HOW TO
of spiritual maturity or an
awareness of some of their
gifts. It doesn’t mean they are
old or have been in the congre-
gation for a long time, but
there needs to be a good bal-
ance in that maturity level and
a real sensitivity to God.”
Bonis says it is a spiritual
task they’re faced with. “There
needs to be some diversity
within the context of congre-
gational representation, but
they’re not there just to repre-
sent a segment,” he explains.
Don’t let one person
dominate
Phil Smith, president of Oshawa, Ont.-based Philip J. W.
Smith & Co., specializes in
executive recruitment in the
charitable, nonprofit and social profit sectors. He has been
on the other side of the process, interviewed as a potential
candidate in a pastoral search
process. His experience during that process is a cautionary
tale about allowing one committee member to have a larger
voice than the rest.
“There is a lot of that – where
a certain individual [holds]
sway.” Smith says the group
needs to be aware of that potential. It might take a committee member to name out
loud what is happening and
“encourage committee members to push back and fulfill
their mandate of the profile
that they’ve built with the
congregation,” says Smith.
Consult and then consult
some more
Consultation with the congregation is a primary task of the
committee. The group is looking to identify concerns, but
also expectations that exist.
“A good starting point is
finding some trustworthy
voices who are actively involved
with the congregation and
delve into those voices,” says
Smith. “See what they have to
say about what things need to
change and what should stay
the same, and what they hope
for in the future.” Those voices
help build the profile of the
pastor the committee is search-
ing for. “That has to be the
starting point.”
By identifying the church’s
needs, the search committee
can create a pastor profile that
aligns well with the congrega-
tion as a whole. Bonis points
out committees must also pray
for discernment and guidance
throughout the process. “They
need to be able to pray and to
seek input or help as different
situations develop,” says Bonis.
“They need to know how to
keep their opinions as just that
– opinions.
“They need to be able to set
clearly what the culture of the
church is: Who are we? What
are our blemishes, challenges
and struggles? Then they can
be open in the search process
with any candidate, because if
God really wants that person
there, He’ll overcome any of
those obstacles.”
Talk about the process and
anticipate challenges
Don McNiven, director of affiliation and donor relations
with The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, oversaw
countless church placements
in his previous role as general
secretary of the Brethren in
Christ Church – North America. He says search committees
need to have a clear understanding, before disagreement
arises, of how they will deal
with conflicting opinions.
“Sometimes people want to
impart information as a form of
power, so it’s just the rules of a
good committee – an agreed
upon understanding ahead of
time of what we’re going to do
when these situations occur,”
McNiven explains.
Smith agrees setting out the
rules will help ensure a suc-
cessful process. “I think the
more a search committee can
define the process and stick
within that process, the better
they can assess one candidate
from the rest. And a lot of
times church boards have a
hard time doing that.”
During his research Bonis
found committees with a
clearly defined criteria, vision
and expectation of the poten-
tial pastor fared better than
their counterparts.
Smith suggests using a numerical points system to evaluate
candidates. “Every characteristic has a point value and the
results are numerically tabulated. It’s the easiest and most
direct way to keep a committee
“A good starting point is finding
some trustworthy voices who
are actively involved with the
congregation and delve into
those voices.”
