Interim Pastors

A pastoral transition might be the best opportunity for a church to move to a new level of ministry.  However, even though in general it is taking longer for churches to come to a decision on a pastor, the leadership of a church can feel pressured to rush into a decision on a candidate when a Senior Pastor leaves.

On occasion it might be advantageous for the church to consider an interim pastor.  Two reasons for this are

• Stability in the transition to the next Senior Pastor

• Intentional Self-study and development of a plan before hiring the next Senior Pastor

The network leadership of the Missionary Church can help in this process and might at times recommend obtaining the services of an interim pastor.  A number of pastors are available to a local church as an interim through the MCUSA.

An organization that specializes in providing local churches with interim pastors that has proved useful to a number of Missionary Churches is Interim Pastor Ministries.