The Six Conversations

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The Six Conversations for Church Leadership and Their Pastor

Imagine for just a moment all the things your new Pastor needs to learn about who you are as a congregation before he/she will be able to offer the best possible leadership. A successful Pastoral transition is contingent on establishing clarity around six fundamental subjects.

The Congregation’s Story and Situation Conversation

The Expectations Conversation

The Style Conversation

The Resources Conversation

The Personal Development Conversation

The Discipleship Conversation

While going through these conversations will not give the Pastor all the information necessary, this process is an intentional effort to jump-start information-sharing and learning experiences for the Pastor and congregational leaders.  The overall goal is to create a working relationship between laity and clergy that will help the Pastor add valuable leadership to the church as soon as possible.

These conversations should take place over an extended time period of about 90-120 days. There should be ample time to Pastor and people to process each conversation before proceeding to the next one.  We would caution you not rush too quickly through this process—and even plan to revisit these conversations in six months for establishing further clarity as things progress.  In short, these will be ongoing conversations.

Local church leaders are encouraged to prepare for these conversations by reviewing the questions prior to the meeting.  There are no right or wrong answers—just your answers.

Your Pastor will enter into these conversations as a listener and learner. Please share openly and honestly during each conversation.  If additional ideas or insights come to you after the conversation, please feel free to share these comments with your Pastor.

God bless you as you enter into this exciting time of getting acquainted and forging a new partnership between people and Pastor.

These conversations are adapted from The First Ninety Days:  Critical Strategies for New Leaders At All Levels by Michael Watkins; and the Discipleship Conversation was created by the South Georgia Annual Conference Transition Workshop Team.

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