With Scott Benhase’s departure to become the next Bishop of Georgia, we’ve compiled a timeline to help the parish understand what’s happened and what happens next. We’ll update this as the process moves forward. Please look for updates.
Change can be challenging. The good news is that the Parish has a strong and talented staff, a robust lay ministry and an active and caring congregation. And having recently undertaken the search process, we're in a strong position to take advantage of the experience of many in the Parish who were involved in the last search for a rector.
Vestry members are the elected representatives of the parish and, with the Bishop, will make the decisions about this transition on behalf of the entire parish. If you have opinions or questions or both, seek out a Vestry member If you would like to serve on the Search Committee or nominate someone else to serve, please contact Sr. Warden, Kate Bouvé. Her e-mail address is kgsbouve@starpower.net.
2010
March 1 - John Lawrence starts his service as interim rector.
Jan. 23 – Scott’s ordination and consecration will take place in Savannah. Scott will be the 10th Bishop of Georgia, replacing Henry I. Louttit, who has served since 1995.
Jan. 1 - With Scott's departure, Tim Boggs, our Associate Rector, assumes Scott's responsibilities pending the arrival of our interim rector while the other staff continue to serve the parish in their current positions.
2009
Dec. 18 – The Parish holds a going-away party for Scott.
Dec. 15 – At its regularly scheduled monthly meeting, the Vestry decides to call John Lawrence, current interim rector of St. Patrick's parish in Washington, D.C., as interim rector. The call to John Lawrence follows an extensive interview process that started with the Wardens and expanded to include the Vestry, Scott and the staff, all of whom met with John separately before the Vestry's December 15 meeting. Those who met John were all impressed with him and persuaded he would be a strong interim rector for the Parish.
Nov. 17 – Senior Warden Kate Bouvé reports to the Vestry that three candidates have been identified as suitable candidates for interim rector. The wardens will interview the candidates and make a recommendation to the Vestry at its December meeting. The Parish is unlikely to have an interim rector selected and ready to serve by January, but the Vestry agrees that it is better to deliberate rather than move quickly with the decision.
Oct. 23-24 – At the Parish’s annual planning workshop, parishioners compile a list of qualities to be sought in candidates for the position of interim rector. Armed with information on what the Parish is looking for in an interim rector, the diocese will identify candidates that it believes would be best suited for the parish. The wardens and Vestry may also identify other candidates subject to approval of such candidates by the diocese.
Oct. 21 – The regular monthly meeting of the Vestry is attended by Bishop Chane and two of his aides -- Paul Cooney, Canon to the Ordinary, and Mary Sulerud, Canon for Deployment. A number of parishioners take the opportunity to share their views on the transition process with the Bishop. The Vestry begins discussions about the process of selecting an interim rector. As set forth in the diocese’s Parish Transition Process, the wardens, in consultation with the Vestry, will arrange for an interim rector to serve the parish during the period of the search. The Bishop and Mary Sulerud advise that the diocese will propose candidates to serve as interim rector but that the decision on who will serve as interim rector will be made by the Vestry.
Oct. 8 -- The wardens meet with Bishop Chane. The Bishop makes clear that he believes it is in the best interest of St. Alban’s to conduct a broad national search for a new rector that will identify the best possible candidates from around the country. An interim rector will be appointed to serve after Scott’s departure in January and until a new rector takes over.
Sept. 15 – At its regular monthly meeting, the Vestry begins the process of discernment – listening, learning and praying – about the transition. Scott, the wardens and the Vestry agree that transparency and openness are essential to the search.
Sept. 12 – Scott is elected Bishop of Georgia on the second ballot. He received 76 votes out of 146 cast in the lay order and 58 of 103 cast in the clergy order. To learn more about the search process, go to: http://www.georgiabishopsearch.org/
WHAT’S THIS INTERIM STUFF ALL ABOUT?
Word got around fast when Scott was elected Bishop of Georgia. “Scott’s leaving! What’s next? Why is he leaving? What happens to us? Why is the bishop sticking his oar into this?” Some may remember those were the same questions that were asked at St. Alban’s five years ago; and twenty-five years ago when Ted Eastman was elected Bishop of Maryland; and, thirty-five years ago when Felix Kloman left. It happens.
William Bridges (Google him!), a well-known organization consultant, has written many books about transitions and how organizations and individuals deal with it. In churches, we have a special kind of organization with special stresses when leadership changes. Our parishes are not just organizations. They have overlays of tradition and meaning that are not quite the same, say, as a local Pizza Hut Restaurant. Both are organizations, but there are also differences. Both undergo change, but there are differences. The major business of a parish has to do with helping people relate to God and each other, and to engage them in activities, collectively and individually, that we call ministry.
Churches designate specially trained people to be leaders they call priests or pastors. That work can make deep personal and emotional connections between those leaders and the people in congregations. When one leaves, people feel a sense of loss. Some people feel it acutely, because of the depth of relationship they found in that leader. For some, there is an acute sense of anxiety about the future. When Pizza Hut managers change, nobody cares much as long as the pizza doesn’t! Bridges reminds us that our anxiety about transition is not unique. Everybody is thrown off stride by transition; but we have found that transition of a pastor touches deep feelings, many of which we are not even aware. It’s like other transitions, but there are other dynamics involved.
Through history churches came to identify the church with the PERSON who was in leadership. The ministry of the CHURCH often got focused in the person of the leader: the pastor came to BE the ministry, at least emotionally. Ordinary members came to feel that the ministry that belonged to everybody had been out-sourced to the pastor. In those days, when a pastor left a congregation we even talked about the parish as a “vacant parish.” It was bad theology and bad organizational dynamics. We wiped out the idea of the ministry of the laity completely! In more recent years we’ve begun saying it better. We talk about the parish going through an “interim period.” Those words are saying we know the ministry is what goes on all the time through all the people, but that for a time we are undergoing a change of the clergy leader. Our language is a bit better, but our emotions don’t always get as clear.
My sense from the beginning was that there were three types of congregations that really needed the services of an interim pastor:
- Congregations after a long pastorate;
- Congregations having just gone through a particularly conflicted period; and,
- Congregations that were large and complex, with multiple clergy on staff.
We also learned some recurring truths, like:
- If a pre-transition conflict wasn’t worked through, then the next pastor would most likely get caught up in its dynamics;
- If factions went into a transition dead set against a particular candidate, then a true call from the whole congregation was difficult; and,
- If a member of the previous pastor’s staff was appointed to be the interim, then it was hard for the congregation to make a transition.
We also learned that there were basic tasks that needed attention during an interim. We came to call them the “developmental tasks” of the interim period. They are:
- Helping the congregation come to terms with its past;
- Investigating and defining a new identity, separate from the previous pastor;
- Making space for lay leadership changes, allowing some to take needed sabbaticals from leadership and encouraging new people to step forward;
- Rediscovering the connections to their bishop;
- Make a new corporate commitment to a direction and a pastor
I continue to enjoy being a part of a remarkable ministry at St. Alban's Parish. I recognize that there will be extra pressures of all kinds that our staff will be working under during the interim, but I also expect to continue growing under their leadership. From top to bottom they are excellent. Even if overloaded! I’m looking forward to our wardens and vestry bringing us an interim rector who will help us all grow toward a better ministry and our next phase of life.
I’m appreciative of the Bishop’s role so far. He’s been willing to show us tough love when we might have wanted more love and less tough. We’re going to need more from him as we go through this interim. Our ministry needs structures that hold us accountable. Just as we, individually, need a parish that strengthens each of us in our individual ministries, even at times when it has to say tough things to us. I hope this interim period will help us toward greater accountability in ministry, and I hope we can also explore not only how we can be accountable to the bishop, but how he can be accountable to us.
The Reverend Loren B. Mead, Priest Associate