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The Pastor Search Committee
This basic Pastor Search Committee (PSC) information is provided
by MinistryConnect,
the resource recommended by CBF of Missouri and several other CBF state
groups, for any church in leadership transition.. CBF of Missouri has a helpful arrangement if your church is
considering working with MinistryConnect. Contact
us for details.
- The
PSC needs to represent the larger church.
Everyone in the church must be able to say that there is at
least one person on the PSC they know that they trust to speak for
them, that will make the best decision in the long run, that is not
under the domination of any member [head deacon, biggest contributor,
matriarch, etc].
- The
PSC needs to be elected by the church body as a whole.
If there is an issue in the church that people are afraid to
bring to the table, then any member can ask for a paper ballot vote
with three people counting the votes who are approved by the church at
large if there is a moderator problem. This at least gives the forum
for honest dissension in the body as it moves toward wholeness.
- PSC
members need to have the intestinal fortitude to recuse themselves
from decisions that are entangling alliances with others, including
pastoral candidates. The PSC needs to be free from external pressures
from groups, other pastors, DOMs, to do what is best for the local
church. When then final
decisions are best for the church, then everything else will fall into
place. We call this integrity.
The task of the Pastor Search
Committee is to work in such a way that God can
have a clear avenue by which to bring a new pastor to the church.
The process must be one that honors Scripture as well as the
congregation to whom the PSC is responsible. When the process is done
correctly, there is a unity between the PSC and the congregation.
The PSC has several critical
actions it must accomplish:
a.
Represent the entire church as much as possible.
b.
Determine a budget that is approved by the church.
c.
Set a calendar meeting schedule agreed on by the PSC.
d.
Lead the church in taking the PastorSearch Survey.
e.
Complete the Church Profile.
f.
Guide the church through the gathering of solid pastoral candidates
for the position and brings a recommendation for one of them to the
church.
g.
Compile any
materials that are required in the search process.
This is another reminder that
the Search Committee represents all the church, and the shape of this
important committee necessitates some appropriate words at this point.
No matter how the Search Committee is formed, here are some
important principles:
·
A size of 5-9 persons depending on the
church’s active membership is a good number for the Search Committee. It
should be large enough that most members know at least one person on the
committee and small enough for the committee to be able to function
efficiently.
· Regardless of the church’s theology about
the role of women in the church, it is important that women’s views are
considered in the process.
· It is critical that the church ensure that
various groups of the congregation are represented [youth, singles, young,
median, senior adults, men and women].
The PSC elects officers and establishes its procedures.
1. For
the most part, a PSC can use three officers— president, vice-president
and secretary.
2. The
PSC will need to determine how often it will meet and the length of the
meeting. It is critical that
the PSC members have an agenda for each meeting as soon as possible before
the actual meeting.
3.
The
PSC may want to consider meeting as often as possible and get those
meetings on church and personal calendars.
The exact frequency depends on the time required to complete the
assignments for that meeting. Avoid
meeting just to be meeting.
4.
Make
each session together as profitable as possible. Start on time and finish
on time.
5.
The
chair of the PSC needs to be a spiritually mature individual who is
organized and can get things done with order.
The actions of an effective
PSC meeting include:
►Begin with a
devotional and prayer.
►Read the last minutes
to be sure all old business is concluded.
►Conduct new business.
It is very important to keep
good minutes:
●
Meeting participants
● Discussion
● Decisions
● Actions
●
Outcomes
●
Items for next meeting’s agenda
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