Sermon Tone Analysis

*Abschied ist ein bischen wie sterben*

*Roy Oswald, running through the thistles: *

"Running Through the Thistles: terminating a ministerial relationship with a parish" is an essay written by Alban Institute consultant Roy Oswald.

When in 1988 the time came for Donna and me to leave our first congregation, the First Universalist Church of Rochester, N.Y., it was recommended to us.

I assume many of you have read it too.

Roy recounts that when he was a young boy "growing up in rural Saskatchewan" the quickest way home from school "was over the fields."

"It was shorter ... but occasionally we would come upon enormous thistle patches."

["Running Through the Thistles: terminating a ministerial relationship with a parish," Roy M. Oswald, The Alban Institute, 1978, p.2]

He and his older brothers either had to walk around or find the narrowest gap and sprint across.

He writes: "I can still vividly remember the experience: running full speed in bare feet across 20 feet of prickly thistles yelping in pain all the way through."

At the end there were always a few thistles stuck in his feet, but the ordeal was over.

This, Oswald claims, is how many of us manage our departure from a congregation.

We deal with our farewells by steeling ourselves, then plunging in.

We know it is going to hurt so we rush full tilt ahead hoping to get it over with.

The quickest burst of speed I've seen was a colleague who announced his resignation on the way out the door to GA, and had left both his congregation and his fiancée by the end of June.

Roy Oswald encourages us to model effective closure.

He writes:

"[It] involves being able to live deeply into the human side of death --; the death of relationships --; the death of roles and functions and responsibilities --; the death of that special relationship a pastor has with a parish.

At times we may discover ourselves having more difficulty letting go of the role we play than the people themselves... Dying to the parish involves dying to our role with people, as well.

Our failure to die to this role with congregational members gets us involved in pastoral acts with them long after we've left.

Our hanging onto these roles is our bid for immortality.

We allow ourselves to be indispensable with people, insuring our ability to live forever in their lives."

[Ibid.

p.11]

* *

* *

*five tasks he outlined: *

"Take control of the situation,"

"Get your affairs in order,"

"Let go of old grudges,"

"Say thank you,"

and "Be honest about why you are leaving."

Finishing Strong, Ending Well \\ \\ Roy Oswald \\ Alban Institute Senior Consultant \\ \\ Most clergy who are approaching their last years in the ordained ministry want to leave at the top of their game, feeling a sense of celebration in what they have accomplished, and entering retirement with a feeling of closure.

Those who have served the same congregation for many years may also wish to remain in the community and become a member of the congregation they once served and with whom their lives are deeply entwined.

\\ \\ There is a way all these goals can be accomplished, but the process is not an easy one—nor one with which many ministers are familiar.

A congregation I recently took through this transition process is St. Michael's and All Angels, located in Lihue, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai.

The rector there, the Rev. Jan Rudinoff, has been with St. Michael's for 30 years and plans to retire in February 2004.

He asked me to work with him to ensure that neither his retirement nor the manner of his departure adversely affects the congregation, and to make it possible for him and his wife Paula to return to St. Michael's as members in a way that works well for all concerned.

\\ \\ *Coaching Committees* \\ Prior to my first visit with St. Michael's, I asked the church board to appoint a transition committee, as well as a second committee—a strategic planning task force.

By working with these two committees for three weekends within a six-month period, I was able to prepare this congregation for the transition it faced.

\\ \\ I began by coaching and training the transition committee on its role and function, and then worked intently with the strategic planning task force, using a process outlined in /Discerning Your Congregation's Future,/ a book I coauthored with Bob Friedrich.

One of the key functions of the task force is to develop a strategic vision, which may sound strange to people in congregational life since no one wants to saddle a new pastor with a strategic vision that he or she had no part in developing.

I agree with this; the strategic vision needed at this stage in the congregation's life is one that simply takes it through its transition period.

\\ \\ We have discovered that, following a long-tenured pastorate, it is a good idea to have a long-term intentional interim pastor serve the congregation before the congregation calls a new pastor.

Congregations appear to need a cushion of time between the departure of the beloved outgoing pastor and the arrival of the new pastor.

This goes contrary to what happens in the corporate world, where the old CEO remains in place for a while after the new CEO is hired in order to coach the new CEO on how to run the place.

This model has not worked well within congregations that have tried it.

\\ \\ Given that insight, I recommended to St. Michael's church board members that they think in terms of a long-term interim pastor who would serve the church for 18 months to two years.

This would mean putting off appointing a search committee for at least the first six months after Rev. Rudinoff ends his ministry at the church.

Since it is also a good idea to give the new pastor a chance to get to know the congregation and establish some type of power base for himself or herself, we asked that Jan and Paula Rudinoff stay away from St. Michael's during the interim pastor's stay and for at least a year into the pastorate of the new permanent pastor.

That means Jan and Paula will need to leave the congregation for at least three years before they can once again attend services at St. Michael's.

\\ \\ To put this plan into action, we developed a four-way contract.

Rev. Rudinoff, the bishop of the diocese, and the vestry are to sign the contract, which eventually includes the interim pastor, and later the new pastor as well.

This contract spells out the period of time for which the Rudinoffs are to stay away from the congregation, as well as ways they can become involved after the new pastor has been in place for a year.

Following retirement, some clergy can easily thumb their noses at the bishop or church executive and do what they want.

After all, what power does a bishop or church executive have over a retired pastor?

But when the governing board is included in the contract, the new pastor can shift the responsibility to it if the former pastor involves him~/herself inappropriately.

\\ \\ *Why Closure is Important* \\ There is an additional advantage to the period of "exile" imposed on the outgoing pastor.

When the members of a congregation know that the pastor and her~/his spouse are going to remain in the community and join them as members of the congregation, they do not do their closure work.

Instead, they think, "We don't need to say goodbye.

You aren't going anywhere and we will likely see you every Sunday in the pew, so why would we say goodbye?"

In actual fact, a death does occur when a pastor retires but decides to stay.

She or he will never again be the pastor to this group of people.

She or he can continue to be a friend to members of the congregation, but congregants now have a new pastor to whom they should take their pastoral needs.

It is the death of the pastor-congregant relationship that needs to be acknowledged, celebrated, and ritualized.

\\ \\ Former research at Alban has revealed that when a congregation does not do its closure work well it can get stuck in the past.

We all know of congregations in decline that have not yet gotten over a pastor who left them 10 years ago.

This is where "ending well" becomes an important part of this process.

I instruct the transition committee to plan a series of events that celebrate the life and ministry of the departing pastor.

At St. Michael's, the committee planned one event for each of the last five months of Rev. Rudinoff's ministry to celebrate his time with them.

We know a congregation has done its closure work well when members finally say, "Enough of these goodbyes already, get out of here!"

One single concluding event at the end of a long pastorate simply does not do the job.

\\ \\ Departing pastors also have significant work to do during the last six months of their ministry.

During these months, the minister needs to focus his or her attention entirely on closing with individuals and groups within the congregation.

(In /Running Through the Thistles: Terminating a Ministerial Relationship with a Parish,/ I have outlined a type of process that the pastor and individual members may go through as they give thanks for their time together in this relationship of pastor to congregant.)

Just as congregants need to acknowledge and ritualize the death of the pastor-congregant relationship and what that means to them, so does the minister.

Concentrating on this task during the last six months of ministry is recommended because this work is tiring and demanding.

The departing pastor is likely to have the emotional strength to close with only a few groups or individuals on a given day, so this work must be done over time if it is to be done well and to completion.

\\ \\ While all of these closing activities are going on, the strategic planning task force should be engaged in developing some goals it wants to see achieved before the new pastor arrives.

One insight that came from our research on interim pastors is that most do not function with any type of specific contract as to what needs to be accomplished during the interim ministry.

Most interim pastors are simply expected to keep the place running and take care of emergencies.

However, there are reasons to ask more of an interim pastor.

For one, a prospective new pastor will be far more impressed with a congregation that continues to grow and thrive during the time between called pastors than one that simply maintains the status quo.

More importantly, there are times when some difficult matters need to be attended to, and the action that needs to be taken may not be popular with the congregation.

For instance, the congregation may have an incompetent employee on the payroll who is also a member of the congregation.

It would be suicide for the new pastor to come in and fire such a staff member.

It is much better for the interim pastor to take the actions necessary to put the congregation onto a healthier footing, even if it means losing favor with the congregation.

By playing a strong role in the transition, the actions of the interim pastor allow the incoming pastor to spend the first 9 to 12 months of his or her new ministry learning the history of the congregation and getting to know the congregants.

\\ \\ *Strategic Vision: Three Segments* \\ Once a congregation has a strategic vision in place, those plans can be divided into three segments: what the congregation wants the current pastor to do before departing, what the interim pastor should accomplish, and the congregation's goals for the new pastor.

The answers to these questions are likely to be quite different from one church to another.

Outlined below are St.

Michael's responses to this inquiry.

\\ \\ *1.

What are the things the congregation wants its current pastor to complete before he or she leaves?*

At St. Michael's, the vestry asked Rev. Rudinoff if he would concentrate on retiring the debt on the building before he leaves.

He knows the wealthier people in the congregation and has the kind of relationship with them that makes him the natural one to ask these individuals for a significant donation to the church, over and above their regular giving.

\\ \\ *2.

What are the things the congregation wants its long-term interim pastor to complete before leaving?*

At St. Michael's, the vestry plans to ask the interim pastor to recruit, train, delegate, and supervise a "Care and Calling Team," consisting of laypeople who have a call to pastoral work and are good at listening and praying with people.

This task will enable St. Michael's to move beyond functioning like a pastoral church when it is at program church size.

In addition, since the Sunday school at St. Michael's has never really gotten off the ground, the task force decided to change the congregation's worship schedule to include a Sunday school between services.

To accomplish this, the congregation will ask the interim pastor to hire a part-time children's worker and a part-time director of youth ministry.

\\ \\ *3.

What are the congregation's goals for the new pastor?*

The remaining set of goals will be turned over to the search committee.