AT the end of each year during the Annual Conference, the night of Board of Appointments meeting is always filled with great trepidation and anticipation. The announcement is made the next morning.
Pastors and church delegates would congregate in twos and threes at the conference hall, making small talk while waiting for representative from the Board of Appointments to announce the latest news. Upon hearing the news, some are strangely excited and overjoyed; some are devastated and begin crying, while others are completely unmoved, going straight home to bed. In the early days I used to participate eagerly in this extraordinary night, but as the years went by, sleep became more and more important to me. By 9 or 10 pm, I would go home instead to rest.
It was common enough for the Board of Appointments meeting to last way past midnight, even until dawn the next day. Then on the second morning, before the closing ceremony of the annual conference, there would generally be one or two more meetings for final decisions.
There is some wisdom in this form of long, late night meetings. For example, in one night we can get the whole process over with, without re-thinking and creating new problems. After the official announcement on the second day, we can relax knowing that everything has been settled.
But there are also areas of improvement for this type of appointments. For example, when in haste (there is only one night and one morning) and in prolongation (the “battle” goes deep into the night), decisions made may have unintended consequences – such as dissatisfied pastors and church members, or some churches not getting the help they need.
Perhaps we need to renew our current way of making appointments.
Renewal of Appointments
This year, as agreed by the District Superintendents, we have made some changes as below:
1. June: Two forms are distributed to each church. One form for the pastors, the other for members of the Pastors-Parish Relationship Committee. Both parties are given an opportunity to express their objective opinions about whether the pastor should stay, transfer, or anything else, and to provide reasons. This information will be referenced by the Board of Appointments, because the final decision rests with the President after consulting the Board.
2. August: Board of Appointments collects the forms. However pastors and churches may choose not to fill out the forms.
3. October: The President meets with each of the ten District Superintendents individually or in small groups, to discuss the possibility of each appointment.
4. End of October: The Board of Appointments holds the first official meeting for initial planning of next year’s appointments.
5. End of October to end of November: After District Superintendents inform each pastor of his or her appointment next year, pastors and churches need to pray for these initial appointments. May the Holy Spirit guide us into one spirit and mind.
6. End of November: During the Annual Conference, the Board of Appointments holds the second official meeting, to finalize the appointments (may God have mercy, no more meetings late into the night).
By God’s grace, these are the new steps for appointments. Even though these are not perfect, perhaps the news can help in a more objective ways and give everyone time to pray and absorb the news, allowing all of us to be more sensitive to the things of the Holy Spirit and to follow the Spirit’s guidance.
Besides the renewal of appointments, pastors and churches also need some basic understanding of a pastor’s stay or transfer.
Pastor’s stay or transfer
A few items are taken into consideration for a pastor’s stay or transfer: A pastor going for study or taking a sabbatical or break in the next year, a pastor or church needing room for growth, the church requesting the pastor to leave (not necessarily for negative reasons), a pastor requesting to leave, etc. Usually, the transfer of even one pastor will affect the entire system, so sometimes, a transfer may not necessarily be for one of the reasons stated above.
Some pastors are well-liked by their church, and the church hopes to keep them. But there are also pastors not very popular in their church, and the church hopes they can leave as soon as possible.
Faced with these two situations, a church needs a different attitude – allow the well-liked pastor to leave and bless other churches in need, and to allow the unpopular pastor to stay to be treated with love and respect. After all, true love is to love the unlovable.
What about pastors themselves? If they are popular in the church, they should be thankful, knowing that all this is by God’s grace. If unpopular in the church, we need to reflect on ourselves and consider why we are not well-liked, not just blaming the church, because in the end, pastors are the leaders who should bear full responsibility.
I greatly admire those churches that are patient with the unpopular pastors, and I also greatly admire the pastors who look to improve continuously, so that in pastoral ministry we are even more able to please God and be loved by His people.
Let us pray together for next year’s appointments:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the many churches and pastors you have given us. This year as the President leads the Appointments Meeting, grant them wisdom, according to your will and not ours, to make the best decisions so that the right pastors are appointed to the right church or organization. After the appointments, we pray that all pastors and churches will look to you, fear you, find joy in you, submit to one another, love one another, in full faith that your will is the best. In Jesus’ name, Amen.