THE ART OF THE START
What can you accomplish that first year of a pastorate?
Douglas J. Rumford
April 1, 1989
"During these first six to twelve months, the concrete is still wet," an elder advised his pastor following the second church board meeting. "This is your chance to make your impression. Soon it will set and be too hard." It sounds like good advice. The new pastor may have an opportunity in the early months to make major changes never again possible.
Yet other wise counselors say, "Don't change anything the first year. Build credibility." Which advice does the newly arrived pastor follow?
As the new pastor at First Presbyterian in Fresno, I wondered. In my search for answers, I decided to contact other pastors who had experienced the awkwardness and opportunities of that inaugural year.
The Hare and the Tortoise
The first thing I learned is that no one pattern fits every pastor and congregation. Consider these two examples.
Roger Thompson went to Trinity Baptist in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, a two-hundred-member church in decline. Within the first year, they rewrote the church constitution, simplified the administrative structure from fifteen standing committees to four, doubled the attendance, and hired staff. "How could you do all that?" I asked him.
"You have to understand the background," Roger explained. Roger already had been in Denver on the staff of Bear Valley Baptist Church for ten years. The Wheat Ridge church across town knew much about Bear Valley, its staff, and their philosophy of ministry. Their five-month courtship of Roger culminated in a nine-day candidating process. During those nine days, Roger met with every group in the church, discussed the issues, assessed their needs, and explained the style of his ministry.
At the end of the process, Roger sent a letter to the congregation. "I told them my observations: everyone ...
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