By The Rev. Dr. Anne McKee
Dear Friends, My son says I have never met a metaphor I didn’t like, so I’ll lean into this “Bridge” image and line out for you some of the road ahead as you enter the search process for your next installed minister. I know this is like a road trip you didn’t want to make, and you’re still unpacking from the last journey. But one of the few advantages of your recent experience is that you are now more familiar than most churches about the search process. You know the route, and you know there’s no navigation app predicting how long the trip will be. Still, here are some landmarks to watch for:
- The first step is figuring out who your trip leaders will be: Soon, I will gather the congregation’s Nominating Committee, to introduce the process of nominating the next Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC). We’ll think together about the characteristics of a strong PNC and start praying for God to lead them to members who will be willing and able to search for your new minister. Please start praying about this now. There’s some worry, given how long your last search took, and Susan’s short tenure, that it will be hard to put a strong committee together. That is one reason we won’t rush the process of asking people to serve. We’ll at least take a bit of a break to unpack from the last trip before we launch out on the road again. But I imagine that by the end of the summer, you’ll have a PNC in place, ready to launch.
- Some of the early legs will have an express lane. An important part of the search process is for a congregation to think deeply about its own identity and what kind of leader will help you respond best to Christ’s call to you as a church. The new PNC will review that work and probably amend it a bit, but they won’t have to start over. This will make it faster to get through town to the open road.
- There simply is distance to cover, and you don’t want to rush too much. While the new PNC can start with the base of your last profile, they will want to carefully describe FCPC and be clear about characteristics both of your church and of your future leader. They will need to patiently work through possible candidates and make sure they are neither “running away” from your last experience or “stopping at the first exit” because of wanting to be done. Your long-term transitional minister and your presbytery liaison will help guide them through possible hazards on the path.
- You won’t travel alone: As you know, I’ll be here through June. Wendy Neff, our General Presbyter, is already in conversation with several possible transitional ministers whom Session can review to go the rest of the distance with you. I know this isn’t a trip any of us wanted to take, but you know how to do it, and, weirdly, that will be a gift the next time around. And even though I won’t be here for the whole trip, I’ll be praying for you and keeping track of your progress from afar.