Episode 261: The Bittersweet Work of Transitional Ministry — Roger Sparks & Harv Roosma (Part 1)

“When [a church invites] in an STM, what they’re saying is, ‘We want this person but also we’re willing to look at things. We’re going to be open-minded. We’re going to hear hard questions, and we’re going to deal with stuff.’ So they have prepared…and [an STM] can be a little bit more assertive…You have the freedom and the platform to deal with issues that maybe have been there but not talked about.” —Harv Roosma

Summary of This Episode

Jason, Willy, and Dan are back for a roundtable with Rev. Harv Roosma and Rev. Roger Sparks. The focus of the conversation is the ministry of Specialized Transitional Ministers (https://www.crcna.org/pcr/stm). (STMs) in the CRCNA. STMs usually are experienced ministers. Both Harv and Roger served in “traditional pastorates” for over twenty years in congregations in the U.S. and Canada before pursuing this work.

If you’re wondering what kind of churches do STMs pastor in and support, you’re probably not alone. As we look at the landscape of the CRC in the past few years, there are a lot of pastoral vacancies as well as churches finding themselves in difficult or contentious situations. Vacant churches typically call upon other pastors or those licensed to exhort to fill their pulpit each week, or they may hire an interim pastor, while they search for their next pastor. STMs have special training and support that a church hires to help the congregation through things before the search for their next pastor. Roger shares that the congregations who benefit from their work aren’t always in trouble or having problems; it can be that they’ve had a long-term pastor. “We were given some training and so we have some tools…that we can use to help churches think about vision and mission…[We provide] on-site experienced pastoral help to guide a church through a time of transition.” Harv adds that when they’re called in, it’s to look at things carefully.

Willy asks what the commitment of a church who hires or calls an STM is like. Roger shares that it’s typically a one-year commitment (which can be extended), and it is more expensive than just paying for weekly pulpit supply. The model they work from is typically in six-month sections. For the first part, STMs are getting to know and helping the church, being a pastor and support. From there, they’re working to set up the search committee, to prepare a ready church for their next pastor, and certainly continuing to love that church. Harv shares part of their work also involves narrowing down a list of priorities supplied by the church—so STM work is individualized to the church. He mentions their work can also lead to the conclusion of closing a local church.

Jason invites Harv and Roger to share what the training and equipping of an STM is. Harv did his training through Interim Ministry Network, which had four or five day intensives with a group of pastors, in which you’d look at the history and DNA of a church as well training to look for dynamics of change. For tools, he shares that STMs often do “appreciative inquiries” and “asset mapping.” Roger highlights learning about differentiation and avoiding triangulation—for a church where there is trouble, the STM must “stay just a little bit at arm’s length.” We also hear about an annual conference or retreat that STMs can gather and go over struggles and give advice or encouragement. They also have STM small groups that they connect with one another throughout the year by Zoom. Both the preparation and the continued connections have been really beneficial to them.

We close out the episode with the guys responding to Jason asking to lay out some of the differences between a traditional pastorate and being brought in as an STM. Harv goes right to the heart of things, “When [a church invites] in an STM, what they’re saying is, ‘We want this person but also we’re willing to look at things. We’re going to be open-minded. We’re going to hear hard questions, and we’re going to deal with stuff.’ So they have prepared…and [an STM] can be a little bit more assertive…You have the freedom and the platform to deal with issues that maybe have been there but not talked about.” He shares how there’s not a fear of being fired because your job is to uncover stuff. Roger adds, it’s not all about the talking or advice that they bring, but STM work involves a lot of listening. Doing so much of that does make it a bit difficult to leave after such a short time, but they’re prepared for that.

Join us next time as we hear more about working through difficult issues in churches and what pastors in traditional churches can do to serve their people well.