What Is the Transition Team?

Downloadable Resources
"Being Intentional" PDF article from February 2009 newsletter.
Transition Team Nomination Form with notes in PDF.
What Is the Intentional Interim Ministry?

What the Transition Team Is.
Leadership for the intentional interim process is vested in a group of church members selected by the congregation who will work directly with the pastor to develop and process the work of the Intentional Interim Ministry. This group is called the Transition Team. It is a group of trusted, spiritually wise leaders who are representative of the entire congregation and are selected to guide the process. The Team is a model to the congregation as the people look for God’s movement, will, and purpose for the church. In our church, this team will have no more than 14 members who are to be broadly representative of the congregation.

The Transition Team works through the developmental tasks of the Intentional Interim Ministry themselves. Then they determine how best to involve the congregation in pursuing these tasks. The Transition Team is responsible for recommending to the congregation when the self-study process should be concluded and the search for a new pastor begins. The membership of the Transition Team and its appropriate functioning is a key to the church experiencing the full benefits of the Intentional Interim Ministry process.

What the Transition Team Is Not.
The Team is not responsible for day to day ministry and operational decisions of the church. The Team has no authority to dictate or change policy or personnel. The decisions they are concerned with are those to be decided within the Team itself that pertain directly to the five developmental tasks. They gather information, enlist volunteers as needed, lead self-study sessions, and design, distribute, collate, and summarize survey tools that help the congregation discover, understand, and resolve issues that prepare the church to call the next pastor. When congregational decisions are needed, these will be decided with the full participation of the congregation at special called gatherings. The Team merely aids the pastor and facilitates the tasks that help get the church ready to select a Pastor Search Team.

What Is the Time Line of the Team’s Work?
The Team does not have a “time line” or specific dates by which to complete the different developmental tasks. Some tasks will be longer or shorter than others. The Intentional Interim Ministry process typically takes 12 to 18 months from the decision of the congregation to engage Intentional Interim Ministry until the calling of the next pastor. However, certain circumstances can extend this period of time. Experience indicates that if the previous pastor had a long tenure of service of more than 10 years, then the interim time will be extended beyond a year. If the church had a significant conflict with the previous pastor, that also will likely extend the interim time. The Transition Team that guides the process determines the amount of time that it takes for a church to do Intentional Interim Ministry. It also is determined by the length of time that a search committee requires to find an acceptable minister to serve as pastor. There are no hard and fast rules. Usually a church commits to work with an Intentional Interim Minister for one year. The covenant may be renewed after that time, if the church and interim pastor agree that the work is not yet complete and there is a desire to press on. These covenants may also be terminated at any point by the pastor or the congregation, if one or the other feels that things are not progressing as they should.

When Is the Team’s Work Complete?
The Transition Team will fade away upon the satisfactory completion of the five developmental tasks and the recommendation that a Pastor Search Team be formed. It is also at this point in the process that the intentional interim pastor may now give more attention to the shepherding of the congregation since he is no longer needed to lead the Transition Team in their work.

What Is the Relationship between the Team and the Congregation?
The Team is composed of members of the congregation and is representative of the same. They do not push anyone’s agenda but work to do those things that honor God, reflect the mind of Christ, and build up the local body. The Team has no authority outside of its specific assignment and may enlist volunteers from the congregation to assist in certain studies or tasks. The Team members serve as helpers to the pastor, and as stated in the Covenant Agreement, the Transition Team does the work allowing the intentional interim pastor to be pastor to the people and process consultant to the team.