The Last Pastor

Dear Pastors,

While there are exceptions to this rule, generally speaking (and Lord willing) you will not be the last pastor of your congregation. The simple reality is that whether you are called to a congregation for two months, two years, two decades, or longer, one of your primary jobs is to ensure that your congregation is both prepared and equipped to function well during the transition that is most assuredly coming.

Yes, you are busy. Yes, the demands of serving the congregation are time-consuming. Yes, Word and Sacrament are your primary duties, along with pastoral care, church administration, and a whole host of other duties that no one ever taught you while in seminary. Yes, you are exhausted. Still, the fact remains, your congregation needs to be prepared for the transition that is coming.

Perhaps you think you will have time at a later date to make such arrangements. After all, you hope to retire in the congregation to which you have been called – and perhaps retirement appears to be years, even decades away. Perhaps you plan on staying put for quite a long time. Yet, one never knows when or how the Lord will call you away.

The simple reality is that from the very first day of your ministry, you are called to prepare your congregation for the day you are called to leave. After all, leaving comes in many forms. What would happen to your congregation if you were impacted by a tragic accident on your way to the office and you were suddenly incapacitated? What would happen if the Lord suddenly called you home. Would the flock that you’ve been entrusted to care for know what to do? Would they be scared? It goes without saying that they will grieve. But will they be able to function, and function well, from the first day you are gone? Will they be able to continue with all that God has called them to be and to do?

Dear pastor, are you teaching your congregation to trust in God or in you?

It is not your dynamic personality they are called to follow. They are called to follow God and God alone. Are you teaching them to listen to His voice, rather than yours? Are you equipping and encouraging them to assist in all areas of worship so that if something happened to you, they could step up and continue to worship and serve the Lord that loves them enough to die for them? Are you on the constant lookout for those whom God is calling to be the next generation of pastors, teachers, and leaders? Are you encouraging and equipping them, allowing them to shadow you and work alongside you? The very best pastors, the very best leaders are the ones who can quickly fade away knowing that those whom they have led are now on a firm foundation and can actually be successful without them.

What does this look like, practically speaking, in the realm of pastoral ministry? Here are just a few ideas:

1. Create an Emergency Packet.
   In the case you are temporarily or permanently unable to carry out your duties, this packet should include your emergency contact information and any other important information that might be needed in case the emergency happens at church (allergies to medications, DNR information, etc.).
2. This packet should include local and up-to-date pulpit supply and pastoral support information.
3. Please include a draft bulletin for the first worship service following a tragic event. This should include a liturgy, specific biblical texts (as the Lord leads you), hymns, prayers, the works. It would be best to have this in a Word or Pages format that may be easily edited but is also ready to utilize without change, if needed. Include a hard copy as well as a thumb drive.
4. Ideally, this packet would include an emergency sermon that a member of your congregation could simply read/deliver. This person could be a member of your board, an elder, or someone else who serves on a governing body or in a position of leadership in your congregation.
5. Include a list of denominational/association contacts. Whether that is a bishop, a district president, the service coordinator of your association, or whatever you may call an area or synodical leader, this information is important so that they can assist in caring for and walking alongside your congregation in their time of need.
6. Be sure to include extra keys to important file cabinets, safes, etc. Also, be sure to include passwords to important sites that your congregation utilizes.
7. It would be extremely helpful to include any resources that your denomination/association has on their main website for congregations in transition, call packets, how to form call committees, information about intentional interim ministry options, etc.
8. Walk your elders, church board, and church leaders through what is in this packet and ask them if they have any questions. Do this at the beginning of each fiscal year or anytime there has been a transition of board members or leadership.
9. Finally, be sure to place all of this information in a sealed envelope. Make multiple sets and give one to your congregational president and one to your vice president, keep one in a safe and secure location, and keep one for yourself so that you can make updates as needed. Be sure to share any updates with those who have copies of your emergency packet.

Pastors, think of the grief and stress your congregation could experience in a time of unexpected transition. You can do much to help with the stress by training and equipping your congregation to excel in the kingdom work they’ve been called to, even without you present. Their stress will also be greatly relieved by having a dedicated and well-thought-out emergency plan in place so that no one is left wasting precious time and energy panicking and attempting to figure out what to do next. What a blessing you can be to the people of God you’ve been called to serve by providing for them in this loving way, by getting out of the way and leading from underneath, in order to raise them up into the future to which God is calling them. Bless them by teaching and preparing them for the fact that you will not be their last pastor.

Ultimately, Christ is their Shepherd, just as He is ours. It is Christ’s Church, not ours. Therefore, let us remember God’s Word in Ephesians 4:11-16:

“And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Eph. 4:11-16, ESV)