Introduction: The Problem

Your ministry is Interim Ministry. Your challenge is to help churches start a new relationship on a healthy foundation. The process you use includes the 5 areas of Interim Ministry:

• 1. Coming to Terms with History
• 2. Discovering a New Identity
• 3. Leadership Changes during an Interim
• 4. Renewing Denominational Linkages
• 5. Commitment to New Directions in Ministry

You've done your job. The church has responded to the five areas in a healthy way. So… why is it that many times (too many times) the church moves back into a co-dependent relationship with the next pastor? (Or in other words, they hire another "Moses" who can’t take them into the Promised Land, instead of hiring a Joshua who has God’s seal of approval to take them there!)

The answer is about Models of Ministry or Paradigms. If you practice a healthy model only in the 5 areas, you will not affect the churches model of ministry. You may help them to start from a more healthy place, but they will still resort to the model they know best. "Let's hire Moses to do ministry for us and we'll oversee his/her ministry!"

The problem is that our "traditional churches" are more like "Nursing Homes for Members" instead of "Boot Camps for Disciples." And it's tough to see the problem because we grew up in churches that used the Moses model, we are trained in seminaries that teach the Moses model (unconsciously) and we get hired by churches that are looking for someone to carry on that model of ministry.

How many interviews have you been to where the questions (if generalized) could basically come under the heading:

• "how are you going to 'serve' 'care for' or 'help' the group I'm representing (Elderly, Youth, Sunday School, etc.)."

And the sad part is that your ability to answer those questions will make a difference on whether or not your will be asked back for a second interview.

How many interviews have you been to where the search committee asks:

• "How are you going to help us realize our gifts and our purpose in God's plan?"
• "How are you going to help us or train us to care for our own members, instead of our expecting you to care for them personally?!"

How many interviews have you heard these questions asked? Not to many I’m guessing! Herein lies the issue of models of ministry or Paradigm!

A Biblical Process and Model:

Let's take a look at a Biblical example of what I see happening in Interim Ministry. Use your own experience of what churches do "after you leave" to gage the reality of this paradigm.

Exodus 18 (Jethro brings Moses' wife and "her two sons" back to Moses!) gives us the key to a change in models for the Nation of Israel. However first let's draw back to see the whole picture.

Moses is called to lead a group of people from Slavery to the Promised Land. However he can't do it alone. He needs a team which God provides in Aaron and Marian. Next the model he is using to guide the people to the Promised Land won't do the job. He needs a new model which Jethro provides. Third, even with the new model, the Nation of Israel needs a new leader to take them into the Promised Land.

While we don't focus on it a great deal (I believe we don't because it isn't happening) I think we could agree that the church really ought to be about Making Disciples. So… how does all this apply to Interim Ministry?

• Chart # 1 below outlines the Current Process that tends to happen too often.
• Chart # 2 outlines the Models of Ministry that we use and
• Chart # 3 outlines the potential for Interim ministry to make a significant difference in the life of our Traditional churches.

Chart # 1: Current Process
Characters	Biblical Story: Ex. 18	Interim Ministry Experience
Leader	Moses	Former Pastor
Team	Aaron & Marian	(None Developed before Interim arrives!)
Agent of Transition	Jethro	Interim Pastor (potentially)
New Model	Train all - v. 20 Small Groups - v. 21	(Interim deals with 5 areas, using the "team" of Jethro model, but practices Pastoral ministry using the "old" Moses Model.)
New Leader	Joshua: Leads them into the Promised Land	Person "like" former pastor is hired, who, like Moses, can't lead the people into the promised land.
Promised Land	Israel (people move into Promised Land because they have the Model in place to get them there. Model = teams of people, trained leadership for each group, and a leader that supports the gifts and call of the people.)	Making Disciples (However this Promised Land is never reached, because the church hires another "Moses" to take care of them and s/he is so busy "taking care" of folks, that s/he has little time or energy to train folks to enter the promised land!)

Chart # 2: Current Models of Ministry
	Moses Model "Take Care of Us"	Jethro Model "Train Us"
Biblical Models	Leader answers all the questions, "takes care of" everyone	Leader trains others (v. 20) and organizes them into support/ministry groups (v. 21)
Interim Process	Interim uses current "pastoral" model (Moses) for Pastoral Roles of Ministry	Interim uses "team" model (Jethro) to deal with the 5 areas of Ministry
Church's Response	However, they see the same Pastoral model used in relation to what they consider "Pastoral Roles"	Hopefully respond favorably to Interim Process regarding 5 areas of Ministry
Final Outcome at end of Interim Process	However… Looking for someone to "take care of us" so we hire another Moses, who can take care of us, but can't take us into the Promised Land!	Appreciation for foundation and grounding regarding the 5 Interim roles
Promised Land =	Someone to take care of us (So they are stuck in the desert with Moses, who won't be crossing into the Promised Land!)	A Church that helps people realize their gifts and call, a church that is Making Disciples!!

Chart # 3: The Potential for Interim Ministry
Biblical Models	Moses Model "Take care of us!" OUR TRADITIONAL CHURCHES	Jethro Model "Train us!" What we can become!
Interim Process	Former Pastor	Interim Ministry: 5 areas of Ministry & Pastoral Roles
Church's Response	People Speaking: "You are suppose to take care of us. You are suppose to do ministry and we tell you how "well" you are taking care of us!	People Speaking: This is what Pastor's do! They help us realize God’s gifts to us and help us to realize our call, and we, the people, do ministry! Then you (pastor) reflect with us about how "well" we are doing!
Final Outcome at end of Interim Process	Church is conscious of only one Model of Ministry being modeled by the Interim. (even though a team model was used to deal with the 5 areas of ministry)	A Jethro model regarding the 5 areas of ministry A Jethro model regarding former "Pastoral Roles"
Roles Reversed	Baptize us and ours, Confirm ours, Marry ours, Bury ours.	The faithful to act as agents of Baptism and they take part in the Ceremony when they mentor those having a child baptized; The faithful are mentors to the confirmands The faithful mentor couples and take part in the service that the Pastor conducts The faithful nurture the family and take part in the service that the Pastor conducts Pastor's role: training and guidance The faithful exercise their gifts in the community and world based upon their call (instead of the pastor's personal call to worldly issues!)
Promised Land: We hire...	A Pastor that says "how high and in what direction" when we say jump! Or "Director of A Nursing Home for Members"	A Pastor that helps us realize our Gifts and Call. Or, a leader of "A Boot Camp for Disciples"

The reason for the decline in the United Church of Christ (of members and churches) is because our churches are inward focused. Our worship services are designed for the elderly in our congregation (since that type of service is what they have been familiar with all their lives). We'll pay $60,000 + for an organ (the instrument of choice for the 1800's) but won't pay $5000 for a good sound system or another $5000+ for a video projector.

Now if you think this is leading to a major uprooting of the congregational system as we know it, I would like to offer you a different path. I believe that our "Traditional Churches" (who do not want to change) don't have to change that much.

If Pastors would begin to let the people develop their gifts and call and institute a process to help make that happen, then our Traditional folks can begin to see how they can make a difference in the life of the church. Not only to their own members, but also to the possibilities of reaching out to others. It all depends upon lifting up the gifts that already exist in your church and helping them see, hear, feel, and respond to God's call.

(See: "Once Upon a Time… A Metaphorical Story" at http://members.macconnect.com/~tburlington for an overview of how one leader helped her church become a Boot Camp for Disciples. You can find it under the list of buttons on the left hand side of the home page of the web site.)

The Biblical Story of Moses (Ex. 18+) is a wonderful metaphor for this process. Moses is called to lead the people from an existence of slavery to one of a new life in a new land. However the Model he is using is too overwhelming for him to focus on anything but "problem solving". There is little time for "God’s vision" when your day is taken up with answering everyone’s questions (or visiting, meetings, and worship preparation).

Jethro comes along and suggests that there is a different way to help people get their needs met and it is Moses’ job to do the training. Then others can deal with the easier issues and Moses isn’t involved until the big issues are dealt with. Interim ministry begins to move in this direction in the 5 areas of ministry. Teams are generated, people trained, and the whole church is welcome to take part in the process. At the same time, the Interim -- generally -- uses the old Moses Model to do Pastoral ministry. That is visiting people, attending most (if not all) meetings, preaching every Sunday, doing Confirmation, counseling, and all that goes with the Baptizing, marrying, and burying of people.

However, from the perspective of the people, they don’t realize the "team" model that is used for the 5 areas could also be used in Pastoral Ministry. What they see and hear is that the 5 areas need to be dealt with, so we’ll deal with them. Once the 5 areas are "dealt with" (and we know they are never really completely "dealt" with, but rather just the start of what we might hope would be a life long process) the people look to the Pastoral Model of the Interim to choose their new pastor. Why? In their mind they have dealt with the 5 "issues" and now it’s time to get back to life as we have known it! So they hire someone to continue the -- dare I say it -- co-dependency type of model / relationship they have known.

So… instead of the Interim providing a New Model of Ministry for the church in their "desert journey time" the interim continues the model of the former Pastor (at least in terms of the Pastoral roles).

It is sort of like Jethro coming to Moses and helping him deal with a few (like 5 say!) of the issues that exist in the Israel camp, but then leaving without helping him to establish a new way of being a Nation or in our case a church.

What happens next, the church hires another Moses instead of hiring a Joshua! Moses couldn’t take the folks to the promised land. Even though he was willing to apply Jethro’s new system, God knew the people needed a New Leader to take them into the promised land.

If I were to make an analogy to the Interim experience, I would suggest that the former Pastor was Moses. The Interim comes along and like Jethro, has the opportunity to not only help the church deal with the 5 areas of ministry, but to actually Model a New way of doing Pastoral Ministry. When this happens, the people see the new way and realize it’s power and call and the responsibility it gives them to be Ministers to their families, church members, and work associates. They realize that this is what God wants for them so they find a Leader (like Jethro, a Joshua) that will affirm their gifts and ministry and actually take them to the Promised Land of "Making Disciples." However by choosing a new Moses (instead of a Joshua), they are stuck in camp on the other side of the river, always complaining about how little their new leader actually meets their needs! (It is this camp experience that gives people too much time with little to do so they criticize the leader and in general make life miserable for those trying to do ministry.)

As you look back on the churches you have served as an Interim Minister ask yourself this question. "What is this church more like today with their current leadership:

• A Nursing Home for Members, or
• A Boot Camp for Disciples?"

If your answer is the first response, then you realize that something needs to change or you will achieve the same result in the church you currently serve. (Actually that phrase is not really appropriate, but I’ll let it stand to make this point. You and I don’t serve churches, we serve God. At some time we will have to come to grips with this issue. It is the very issue we are talking about regarding Paradigms. If you feel you are to serve the church [and it’s needs and wants] then you are most likely working out of the Moses model of ministry. However if you feel you are called to serve God, then you won’t be sidetracked by the whims of those that think you should "serve them" because "they" are paying your salary.)

On the Easum/Bandy transformational leadership e-mail forum, one pastor suggested that ministry was like a marriage in terms of the relationship of the pastor to the congregation. Bill Easum’s response is a good foundation for a Jethro Model of Ministry:

"discernment is always important, but the key isn’t marriage, it is mission. We are [not] called to a people but to a mission. We don’t serve a congregation, we serve the Christ in the midst of the people. Lets play this one out. "Jesus said if they don’t receive you wipe the dust from your feet and move on. I think too many of us are spinning our wheels in clubs that think they are churches, wasting our lives and our commitment to God. So it really is a matter of what one is called to be faithful to, people or mission. Most calls I see in the scripture are to mission not a group of people. Look at the lives of the biblical characters. They aren’t serving people, they are serving God in their midst. This is one of the key issues of leadership. Transformational pastors don’t serve people, they serve God in the midst of people. "They are on a mission and the mission is never to be a servant of the congregation. This is a crucial distinction. If this distinction is not made, we are in trouble. Aaron served the people, so he made them a golden calf. Moses served the God of the Mission and he got them to Canaan. "Pastors who see their primary commitment being to a congregation will seldom transform that congregation. Pastors who are called to a mission, can do that mission anywhere the people are ready and willing. If they aren’t, we shake the dust and move on. Anything less than this is codependency on someone else needing us. "This is a crucial issue here. … The passion is the mission of transforming people, of doing what God wants done, not what the people want done. Surely no one is going to admit that God’s mission is what we see today in most of our mainline churches -- a dead, lifeless sea of prunes, having the form but not the substance. Sure, they are full of good people, but that is not the issue. The issue is are these good people on God’s mission? To be a church the people have to be on a mission and the mission is never survival. The mission is to transform the world. If we take this out of the equation, we have nothing. Literally nothing. "People, don’t commit to a congregation. Don’t see it as a marriage that you must be faithful to no matter how unfaithful the congregation might be. Your life is too precious, time is too short. The harvest is too plentiful. Jesus said, wipe the dust from your feet and move on. There are just too many waiting, willing, and able to respond to the mission." [transformational-leadership@easumbandy.com; Oct. 19, 1999]

In this article I’ve tried to convince you to consider being a Jethro Leader in the Pastoral Ministry role (to your wandering tribe) so that when the time comes, the people will realize the difference between choosing another Moses (to hang around camp and answer their questions) or a Joshua who can actually lead them to the Promised Land of Making Disciples.

Interim ministry is the perfect forum for making this transition from one model of ministry to another. May the Spirit of Christ guide you on your journey.

Blessings,

Tom

1. What I have been short on in this article is the "how." Since I don’t like "tearing down" without "building up" I would like to offer to you the following web site called: Making Disciples by Shifting Models of Ministry found at:[ http://members.macconnect.com/~tburlington] Specifically you might be interested in: "Once Upon a Time… A Metaphorical Story" found under the buttons on the left hand side of the web site. This is a story of a Pastor who practiced a Jethro Ministry and helped the congregation move from "A Nursing Home" to "A Boot Camp for Disciples." This metaphorical church left behind codependency and took up co-ministry instead!

2. Kicking Habits - Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches by Thomas Bandy

Bill Easum says: "Kicking Habits describes a systematic approach to the organic transformation of congregations rather than a programmatic renewal and restructuring of institutional church life. …. The genius of the book is Tom’s use of pediatric and adictive metaphors to describe the condition of mainstream Protestantism….. Addictive churches cannot be renewed. Like an addict, they must admit their addiction and be transformed. Their reaons for being must be radically altered. "No programmatic change will overcome addiction. Only systemic change will overcome addiction."

3. The Call - Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life by Os Guinness

This book calls us all to our fundamental purpose: serving God. That is accomplished through a practice of prayer (so we can hear what God is telling us) and through gift awareness, since our gifts are the blueprint to our purpose in life.

4. Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, M.D.

This is a wonderful metaphor regarding change. Show this to your team and share it with all those "old guard members" who drag their feet. It is a fun way for us all to look at ourselves. Who wants to be like "Hem and Haw" who keep coming back to "Cheese Station C" long after someone had moved the cheese somewhere else in the maze! (of life!)

5. Personal Note: The reason this is important to me is because I don’t want to see the church I love ending up like the fig tree of Mk. 11: 12-14. A tree with many "good" leaves… but no fruit. When the Pentecost that is spreading around the world hits our shores, I would hate for our churches to miss the opportunity to serve by "making disciples" because we were too busy taking care of members.