Your pastor is going to leave. Maybe not this year, but he is leaving someday. PCA Yearbook data (2019 edition) shows that 75.3% of reporting PCA pastors have served in more than one church. Among the 1,587 pastors with more than 15 years of ministry experience, 71% (1,127) have served in three positions, while 51.8% (823) have served in four or more positions. This means if you are a member in one church for 30 years, you’ll have at least two pastors and an average of four.

You and your congregation will experience pastoral transition. What we say, think, do, and feel during a time of transitions reveals our loves, hopes, and our fears. In each case, the gospel extends a promise. Ten common responses to pastoral transition are:

1.“Why didn’t I know sooner?” Many of us love others by giving information. Knowing provides connection. The sense of not knowing — feeling left out — exposes us to fears that we are neither important nor valuable. The gospel promise is that God knows and values you. “I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father” (John 10:14-15).

• Ask yourself: Why am I experiencing feelings of anger or resentment at not knowing sooner?

• Do for others: Write a letter to your departing pastor sharing the story of a time he ministered to you.

2. “I knew the pastor would leave us.” The recognition that your senior pastor is gifted for specific areas of ministry is a mark of discernment. Acknowledging these gifts is a mark of gratitude. Resignation in the face of pastoral transition is a means of self-protection — against the pain of loss, negative association with change, or fear of an unknown future. The gospel promise is that you are worthy, for “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).

• Ask yourself: How is the Holy Spirit inviting you to reflect the heart of Christ in the face of change and uncertainty?

• Do for others: Share your fears with a trusted friend who has the capacity to bear your burden and give you space to grieve. Invite them to do the same.

3. “What did we do wrong?” A church that has failed to love its pastor well doesn’t ask this question. Relational partings provide a natural time for self-reflection, but in the face of loss, “defeater narratives” rise up — fear that our problems were too much for the pastor. And if too much for him, how can God accept us? God speaks this promise, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). See also 1 Peter 5:6-7.

75% of reporting PCA pastors have served in more than one church.

• Ask yourself: In what ways have you loved and supported your pastor? Thank God for specific aspects of your pastor’s ministry.

• Do for others: Remind yourself and your church community that your identity is in Christ.

4. “I guess it’s time to look for another church.” There are many benefits of congregational life, including a pastor who preaches biblically and shepherds warmly. At times, a person or a family may have only one connection to a congregation. If that one connection point is the pastor, his departure can elicit feelings of disconnection, fear of isolation, or the freedom to seek another church where their gifts can be used. It is OK that some people will leave for another church, even if those who remain feel this double loss. Those who remain should send out fellow congregants with their blessings, believing the gospel promise that “we are being built together into a dwelling place for God” (Ephesians 2:18-22).

• Ask yourself: How can you use your spiritual gifts for the building up of your current congregation during this season of transition? 

• Do for others: Call, write, or visit a church member you think is struggling with the pastoral transition.

5. “We need to find a pastor just like him.” Perhaps your pastor helped you grow in grace. Maybe a spouse or friend came to faith under his preaching. Maybe a child was lifted from depression through his shepherding. It is scary when we lose the people closest to our spiritual storylines. We want to believe the Lord will do great things again, but we struggle to imagine how. The gospel promise is that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

• Ask yourself: What specific ways has God been writing your story (Hebrews 12:2) the past few years?

• Do for others: Tell other church members the work you have seen God do in and through them these past few years.

6. “We need to find a pastor NOT like him.” In every church, there are members who love the vision or people or worship style of their church but do not connect with the leadership style, communication style, or relationship style of the departing pastor. Transition allows them the opportunity to imagine a different scenario. The desire to find someone different often arises from a sense of present disconnection or deficiency, real or perceived. The gospel urges, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:7-8).

• Ask yourself: Where has the Lord already provided avenues of attachment and communication with others?

• Do for others: Be curious — ask others to share stories of when they connected with the last pastor’s leadership, communication, and relationship styles.

71% of PCA pastors who have 15+ years of experience have served in three positions.

7. “The assistant pastor should be our next senior pastor.” Your assistant pastors have gifts too. That’s why the church hired them. Normal fears of instability or the potential of also losing an assistant pastor can drive some to push these “support-role ministers” into places of leadership for which they are not prepared. Often this does great harm to both their long-term ministries and your current congregation.

Most men accept an assistant position, first, because of the senior leader and, second, because of the job description. A senior pastoral transition is as disruptive for support ministers as for the congregation, sometimes more. The gospel promise is that God has and will provide “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:1-14).

• Ask yourself: What aspects of the interim period cause you the greatest concern?

• Do for others: Ask your assistant pastors what you can do to encourage them. Send their family a handwritten note or a small gift to express love and support.

8. “We just need a good preacher.” The word of God is central to the Christian life, and good preaching is multifaceted: theologically sound, hermeneutically accurate, culturally engaging, and communally transformative. Often, personal preferences and cultural values also inform our definition of good, as we shift our focus to the speaker over the spoken word. A period of pastoral transition invites spiritual growth as we learn to hear the voice of God in different communication styles. The gospel promise is that through the Holy Spirit, God’s word remains always “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12).

• Ask yourself: When have you made hearing a good sermon more important than putting God’s word into practice?

• Do for others: Be curious — invite others to reflect on features of sermon delivery that they connect with. 

9. “Let’s get [some previous staff member] back.” The future is shrouded, but the past is accessible. In transition, we return to old patterns, seeking comfort in what is known. But we have changed as much as previous staff members, and their return does not guarantee a new golden age. Reflecting honestly on the strengths and struggles of previous staff prepares us to sit under, learn from, and grow with the next pastor. The gospel promise is that “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).• Ask yourself: How are you prone to look for safety and comfort in the past? Confess that to the Lord.

• Do for others: Ask the elders what practical needs they are aware of in the church that you can help fill.

10. “What are we going to do now?” People in the Bible experienced the uncertainty behind this question. The answer is varied — the woman was told to sin no more, the disciples were told to go to Jerusalem and wait, Saul was to go to Damascus — but the source was always the same. What you and I are to do in the face of every situation is look to Jesus. He is the only one who can provide leaders for His people (Ephesians 4), deliver His people (Psalm 18), and build His kingdom on this earth through the church (Ephesians 2). 

• Ask yourself: Why is it hard to pray, or know what to pray, during seasons of transition?

• Do for others: Pray regularly with other believers in your church, for your old pastor and family, for your new pastor, for the members of the congregation, for yourself, and for God’s kingdom to go forward unhindered (Acts 28:31).

Joel D. Hathaway is the author of “Finding a Pastor: A Handbook for Ministerial Search Committees.” He is the director of Alumni & Career Services and director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Covenant Theological Seminary.