“Things will fall apart if we don’t call another pastor soon. An intentional interim takes too long. We can’t afford to wait.”

“Only bad churches need an intentional interim. We don’t want people to think we’re a problem.”

These are common misperceptions about intentional interim ministry.

Intentional interim ministry, however, is designed to enable churches to assess themselves while continuing their ministries without losing ground. In reality, most churches can’t afford not to engage an intentional interim.

How is an intentional interim different from a traditional interim?

Many churches are familiar with a traditional interim, a person whose main responsibility is to preach sermons on Sunday mornings while the church seeks a full-time pastor. With a traditional interim, pastoral care and progress toward a church’s mission often take a back seat.

In contrast to the traditional interim, intentional interim ministry encompasses the total life of the church to ensure ongoing congregational needs are met at the same time that the church positions itself for a stronger future.

Karl Fickling, the coordinator of interim ministry for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, describes the intentional interim as a “‘bottom-up’ model, where the process starts with the congregation, rather than a ‘top-down’ model that calls on the pastor to dominate church vision.”

When should a church engage an intentional interim?

Fickling says there are three situations for which an intentional interim is helpful: when a long-tenured or beloved pastor leaves the church, when a church is stalled or when a church is reeling from conflict.

“After 10 years [or possibly shorter tenure] of the last pastor, the next pastor is often an ‘unintentional interim,” Fickling said. “The departing pastor sets an emotional high mark that is hard for the next pastor to reach. The new pastor does things differently or wants to help the church make some needed changes, and this threatens the status quo.”

An intentional interim can help bring closure to a long pastorate while preparing the church for a new pastor.

The vast majority of churches are plateaued or declining, and most of those churches want a pastor to reverse that trend. For success, a church first needs to face its own issues. Intentional interims are trained to help a church do so honestly. After that struggle, a church can call a pastor who best fits the situation and desires of the church.

Conflict “needs to be addressed before calling a new pastor into a no-win situation,” Fickling said. If the previous pastor was forced out, an intentional interim can restore calm to the church.

“Some people think [conflict] is the most common—or only—reason for an intentional interim,” Fickling noted. “It’s actually the least common reason of these three.”

The intentional interim is a “‘bottom-up’ model, where the process starts with the congregation.” – Karl Fickling

What are the benefits of intentional interim ministry?

An intentional interim provides a “pastor during the interim.” An intentional interim makes hospital visits, leads Bible studies, participates in committee meetings and is engaged in other functions of the church while also leading the church through the intentional interim process.

The intentional interim is an appropriate person to lead a church to address prickly issues that otherwise might disturb a church’s fellowship or jeopardize a full-time pastor’s employment. Without such fear, an intentional interim creates a safe environment for difficult conversations.

Churches with intentional interims tend to be much calmer, feeling less anxious about rushing to fill a vacant position.

“The intentional interim period is one of the few places I’ve seen Baptists truly practice the ‘priesthood of the believer,’” Fickling said. “Even without an installed pastor, the congregation dreams, listens to God together and builds vision together.”

At the conclusion of the intentional interim process, a church comes away with a clear understanding of itself, what kind of pastor it needs and a clear profile to present pastoral candidates.

“It’s been my experience that churches almost always wish the [intentional interim] could stay and be their pastor,” Fickling said.

A caution about the intentional interim process

Jack Warren, deacon chair for First Baptist Church in Crowley, described his church’s experience with the intentional interim positively and cautiously.

“One positive aspect of the process is that the intentional [interim] is not setting himself up for a job,” Warren stated. “He can speak freely and honestly to the church.” Likewise, in the beginning, the process helped pull the church together.

Warren indicated more information about the process would have been helpful, as well as learning from others who had been through the process before.

While First Baptist in Crowley and the majority of churches have a positive experience with the intentional interim process, not all churches report the same. When churches report a negative experience, the reason usually is because the interim was not credentialed and sufficiently trained or because the interim did not complete the process.

What do churches need to know about the intentional interim process?

The process entails 16 purposeful steps beginning with an introduction to intentional interim ministry and ending with the installation of a new pastor. Steps between include a presentation of intentional interim candidates, a vote by the church to covenant with one of the candidates, and the formation of a transition team for the process.

The self-study is the heart of the process and includes examining a church’s heritage, leadership, connections to others, mission and future. When the self-study concludes and the church is ready, a search committee is formed and seeks a new pastor who fits the church’s profile.

From start to finish, the process ranges from 15 months to two years, depending on the complexity of the church. A traditional interim lasts about 12 months on average and may not position a church for greater success with a new pastor.

Intentional interims credentialed by the BGCT must abide by a set of accountability measures, which include intentional interim training, professional membership, continuing education and covenants with the BGCT and churches served. In addition, intentional interims undergo required peer review following each intentional interim pastorate.

For more information, visit the Interim Church Services webpage or the Intentional Interim Ministry website.

*******

How does a church know when the intentional interim period has succeeded? Who becomes an intentional interim? How have churches and pastors benefited from intentional interim ministry?

These questions will be answered in Part 2.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com or on Twitter at @EricBlackBSP.

As editor Eric Black recently mentioned, sex is “front and center” in media and denominational discussions, but it is often in reaction to scandals and controversy. Seldom is the church offering and ordaining proactive and positive messages about human sexuality that celebrate it as gift to be enjoyed.

Why should the church be a part of these discussions? Does the church have anything to offer? If we claim to be the “City on a Hill” and a prophetic witness, then we have marked improvements to make in this area. Here are some suggestions.

Recognize and honor the many survivors in our midst.

If one in four women has been sexually abused and one in six men, our congregations are heavily populated with people who have experienced adversity in profound ways (many of whom have also been victims of spiritual injury). As a result, we must be aware of language, media and resources we use that can trigger and further traumatize survivors in our midst.

Pastors and staff need to have a vetted list of trusted professionals in their community to whom they can refer people and from whom they can learn about how churches can become a trauma-informed space. If abuse were to occur in the congregation, this network could help the pastoral staff and larger community manage such a complex situation.

Clergy in rural and otherwise isolated communities can network via technology to staff cases needing the assessment of a clinical eye if in-person resources are not readily available.

Create a trauma-informed culture with a clear message that children are a priority.

Most churches have some sort of child protection policy, but few have a culture of protection where trainings are paired with those policies and where clearly outlined safety plans exist for known sex offenders. Creating such a culture requires us to be as “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

Churches modeling best practices go beyond legal matters—background checks and written policies—to embrace a spirit of care. In these churches, staff and volunteers learn to rely on and share their intuition by observing volunteers and engaging children more fully. They also truly believe all children are God’s children and all children are our children.

Our mandate as people of faith must go beyond “not getting sued” to care more deeply and take seriously our calling to be stewards of the vulnerable.

Give name to sexual assault and talk about it.

Black mentions most pastors are not comfortable talking about sex from the pulpit. Although understandable because our culture has co-opted sex, the Bible has much to say about it.

David’s acquisition of Bathsheba for his own purposes—which led to rape, impregnation and murder—often is overlooked. Instead, David often is lauded as a man after God’s own heart, without hearing of his moral and spiritual deficiencies.

Can you imagine how a survivor might feel if he/she heard a pastor speak truth to the power of sexual violence? Or conversely, a pastor lauding David without noting his abuse of power?

Although a sermon about sexual assault very well could be triggering to a survivor, it also could serve for healing and resiliency to hear a person of faith—in power—publicly name the injustices so many have experienced.

Offer our members, children through adults, an alternative view of human sexuality.

Black says, “We know children need to know something about sex, but not too much too soon.” My hunch is that Black is specifically talking about intercourse here because children are born sexual and don’t necessarily need reminders of that. However, we are embodied.

Children arrive fully human, and sexuality is part of the gift by which God knits them together in their mother’s womb.

Some topics are not age-appropriate, but because of damaging messages of sex, we often tend to tell children too little too late. Our children come to us for guidance, and if we refuse to unpack our own baggage around sex, bodies and relationships, we will not be able to equip them adequately for a very confusing world that tells them sex sells but breastfeeding isn’t allowed in public.

We have to send the message that we are up to the task of talking about difficult topics.

One easy way the church can begin this conversation with caregivers is to offer intentional trainings to normalize the conversation.

I offer a curriculum that empowers caregivers of faith to create open communication with their children about topics such as sexual development, puberty, consent and intimacy.

When children are given the freedom and words to report if a boundary has been violated—using proper terms and clear language, coupled with a home environment that normalizes conversations around bodies and boundaries—the risk of victimization is reduced.

Perhaps caregivers would feel more encouraged and empowered to be brave in this area of parenting if their church endorsed—and sponsored—such open communication.

Celebrate sex, bodies and intimacy as a gift from God.

A study reports that when the Swedes teach their children about sex, they focus on “joy, responsibility and pleasure,” while Americans focus on “fear, risk and shame.”

If we are to reclaim the narrative about sex—that God declared it good and meant it to be enjoyed within the parameters of a responsible partnership—we need to communicate that message to our children.

Focusing on the goodness and joy of sex seems counterintuitive to us because we have been enculturated to feel shame about desire and bodies. We need to write a new chapter on this and reclaim a botched narrative of unhealthy sexuality.

The above steps are a beginning to a much larger conversation. It will take bravery to create spaces of transparency and openness, but the time is now if we will accept the opportunity.

LeAnn Gardner is a lecturer at Baylor University’s Garland School of Social Work and leads the SAFE—Sexual Awareness and Family Empowerment—workshop in churches and community organizations across the country. More information can be found at www.leanngardner.com.