The scene is too typical. The pastor nervously stands up at the end of a Sunday morning service. He reads his resignation letter to the congregation. Two weeks later, he is gone completely. Left in the wake is a grieving congregation, facing an uncertain future, having no shepherd, and feeling confused about what to do next.

The questions are legion. Also left in the wake is a pastor who is, hopefully, moving on to a new ministry setting but who nonetheless has many lingering memories, emotions, feelings, and unfinished chapters.

Due to the brevity of time, both parties have many difficult issues to handle covering a variety of topics. There are unresolved issues, unspoken words of appreciation, unrealized victories, unresolved conflicts, and aborted opportunities to show love one to another.

Ministering During the Transition Period

Pastoral changes must certainly come. Changes are inevitable. Unfortunately, in a pulpit ministry the pastor often puts the least amount of thought, prayer, and planning into what is one of the biggest and most difficult transitions, both for the congregation and for the pastor. This should not be the case.

If the pastor has been willing to invest quality ministry into the congregation during innumerable major and minor events of his tenure, should he not then be especially willing to put that same degree of effort into the last major event by which he will be remembered? I believe so.

And where better to do that than in the pulpit ministry? For years, it was the pulpit from which the congregation has been conditioned to hear a word from God through their pastor. Now, as the final Sunday approaches, they want to hear a word from God. The preacher must faithfully speak to the issues.

The announcement of a pastoral resignation sets a number of dynamics in motion, all of which take time. The longer a pastor has been in office, the longer should be the transition period. If possible, a pastor who is resigning should plan for at least a one-month period between the public announcement of his resignation and his actual departure from office. (Of course, the exception to this would be the case of a moral failure.) Two or three months for the transition period does not seem unreasonable. In the case of a pastor who has been in office for decades, several months may be appropriate, especially if the pastor is retiring from ministry.

Immediately following the public announcement of the pastor's resignation, there will be some significant shock within the congregation. For this reason, it is better to wait a bit before addressing the upcoming leadership transition in a detailed manner through the preaching ministry. Too much of what is immediately spoken is never productively processed due to the shocked state of the congregation. People will be much more prepared to receive the material when the issue is addressed later.

If there is sufficient lead time between the announcement of the pastor's resignation and his last Sunday, the resigning pastor will want to use the final days in the pulpit to minister to a congregation in transition. Some of the more significant themes to emphasize are the church, church leadership, God's sovereign control, obedience to God, transition, vision for the future, and reflections on the congregation's shared ministry. Sermons that address these themes while also heavily laced with strong affirmation to the congregation will be very meaningful.