Boomer Succession
Planning
(Especially in
large churches)
Keith Drury
About one
fourth of today’s pastors are boomers and almost all mega-church pastors fit
that description. However, the boomer reign is coming to an end over the next 17
years. Boomers are thinking about replacing themselves—succession planning. In
large churches “succession planning” is even more important. The
pastor of an average church might figure the District Superintendent will worry
about who will follow, but larger church pastors almost all think they need to
play a central role in who gets the handoff.
When will these
boomer pastors retire? Pretty soon they’ll be starting in the larger churches.
Why? Because the demands of a sprawling mega church exhausts
a 60something faster. An aging boomer pastor of 50 congregants can last
longer than a pastor of a church running 2200. Thus, many pastors of larger
churches are already poking around asking others about succession planning. And
where they aren’t asking, their board members are quietly emailing behind their
backs to get advice on succession. Which is why I am writing
this paper.
There is a
solid field of literature on succession planning. Amazon lists about 40 good
books—we can expect many more in the coming decade. Though most of
these books are business focused (or some for educational institutions) still
some wisdom applies to the church (though not all—most pastors should beware of
the business person on the board who “knows all about succession planning”).
Here are some
thoughts on succession planning for churches—especially in larger
churches where the need is most pressing. While these descriptions do not apply
to every single boomer, they are common enough to offer as generalizations.
Boomer succession
planning “inclinations”
1. Boomers
want to pick their own successor. Few boomers have developed their local board enough so
that the board can be trusted to pick a new pastor. Boomers want to pick their
own successors and get the church to ratify their choice. A boomer
senior pastor thinking about retiring in the next five years usually has
privately already named themselves as a one-person search committee for their
successor. Or, at least a preliminary search committee.
2. Boomers
expect to “train” their successor. Boomers want their successor to “learn the ropes” from
them. They want to help the new candidate network and teach them the
intricacies of running their church. Most expect to do this
over a year or two by “bringing in a candidate” and “training them” to run this
church properly, before handing off the church to the candidate at some future
unspecified date. Lots of initial contacts with these “pastor-anointed
successors” is privately going on now.
3. Boomers
want someone like they are now, not like they were when they built their
church. Pastors
seldom seek the attitude, style, vigor and rambunctious drive they had
themselves when they built the church. Instead, they prefer someone more like…
well, like them now—someone who will conservatively protect what
the church is now, not lead some radical revolution to change things
completely. One put it this way, “I built
this thing and I don’t intend to see it squandered by some guy who tries to
change everything we’ve worked for.” A
pastor in his 60s thinks about leadership like he thinks about his pension--low
risk to preserve legacy. I pastor in her 30s/40s thinks about leadership like
her pension, “I’ve got enough time to take risks and see how they pan out.”
4. Boomers
plan to stay in town and attend their church. Not all, but most do, or hope to, though they say
something vague like “We want to travel around and do some other things but if
we eventually attended here we’d certainly stay out of the hair of the new
pastor.” Sometimes this works out.
While these are
generalizations, they do reflect where most boomer senior pastors are
now—“generally.” However boomers don’t have their minds made up yet on
succession. They’re still inquiring. That’s why they are asking so many
questions of their friends, mentors, and retired college professors. What are
some of the other considerations boomers might look at before sealing in their
approach to succession?
A few other
thoughts to consider
1. Someone weak
enough to work for you might not be strong enough to follow you. Leading a giant church takes a giant
pastor—most giant pastors don’t want to work for 1-2 years “in training” to
someone else before taking over. The longer the
“in training” period the weaker the candidate. A really strong successor
might be willing to be “trained” for a summer, but the best leaders already
know how to lead and think they don’t need “trained” by older folk. Every month
added in “training” eliminates that many more strong leaders. Besides,
anyone who would take several years to learn the ropes is certainly too
dim-witted to follow you, eh? From the candidate’s view, the
“Junior-Pastor-in-Waiting” scheme basically is a year long trial sermon with no
guarantees. However…. it is true that there are scores of ministers
in their 40s who want your church and would be willing to follow you around for
several years like a puppy to get it. These may be the most willing but not the
most able candidates.
2. The best
pastors in their 40s aren’t much excited about taking over someone else’s
monument. They
wonder if your church has plateaued, if it has had its best days, if you really
only want someone to maintain what you did, and not be the revolutionary
change-agent you were to build this church. They wonder if they changed things
the way they think it should change… and then 15% of the people walked out, if
you’d think they were a success or failure. Though they’d never say this to
you, some fear the larger churches are headed toward becoming “baby boomer nursing
homes.” They know that to avoid that destiny will require painful changes
they’re not sure most boomer congregations really want—or the former pastor
would approve. The best future leaders won’t be keepers of the past’s monument,
but pioneers and builders of the future. Many
pastors in their 40s want to imprint a church with their own DNA and not maintain
the DNA of the previous pastor. This nowhere becomes more glaring than when
today’s popular attractional model comes face to face with the missional model
of so many ministers in their 40s. Many of these pastors are not even convinced
that attractional churches can be changed into becoming missional churches—ever.
And when they explain their missional passion most boomers assuredly brag about
their existing food pantries and Christmas turkey programs as if programs makes
a church missional.
3. Once
succession planning starts, momentum is often lost. Once it is known (and it
always leaks out) that succession planning is under way, a church often goes
into a waiting mode. Building plans get put on hold. Massive revolutionary programs
are delayed and staff members start thinking about jumping ship. The church
shifts into neutral and tends toward a holding pattern. This isn’t all bad
because it lets the outgoing senior pastor serve his/her own interim pastor but
the risk is that sometimes the momentum is never recovered. The
shorter the period of succession planning, the better for momentum.
Emerging
models of Succession Planning
Since so many
boomers are thinking about succession, we can expect new ideas and fresh models
to emerge. Here are just a few new models boomers are already exploring:
1. Regular
guest-preacher. If a
church does not already have on staff an obvious successor, an increasing
number of larger churches will rotate speakers in who are not officially
candidates but to just expose their people to possible candidates—not just once
a year but every month or so for a few years. This model gives the church, the
senior pastor and the potential candidates all a chance for exposure to each
other over an elongated period. Since there are several speakers coming in, the
speaker is not “candidating” but merely
preaching a sermon and getting to know the staff and key laity, maybe at more
than one church. Once the church has narrowed down the choice they
can expand the model to include multi-day involvement with staff and laity so
that by year end the new chosen speaker is ready to become an official
candidate and face election. This emerging model is already in process among
boomer churches with pastors in their 60s.
2.
Equip-the-board model.
Instead of focusing on training a new pastor, this model focuses on equipping
the board to make wise decisions regarding the next pastor. It is something
like the strategic planning process. In this model the board goes through a
year-long process of defining the future of the church and what they need in a
new pastor. However, few retiring senior pastors have the guts to lead this
process, since it involves things like analyzing the strengths, weaknesses and
omissions of the present senior pastor and conceiving a new direction for the
church. Most large churches with strong pastors have weak boards so this is a
challenge for large church boards. Besides, if the board has too much clarity
of vision for the future, some of the strongest candidates self-select out
because they would rather implement their own vision for a church, thank you
very much. This method is popular among Presbyterians with strong lay
leadership and doesn’t fit most booming boomer churches.
3.
Pastor-Elect model.
This model tries to eliminate the problem of the 1-2 yearlong “trial sermon
with no guarantees” for a candidate. Here the church elects their
new pastor and issues a contract but does not install the new pastor until
after 6-12 months working under the retiring pastor. In this model the
candidate has something sure at the end of the year. The Pastor-elect is
already sure of being the new pastor—they just work for a while under the outgoing
senior pastor until they are installed.
4. Pastor Emeritus-Advisor model. This model flips the above plan by electing
the new pastor with full power (usually after being a regular guest speaker for
a while). But instead of the outgoing pastor still being in charge, the new
pastor takes over from day one… and the former pastor serves as an official
advisor for a year or two—like colleges retiring Presidents into “Chancellors.”
(In a church this might mean “Pastor
Emeritus.”) This model attracts stronger candidates since they avoid
a long trial “training period” and still have the final say if they disagree
with the retiring pastor.
Conclusion
Other models will
emerge. The challenge is great and the risk is high. In the next
decade or so most of the mega church pastorates will change hands. When a large
church changes senior pastors attendance is at risk. In smaller churches people
tend to stick with the ship because of “relationships and relatives.” Larger
church loyalty is about as good as the last sermon series. A lot is at risk
locally. Denominations have a big stake here too. During the boomer reign
the proportion of the US population attending church declined. However those
still attending church flocked to bigger and bigger churches. In my
own denomination of more than 1600 churches 29% of my entire denomination
attends 25 local churches, and almost 20% attend just ten
churches. So, local churches won’t be alone in succession matters.
Denominations have too much at stake in the attendance figures and the gigantic
loans they’ve backed up for these churches. Where a DS isn’t strong
enough to play a helpful role, denominational officials will step up. There is
simply too much at risk to stand by and let a mega church bite the dust.
(And, in addition, denominations and districts have plenty of boomer leaders
who themselves are thinking about succession in the next decade.) But boomers
can do this. Faced with a difficult challenges like
this, boomers have almost always “found a way.” I suspect they will rise to
this challenge too. Which is why so many are asking about
succession. And why I wrote this paper.
Keith Drury is Associate Professor
Emeritus Indiana Wesleyan University
and is an ordained minister of The Wesleyan Church