August 7, 2020

This past Wednesday the members of the Leadership Team of Arrowsmith Baptist Church met with Bernard Mukwavi and Roger Huizinga of the British Columbia Baptist Conference regarding our pastoral transition process. The meeting was fruitful and encouraging! And so the Leadership Team will continue to meet together every two weeks to work through the decisions that we need to make to clarify and solidify our pastoral transition process – with the target date to hopefully start incrementally in September. Pastor Leland will continue to serve as our lead pastor until the end of the year - after which he plans to retire in Port Alberni before he and Nancy make any further decisions about their future. Please keep us in your prayers! If you have any questions, please contact Pastor Leland or someone on the Leadership Team.

Eight Major Phases of Transition

​Our experience in working with churches in transition has helped us to identify eight major phases to a healthy transition process. Some phases require more attention than others depending on the circumstances. These phases are not necessarily a step by step sequential process; often there is overlap between some of the phases. 

Transitional Phase	​Description
​Closure	​Assisting the Lead Pastor (and their family) and the church family to finish well, conclude the mode of relationship, mark the occasion with respect/memory/celebration and dignity.
​Regaining Stability	​Addressing the urgent and emergent needs of the church and its ministry in light of the departure of the Lead Pastor. Space to grieve the loss and let go of the past without being rushed on to a new beginning.
​Assessment of Church Health	​Listening to God and His people about how we are, who we are, where we are…and where we are headed. Exploring questions of church health, mission, vision, identity and context in preparation for future search.
​Developing a Transitional Plan	​Creating ways to address the health and vision needs of the church to effectively maintain the current ministry while in transition without a lead pastor.
​Preparing for the Pastoral Search	​Creating a search team, understanding the process and resources available to conduct an effective pastoral search.
​Conducting the Pastoral Search	​Doing the research, interviews, reference checks, pre-candidating, candidating and prayerful discernment needed to reach a decision.
​Hiring a Lead Pastor	​The steps needed to complete the hiring process and welcome a new Lead Pastor effectively.
​Evaluation	​Reflection together about what we have learned and experienced throughout this process.