By Warren
Bird, Ph.D.
Did you hear about the senior pastor who just got hired by
Zoom video? It was at a church I had previously chronicled
as America’s oldest megachurch—Chicago’s 156-year-old Moody Church. It has
stayed above the 2,000-attendance mark for more of its years than any other U.S.
congregation.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, their pastoral candidate preached
to the congregation online (using Zoom video). That was followed by a virtual
question and answer session. Then the church held a “virtual” congregational
meeting to conduct the vote (via Survey Monkey). "At the Vanderbloemen
Search Group, we have helped thousands of churches find their pastor, but last
weekend was the first time I saw a virtual pastoral election," said
William Vanderbloemen, who oversaw the search.
I just exchanged emails to congratulate the new pastor. Philip
Miller, age 38, is becoming the 17th senior pastor at Moody Church.
He follows Erwin Lutzer who resigned at age 75 after a 36-year run. That will
be quite a shift for the church! (The transition period was helped by Ed
Stetzer, age 53, who served as interim teaching pastor.)
Certainly, succession planning does not apply only to
retirement. Many pastors will have multiple succession experiences across
their working life, as will their church boards.
Sadly, however, 37% of church boards say they have had zero
conversations about a pastoral succession plan across the last two years. This
finding comes from a 2019 ECFA survey of pastors and church board members that
drew 727 responses to that question (full report here).
What about Church Boards that DO Discuss Pastoral
Succession?
Of those churches boards who do talk about succession, the
table below shows some of the variations:
63% of Other Christ-Centered Nonprofits Lack a Written
Succession Plan
Churches are not alone in being ill-prepared for succession.
Here’s what another recent ECFA survey told us, when we polled ECFA members
other than local churches. We asked: Does your board have a written
succession plan in the event of the CEO's death, long-term illness, or
unexpected resignation? 63% said no (2018 data, see full report here). We also
asked the related questions seen in the table below:
What Tools Can Help When It’s Time to Explore Succession?
According to yet another survey, 1 in 4 (27%) of charity
CEOs plan on leaving in the next three years. (2017 Boardsource
survey, page 58). Some will be retirement, but others will leave
“mid-career,” perhaps moving to another charity.
Whatever your situation, here are some tools that can help
you prepare for succession:
1. FOR NONPROFITS:
See ECFA.org/succession
for series #4 on succession planning.
With four short and informative videos, this toolkit highlights
11 principles that boards must address to be prepared for emergency and
long-term successions. A 20-page Board Member Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide can
be downloaded and photocopied for each board member and is perfect for brief
board development segments at board meetings (one video per board meeting) or
for your next board retreat.
Packed with new research, new interviews and highly
practical solutions, this book directly addresses the questions most pastors
and boards have about succession, and offers step-by-step guidance in what to
do—including the advice, “start far sooner than you think you should!”
