Five Frustrations Pastors Have with Pastor Search Committees

I write frequently at this blog about pastor search committees. Sometimes I write from the perspective of the pastor; on other occasions I write from the perspective of the search committee.

Allow me two caveats before I go further. First, not all churches call pastors through the pastor search committee method. Denominational authorities appoint some pastors. On other occasions, a different group, such as elders, has the pastor search responsibility.

Second, most of these frustrations apply to the search process for church staff other than pastors. I will use the pastor label for simplicity.

Based on my most recent conversations and interactions with pastors, I am hearing five common frustrations about search committees. See if you identify with any of these.

The search committee lacks follow-up and responsiveness. This comment is the most frequent I hear from pastors. They will be contacted by a search committee, and then never hear their status again. The pastors are making prayerful and mental plans for a major upheaval in their lives, but the search committee goes silent.
Search committees are very slow. Search committees typically work in units of a week, sometimes even a longer period. Whereas a secular organization may be making daily decisions, search committees can make painfully slow progress every week. One pastor told me a search committee contacted him a second time to let him know he was their final candidate. Unfortunately, he had moved to another church 18 months earlier.
Search committees can ask questions with no context. It is not unusual for a search committee to seek a pastor who corrects the perceived mistakes of the previous pastor. But a pastor candidate may have no idea of the context of the question. For example, two pastors told me they received a similar question from two different search committees: “Do you like office work?” The first church was trying to correct the perceived problem that the previous pastor was not in the office enough. The second church felt like their previous pastor was in the office too much, and not visiting others sufficiently.
Some search committees have not done their homework. A recent example from a pastor illustrates this reality. The pastor sent the resume just as the search committee requested. On one part of his resume, he clearly noted that all of his sermons in video for the past five years can be accessed on his current church’s website. The first comment from the committee chairperson was, “We need to get you to send us some tapes of you preaching” (Yes, tapes. Not DVDs or streaming video content. Tapes.).
Some search committees are not forthright. Most pastor candidates would like to know why the church is no longer considering them. Most search committees do not give specifics. They simply say they didn’t feel led to continue. It would help pastors greatly if they knew the specific reasons for the decline. They may be able to correct that issue with another church.

I know. The frustrations can run both ways. In an upcoming post, I will address some of the greatest current frustrations of search committees about pastors and staff. In the meantime, let me hear from you.

The post Five Frustrations Pastors Have with Pastor Search Committees appeared first on ThomRainer.com.