Church-to-Church Partnership 2

We come to the last post in this series. If you missed any of the previous posts, you may find them linked below:

While I will likely share updates in the future, I want to conclude with a new initiative that is just out of the starting gate. This is our Church-to-Church (pilot) Partnership.

This year marks my 20th year in vocational ministry. For most men in Baptist (as well as other) traditions, the process of moving from not pastoring a church to pastoring a church is a cold process awash with many unknowns.  It typically involves a pastor search committee receiving a résumé (from a second party, not the man himself), considering that résumé, inviting him for an interview, inviting him to preach a sermon or two (“in view of a call”), having a church-wide vote, and extending the call to him.  While the Lord works through this process (I know. I’ve been through it twice.), I believe there is a more excellent way.

This way involves sister churches working closely together. It includes pastors (and their churches) taking ownership and responsibility for knowing, equipping, and sending members from their churches to serve other churches–and mentoring those men after they begin their pastoral labors.

Considering the commonplace paradigm, most churches know very little about the man and his family (so, they rule out knowing most of the 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1 requirements). Yes, they may call his references–but that is an incredibly biased list. The man and his family know very little about the church. Yes, he may have spoken with the previous pastor, interviewed some of the members or staff (if any), and looked at the membership profile, doctrinal statement, and other information on the web site (unless the site is little more than a bulletin board with service times and address).  At the end of the day, two significant parties come together to do the most important labors in the world–and know very little about one another. The church needs to know (and experience) the man’s life and doctrine, ministry philosophy, and core convictions. They need to understand the DNA that he is bringing to the relationship. The man and his family need to know (and experience) the church’s heritage, culture, convictions, and the members.

The Church-to-Church Partnership is an attempt to bring a man (and his family) and a local church together for a time of courtship. During this period they walk with one another, minister with one another, and examine one another, as they pray and fast for the Spirit’s guidance. After this time, all the parties involved, then decide whether or not they should move forward together to make a marriage happen.

We are piloting this partnership in our local association in Birmingham.

The process involves five steps: 1) Conversation. During this time, our leadership meets with representatives of the church’s search committee to talk and pray about a partnership. 2) Cooperation. In the second phase of the partnership, we cooperate with the church to understand the church’s culture and needs while the church cooperates with us to get to know one of our potential candidates. During this phase we prayerfully work together to attempt to locate a prospective candidate from among our members. 3) Confirmation. During this time, the search committee and church need to get to know the potential pastoral candidate through prayer, doing ministry together, meetings, discussions, and examining his life and doctrine/preaching over an agreed upon designated period of time (e.g., one or two months). 4) Calling. If the search committee desires to recommend the potential candidate to their church, then the church prayerfully decides if the Lord is leading them to extend a call to the candidate. 5) Coaching. Once the church calls our member to serve as pastor, we believe the partnership does not come to an end. Our leadership with The Church at Brook Hills desires to continue to be in relationship with this brother to provide on-going coaching and professional ministry training for a determined season of time (e.g., 12 months).

We do not provide any money in this process. We do not provide a salary/stipend for another church’s pastor. Churches are to be self-supporting, with many churches supporting bi-vocational pastors.

This partnership is not our approach to merging with another sister church. It is not an approach to begin a Brook Hills campus/site. It is not an approach to purchase another church’s property. Sister churches are fully-autonomous, local churches in cooperation with one another.

This is not church planting, re-planting, or related to church planting. It is about a local church calling one of our members as their pastor.

This is not about our church telling another church what to do. We may be a church of 4500 people, but a sister church of 12 people is just as much a New Testament church as we are. While we equip our members and help facilitate the connection and process, she determines the pace as well as the outcome. She has just as much of the Holy Spirit as we do; she must make her own decisions regarding who will and will not be her pastor.

I hope this series has been of some help to you and your church, denomination, agency, or network. As I mentioned in the first post, don’t fear sharing your stories–even if you don’t have all the challenges worked out.  If you are only three months into a new initiative, then you have three months worth of wisdom to share (even if things are not gong as desired) with the rest of us.  As Kingdom citizens, we are not leading a top secret R&D department attempting to create the next best mobile device. We are a family in Kingdom business. Don’t sit on what the Spirit entrusts to your care. Be a Kingdom steward–share today’s stories later today. Be generous. The open source concept allows others to take what has been entrusted to you, mix it with what has been entrusted to them, and share it with others for the multiplication of disciples, leaders, and churches.  Don’t keep secrets. The 4 billion remain.

(image credit: Microsoft Office)