Mastering Transitions

Nearly every pastor is going to move. It may happen tomorrow or at the end of a long tenure, but someday you will likely face the prospect of leaving your present ministry and beginning another.

First comes the wrenching decision itself. Is God really calling you away, or are you just copping-out to grab the gold ring of a more desirable ministry? What will happen to your present congregation? Most of us find this in-between state unpleasant. When the transition does come, it is fraught with complex tasks and jumbled emotions. Joy over an opening opportunity, sadness over severed ties, family security as precarious as crystal packed by a toddler, new names and faces to match overnight-it’s enough to send stress off the scale. And then comes the new ministry to be launched competently and mastered quickly.

Yes, transitions are difficult, even scary. They give new meaning to the phrase “mover and shaker.” In Mastering Transitions, three pastors well acquainted with pastoral transitions combine their insights and experiences to provide answers to the puzzles of transition.