Addendum J
Report and Recommendations
Following the release of the report to the congregation (emailed on 10/6), the HRM requested a recommendation concerning the policy/protocol for departing clergy. We agreed to provide a recommendation.
At the Center for Congregational Health, we believe congregations can change the world by embracing and sharing God’s love; we know there are often challenges and obstacles that may get in the way. At the Center for Congregational Health, we are process consultants, we design processes to help congregations determine and engage in healthy practices for the faith community. We do not make it a practice to tell a congregation what they should do; rather, we offer recommendations, suggested practices and processes to help congregations move to a healthier way of being and functioning.
The following are recommendations to help your congregation engage in healthy practices as a faith community, as you seek to address the challenges you are facing concerning the policy for a retiring clergy:
● Be attentive to individual and communal faith/spiritual practices.
o Pray—for each other, for yourselves, for your leaders—present, past and future.
o Worship together—set aside your differences and strive to grow closer through worship.
o Study and grow—engage in Bible study, personal development and community development study and process.
o Live your mission: First Congregational United Church of Christ of Hendersonville welcomes and respects all people and viewpoints, and strives to follow the teachings and actions of Jesus. We nourish and support our members' spiritual journeys and joyfully minister to their needs. We work for justice in our community and the world by living compassion, protecting creation, and reaching out to our neighbors with love.
● Observe Boundaries.
o Be a congregation who lives its mission.
o Allow your pastor to lead and serve your faith community and to grow and develop in service and leadership. Provide support for your pastor to develop in leadership, pastoral and personal identity as they engage and embrace their spiritual journey. Support the pastor to work with congregational and professional (denominational, leadership coach, professional/personal development) leaders to be the healthiest faith community leader they can be.
o Allow your former pastors to be your former pastors. When a pastor resigns or retires from a congregation, they will move on. The congregation must release the pastor as a part of his/her spiritual and life journey. The former pastors will work with professional (denominational, leadership coach, professional/personal development) leaders to grow and develop into their next stage/step in ministry.
● Release the suspended HRM policy.
o The policy/protocol instated on March 10, 2020 is a divisive policy. It is not believed that the policy was created to be divisive. The congregation, during the listening sessions, expressed they believed the policy did not have bad intent and that it was created with probably good intent. For the past seven months, the congregation has been in conflict around this policy. It is not possible to engage this policy without unhealthy results. Releasing or letting go of the policy might be helpful to move forward in a healthier way.
o The consultant report from Fe Avis/Russell Crabtree, presents a beautiful process design for determining readiness for a congregation and former pastor to be in congregational community together. If the congregation needs a policy, this is a good process. Use this process.
o What does it mean to be a Human Relations Ministry in a faith community? The\ HRM and the congregation needs a clear understanding of the purpose and practice of the HRM. Is this team about ministry or policy? How might you create healthy policy that supports your ministry?
It is not always easy to do the work of being a healthy congregation, just as it is not always easy to be a healthy individual. It is constant hard work to be healthy. It is tempting to ask someone to give us the answers or tell us what to do. But then, it is not easy to follow through with the healthy actions, because we did not make the decision. Fe Avis offered you a process that created space for you to do the work. The WNCA Committee on Ministry, gave you a process, not an exact timing, to consider the return of a former pastor. This is hard work without easy answers. First Congregational Church does not need a policy regarding former pastors. FCC needs to observe the boundaries of allowing a former pastor to leave you and grow into the next phase of their life and ministry.
In this covid time, it is of the utmost importance to resist anxiety and fear and do the very important work of finding and creating ways to engage in healthy congregational life—to build community, to engage spiritual practices—individually and as a faith community, and to represent your mission internally and externally. This is a time to have heartfelt, courageous\ and vulnerable conversations in small groups, without the pressure to make a declaration or\decision that brings about division. This is a time to come together, overcoming differences, to\ be the church in a trusting and loving way.
Beth Kennett, Consultant
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