The Search Part 1

Another church is searching for a minister today. Their previous minister has moved on to what he believes to be greener pastures or God has opened a door for his him to serve in another area, whatever the case, the church is without a minister today. Now the tedious work begins; who will be the next minister to lead the church?

In beginning to find a replacement, most churches will contact the Christian colleges, they will post an ad on their website. They will talk to a few trusted friends, hoping to find a man who is "moveable". They may come up with a profile of what they want their next minister look like. And then they will wait for the resumes to come in. There will be meetings to attend, messages by perspective candidates to be critiqued, references to be checked and advice to be heeded all in hopes of finding that one "perfect" minister to lead the church to the next phase, step or open door. 

The search for a new minister is not easy, however it can be rewarding when we allow God's leading and our wisdom to come together to find the right man to lead the church. I have served on several search teams for associate ministers and my present role at FCC has given me the opportunity to advise churches on how to conduct a search for a new minister, I thought it would be helpful to share some of my thoughts on how to conduct "The Search".

1. Pray for wisdom - searching for a man to lead the church is not an easy task, search committees should make prayer a priority as they meet top look over resumes, talk with candidates and narrow the search. Our prayer should be "God, make it perfectly clear, who you want to lead your church." I heard of one church who valued prayer so much, they informed the "prayer warriors" at their church when they were meeting and encouraged them to pray while they were meeting.
2. Listen to advice from trusted friends, Proverbs 27:18, plans succeed through good counsel.  There is wisdom in listening to trusted advisers.
3. Answer inquiries quickly, every resume received should receive acknowledgement from the search committee or church office. This can be a form letter if you wish, often time the candidate sends a resume and wonders did the church receive my information, remember communication is the key.
4. Consider one candidate at a time. We live in a world of choices, when we shop for a car or another product we think it is prudent to consider many options to make sure we are getting the best deal available. This is good advice for making a purchase, but it is not wise advice when selecting a minister. One of the dangers of considering a multiple of candidates at one time is a  popularity contest can result as part of the team likes one candidate and others like another. If you are not careful division can rise up within a meeting and hamper the process of the search. When a decision is made to contact a candidate make sure he is the search team's #1 choice. Consider him carefully and if he is not the man you believe God is leading you to call as your minister, move on to # 2, but do not leave the first candidate hanging. If you have eliminated him from your search, communicate with him quickly.

To be continued next time I post...