Interim

Interim is a term describing the space of time between an ending and a beginning.  When used for a church it refers to the time between the departure of one pastor and the arrival of another pastor.  Since Baptist churches do not have Bishops who appoint a successor, the interim time can be long as each church must search and find its own new pastor.  Some churches hire an Interim Pastor.  For my years as a denominational worker followed by many more years as a Seminary Professor, and then the current years of retirement, I have served as an Interim Pastor – in fact, I recently began my thirtieth interim. Some pastors leave for a larger, more challenging church, while others leave for denominational positions of leadership.  Still others, for various reasons, leave the vocational ministry altogether.  And yes, some retire.  The common factor is that this move leaves a church behind, and churches are filled with people who have emotions.  Some church members are sad because of the leaving.  They had respect, admiration, and love, and they are genuinely grieving departure.  Others are glad their pastor left – either glad that the move was to a bigger or better position or glad because there was no love in the first place.  A few are mad – how could the pastor dare to leave. An Interim Pastor is called upon to face these emotions and minister to them.  There is no average time for the duration of an Interim.  My longest was three years.  My shortest was one week.  Some churches simply want an Interim Pastor – preach on Sunday and leave us alone the rest of the week.  Other churches really want a Pastor during the Interim time – staff meetings, committee meetings, on-call 24/7, etc.  My challenge for the week – if your church is pastorless, or you know of one that is – as you pray for the church, pray also for the Interim Pastor.  His task is rewarding but challenging.  As deserving as he is, he is often forgotten when it comes to prayer support. So, “pray without ceasing” (1Thessalonians 5:17).