior to his call to ERUCC, while prior to that, having served as a Settled Pastor, a Chaplain, a Theological School Administrator, and Teacher, and in other capacities;
• A rigorous congregational discernment and Settled Pastor call process, and in fact, teaches this process to others as part of his ministry to the broader Church;
• A commitment to social justice issues, including ERUCC being an Opening and Affirming and Creation Justice Church;
• Understands the operational and fundraising needs that congregations have and has successfully navigated these roles in prior Intentional Interim and Settled Pastor settings;
• Preaches sermons based on the Biblical text, which help shed new understandings on God’s message to us.

We are grateful to Pastor Morgan for his leadership as our Intentional Interim Senior Pastor.