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Post by Vicki L. Hall on Mar 11, 2007 14:00:00 GMT -5
Hi, friends, let me welcome everyone to this message board, where we hope you'll participate fully. Currently, I'm getting everything set up and the first use we're going to put a board to is the creation of a place for Interim Ministry Network field education participants to complete their IMN training, through participation in an ongoing on-line community. The second sub-board we've developed is for Intentional Interim Ministers and the deans and staff who support their work. To access either sub-board please email me PastorViki@aol.com and I'll send you the password. Our newest board is the CONGREGATIONAL IDENTITY WORKSHOP sub-board, devoted to questions, feedback, and conversation from those who are conducting or thinking about facilitating the workshop. There is NO PASSWORD required. In the near future I hope to set up other boards where we can, variously, share sermon ideas on themes of transition, network together for interim positions, and generally create opportunities to further our participation and continuing education in this exciting and challenging profession. If you have ideas for new boards, please share them and I'll update this sticky thread as we move ahead. Peace, Vicki L. Hall
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pengy
New Member
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Post by pengy on Apr 8, 2007 15:54:43 GMT -5
Greetings friends and colleagues, This is my first venture into using this message board. Hopefully, it will not be my last. I am in a situation where I need some suggestions as to how I can best deal with it. Here is the situation in which I find myself and which I need some direction as to what I should do. I am beginning my third month of a six month full time interim assignment. The congregation has a rather bizarr history. It was served for 34 years by a pastor who had his hands into everything and has been characterized to me as a kind of dictator who made unilateral decisions. He had absolutely nothing to do with synod even to the point of refusing to pay Benevolence because he felt the congregation needed the money more than the synod did. One of the things he did was to start Contemporay Worship Services. He and the Musician whose name is Nancy began them long before anyone else in the synod was doing them. At one point this pastor went to the bishop and informed him that he wanted an Associate Pastor and that the man he wanted was Greg. Greg was a member of the congregation. Without any of the usual process being used, Greg was brought on as an Associate Pastor. When the Senior Pastor retired, Greg became the pastor, again without any of the usual synodical proceedures being followed. As powerful and controling as the first pastor was, Greg was just the opposite. He had his hands in nothing and so a couple of very strong personalities, both of them women stepped into the void and took over, each one doing far more than is appropriate for their positions. One is the church secretary and the other is Nancy, the church musician who had been instrumental in beginning the Contemporary Worship Services. While Nancy has some support from some of the membership and leadership of the congregation, there are others who feel that she has too much power. In fact, one of the things that the executive committee of the Congregation Council asked of me shortly after I began my work was that I spend a significant amount of time at the church so that I could supervise the work of these two women. As an example of how the church secretary opperates, whenever I have asked direction from her as to how things have been done in the congregation in regard to weddings, funerals, baptisms and the like, she has always said the pastor does thus and so. It took me a long time to realize that she was not saying, Pastor Greg did it this way or this is the way the pasor HAS done it. Instead she was saying, this is how the pastor DOES it. Having had this insight I am dealing with her a little differently and things are working out fairly well. However, the situation with the musician is quite a bit different. In the contemporary worship services there are confessions and affirmations that are about as far from what confessions and affirmations are than anything I have ever seen. I finally asked the secretary to see copies of all the confessions and affirmations from which are chosen the ones used in each week's service. It took over two weeks and many reminders before I finally received the list and after looking over the list I chose certain confessions and affirmations which were not to be used. For the most part she has followed my decision but on occasion one sneaks in that was not on the list I was given. Now, back to the musician. For a number of weeks when I would get up to do the absolution following the confession, before I could say a word, the musican had begun the next hymn. Finally I confronted her on it and we had a rather intense conversation, in part because it seemed to me that she was saying that she did not think we needed an absolution. Finally I came to realize that she was not objecting to the absolution as much as she was objecting to the absolution I was using which was pretty much a standard absolution but she felt it was too tradition and therefore did not fit in the contemporary worship service. We finally spoke much more civily to each other and I agreed to use one of the absolutions that were part of the contemporary worship service materials. Still, there are times when before I can pronounce the absolution she has begun the next song. The issue that really has me upset at the moment is in regard to our Easter traditional service. I decided several weeks ago to be much more involved in worship planning than I had been feeling I had gained enough of a sense of how the congregation worships and that it is appropriately my responsibility to do this planning. I spent most of Maundy Thursday at the church working in my office and making visits to the hospital and nursing homes where we have members. The musician and the secretary were both in the secretary's office while I was in mine which is adjacent to the secretary's. Just prior to worship on Maunday Thursday evening the chairman of Worship and Music came to me to inform me that Nancy had called him that afternoon to ask his permission to change the hymns choosen for Easter because they were not hymns that the congregation usually sang and that since the secretary was putting the bulletin together that afternoon she wanted to make the changes immediately. The chairman of Worship and Music, given the apparent immediacy of the situation and not knowing that I was at the church gave his permission. Having been told this information, the chairman of Worship and Music and I went to the office to see what hymns had been changed and to see what new hymns had been chosen. While we were there Nancy came into the office and I asked her why the hymns had been changed. Her response was that the congregation was not familiar with the hymns I had chosen and that the hymns she had chosen were the ones the congregation normally sang on Easter and that she thought it was not a good idea especially on Easter to hit the congregation with unfamiliar hymns. I told her that I did not mind the change of hymns but what I did mind was that I was not consulted in the process. I also told her that I had no objections to the hymns that she had chosen but that I thought since I as pastor was the one responsible for worship planning that we should have talked before the decision was made. She took offense at my tone of voice and said that was the reason she did not want talk to be about it was because she did not appreciate being spoken to in such a manner. Please, know that I did not raise my voice although I was fairly insistent that I should have been consulted before the changes were made. I have since spoken with the chairman of Worship and Music who was witness to this entire conversation and he admitted that while he had given her permission to change the hymns he was amazed that she had not spoken to me about it. He also said that he felt my suggestion of how to deal with the situation was the right one and that she should have spoken with me and that together we should have decided what hymns would be sung on Easter. I expressed to him that I was afraid that Nancy was trying to put him in the middle between herself and me and that I did not want to see that happen. I also invited him that if he ever felt that I was putting him in the middle he should speak with me and that if he ever felt that I was doing something that was not in the best interest of the congregation and its worship life he should feel free to speak to me. All of which he understood, was appreciative of my concern for him and agreed to do. Where I need help and why I am writing to seek your advise, is to ask any and all of you who are reading this if you have any suggestions as to how I can deal with Nancy in such a way as to limit her power and establish some sort of a sense of partnership between us without this becoming a huge battle or one in which people are going to be asked to take sides? Any concrete suggestions any of you could make would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much and a blessed Easter to you. Fred
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Post by Paul on Apr 10, 2007 20:39:05 GMT -5
Wow! Sounds like the musician has had freedom to do what she wants for a long time and getting any kind of control will be interesting. Since we do what we do for the benefit of the congregation and the future pastor, it is certainly a behavior which needs to be addressed during the interim. It might be something that could be raised in a council meeting (possibly in executive session). You sharing your concerns and the allowing them to share possible solutions, might be one way to get others involved. Of course you will need to be prepared for the threat of a staff resignation (or two) and know ahead of time what your response will be. Blessings to you Paul B
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Post by Alice on May 25, 2007 9:51:36 GMT -5
Just a few words, I'm kinda shy... I'm always amazed when I read something that speaks to me. Viki, this site is amazing, I'll return much more often.
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Post by Vicki L. Hall on May 25, 2007 10:48:57 GMT -5
Thank you, Alice, nice to meet you!
As we speak, I'm sitting at a conference being trained by Gil Rendle in Narrative Leadership. I'll try to get my take on it up on the Blog by the end of the day.
Please keep visiting!
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