c. 1998 Religion News Service
MOBILE, Ala. _ They wait, and they wait, and they wait.”If I was trying to do this (without God’s help), I could never do it,”said Chuck Whisonant.”If I was looking for a CEO in a corporation, I’d be really frustrated.” But, he added, he and other members of the pastor search committee at Cottage Hill Baptist Church here aren’t relying on their own power. Instead, he said, they’re trusting in God to bring the right man to their congregation.”God is ultimately in charge of everything, including this process,” Whisonant said.”He has put us on this committee. He is orchestrating the events. The Lord’s got that specific man out there and I know he’s going to lead us to him.” That doesn’t mean it’s not frustrating sometimes, for committee and noncommittee members alike. And the frustration is felt among congregations across the spectrum as they deal with empty pulpits.”It’s been tough,” said Cottage Hill member Jorge Subirats. As much as he admires the work of the committee and appreciates the dedication of their interim pastor, Roy Fish _ who flies in almost every week from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas _ it’s just not the same as having his very own senior pastor.”There’s a feeling of being a boat without a captain,”he said.
Still, they’ve got the boat. And the crew. And the passengers.
And in the Sundays since their last pastor, the Rev. Fred Wolfe, left nearly a year ago, members have discovered opportunities to learn and grow.”I’ve become more dependent on God as we’ve been in this process,” Whisonant said. And to some degree, he’s become more dependent on his fellow members _ especially the others on the search committee.”We just all pull together. We’re like brothers and sisters,” he said.
When people of various traditions _ from the autonomous Baptists to the hierarchical Roman Catholics _ discuss their methods of replacing pastoral leaders, the processes they describe run the gamut. For more independent congregations, it’s a little bit like a blind date while for congregations in more structured institutions it sounds like an arranged marriage.
Congregations in the former category first need to define their purpose and needs. Spiritual leaders need to identify their mission as well.
For many congregations, even large and active ones, articulating a mission is often one of the greatest challenges.
(BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)”A congregation really sometimes is puzzled about what to do and how to respond during an interim time,”said the Rev. Charles P. Wood, an associate pastor at Cottage Hill Baptist.”I think our people have gone through a phase of confusion and have settled down during the interim.” During the last several months, search committee members at Cottage Hill identified candidates and then screened their education, work history and background before beginning a series of anonymous visits, Whisonant said.
If all eight members of the committee support the candidate, then, Whisonant said, he contacts the pastor and asks him to pray about meeting with the committee. Pastors who agree to such a conversation then bring their wives and meet with Cottage Hill members to discuss their vision for the church, doctrinal views and their personal lives.
After that meeting, if both parties feel led to continue, Whisonant says he would invite the candidate to preach at Cottage Hill. Then the congregation would vote by secret ballot, deciding whether to extend a call to the pastor. The congregation has not reached that final stage yet, Whisonant said.
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Not all congregations are as involved in calling a cleric as Cottage Hill. In the Roman Catholic, United Methodist and Greek Orthodox churches, for example, a bishop or archbishop assigns clerics to congregations. Such differences among faith traditions not only reflect the unique sensibilities of each community, but a multitude of theological perspectives as well.”Methodism has always had itinerant pastors. They’re not generally assigned to a parish for life,” said the Rev. Robert Kohler, director of the section of elders and local pastors for the board of higher education and ministry relations for the United Methodist Church.”Theologically, we have always stressed the relationship between the bishop and the pastors so that every ordained pastor makes a commitment to go where the bishop assigns.”The commitment is to mission, Kohler said, not to a particular job or congregation.
The Rev. Camille Hegg, pastor of the Church of the Redeemer here, said each congregation within the Episcopal Church calls its own clergy.”God works through the community deliberating together,” she said.”That’s why we vote on things.”
A similar process occurs in Presbyterian churches.”Presbyterian theology states that the wisdom of its councils and not individuals is paramount,” said the Rev. Jerry VanMarter, director of the Presbyterian News Service.”We believe as a matter of theology that groups of Presbyterians will come up with a wiser decision than if it’s left in the hands of a single individual. We don’t have bishops; we don’t have a pope. It’s the right and responsibility of congregations to determine what leadership is best.”
Regardless of their methods, worshipers say they’re seeking divine guidance, seeking to heed divine will. And they say that no matter how technologically advanced the search becomes, the process will always be one of heart and soul.”Theoretically, that computer could match up churches and clergy,” Hegg said pointing to the machine on her desk. But for her, it didn’t happen that way.
A few years ago, Hegg said, she knew she’d soon be looking for a new parish. She mentioned it to Bishop Charles F. Duvall of the Episcopal diocese of the Central Gulf Coast at a conference they were both attending.
Six months later, Hegg says Duvall asked her if she would be interested in moving from Atlanta to the Gulf Coast region. She said yes.
In all things, clergy and congregations are wont to say, God works. And they say they’re willing to wait for the right person, the right congregation, to come along.
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