“So, how did you first discover the church?” This is a common question people are asked when they are invited to share the beginnings of their experience at a local church. We can sometimes forget that at one time, we were all ‘new’ to our church family. We were part of the impermanence, the change, the transition that marks all living, breathing communities.
As a Transition Pastor, I often get to hear church leaders practice what I call ‘self-talk’ about the season of life their faith community has recently moved into. Church leaders say things like, “We are searching for a permanent pastor.” “Really, a permanent pastor, you don’t say…”
Have you ever wondered what counts for permanence in a pastor’s season of ministry? Does 10 years of service make them permanent, or 20 years of service? You get what I am suggesting, right? The truth is, every pastor is an impermanent leader. Every pastor is called to a church for a season of time. The season of time’s boundaries are known to the Lord but remain hidden to the pastor and the local congregation. Clearly, the Lord believes there is goodness in the experience of impermanence in the life of the church.
In the New Testament, several metaphors are employed to talk about the nature of the church. At times, the church is called a holy temple, a household of faith, a family, even a living body made up of many parts. None of those metaphors speak about things in life that are permanent, that are closed off from change or transitions. Temples decay and, given enough time, the footprints of their facility will become altered and modified to fit new seasons of life. Households and families change as new members are added to them. Our physical body also changes as we age, as some of us have discovered to our dismay. So, either the Lord has missed the point of the great value of permanence, or the Lord knows that the healthiest thing a local church can experience across the span of its life is to encounter impermanence, again and again and again.
Friends, what I am suggesting to you is that we should embrace the goodness of impermanence. Pastor Kent was a gift while he was with you. Pastor Adam was a gift while he was with you. Both were impermanent leaders, and their impermanence doesn’t take away from the power of their time with you. The next Installed Pastor will also come to you as a gift. Their ministry will invite you into new and exciting spiritual discoveries and adventures.
BUT THERE IS AN IMPORTANT TIME BEFORE THE NEW PASTOR ARRIVES … Friends, you are entering what is often called a ‘transition season of ministry.’ If we interpret this season of life in our 3
church family as ‘merely’ transitional, we might be tempted to believe that this is not a deeply important, transformative season. We also might be tempted to think that the next season is somehow not transitional. In truth, every season, including the season of an Installed Pastor’s ministry, is, to a degree, a transitional season. But these short seasons of life between Installed Pastors are what some people call ‘liminal spaces’ – times that are betwixt, in between. Liminal spaces are often shorter than longer transitional seasons of Installed Pastors, but that does not make them less critical, less vital, or less vibrant for church families.
Consider this: over the next year or two, new people will join your church and discover the joy of being at the Presbyterian Church of Novato. Also, some of your long-term members will go home to the Lord, to experience wonderful reunions with loved ones who passed before them. Some of you will celebrate the birth of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Even Novato itself will change as a city; its borders and housing communities will expand, new businesses will open, just as others will close. There are myriad gifts waiting to be discovered and celebrated in this ‘liminal space,’ this time that is betwixt, this time that is in between.
The God who was faithful to you in your past, who has journeyed with you into this present season of transition, will continue to go before you, creating new opportunities for faithful presence in the future. One of my favorite missionaries of the 20th century, Lesslie Newbigin, who spent a good part of his life in South India, used to say that the Holy Spirit is the true great missionary. The Spirit of the Lord is always working ahead of the church. The local church’s job is not to create new opportunities for witness, for sharing the love of neighbor. Instead, the church’s true mission is to join in the work that the Lord has already been doing ahead of the local community of faith.
Friends, let us, with faith, hope, and love, join in the work that the Lord has already been doing as the Presbyterian Church of Novato moves into this liminal space, this time of transition, that the Lord has planned for you.
Pastor Tony