Seven Mistakes Pastors Make to Fail at Succession

I hear from many pastors who want to tell me their church's plan for the succession process.

My primary work is with what I label “Pathbreaker Pastors” – those long-serving Senior Pastors who have helped a church navigate new territory over a long season. They have been the focal leaders and have helped navigate the challenges well. They have respect. Many have researched what they think will work in their context.

But, when I hear their plans and sometimes see their results in this area, I find some common mistakes. Or, if you won’t grant me the category of error, at least some conflict and challenge they didn’t really need to navigate. Call it a misstep.

The costs of failed succession are high. Less than stellar processes also can cost a church.

Financially, I estimate between 20% and 100% of income over five years. But the most critical loss is loss of momentum. And the mistakes I list below tend to fall into that category. But also, you can lose staff, congregants, and critical relationships when you make some of these mistakes.

I have been very fortunate that most of my clients report multiplied ministry momentum after we work together in this process.

Mistake 1: Mistaking Search for Succession

Search is different than succession. It is one part of the process but should not be the focal part.

Succession is focused on the current leader and helping them through the entire process so that the transition goes well. Search is focused on the next leader.

Often, the first statements I hear from a pastor are: “First, we have to find the next leader.”

That will certainly need to be done, but it isn’t the first or even half the process.

A related misstep is not spending enough time evaluating and developing any potential leaders within the current staff or congregation.

“We have a few potential candidates on our staff, but I don’t think they are ready,” say many leaders to me.

Don’t get me wrong; I feel the current pastor may have the best insight on leaders currently on the team. But they should not make that decision in a vacuum. Several times, I have heard pastors tell me there are no candidates, and the staff member goes to a nearby community or church to become the leader and does quite well. Often, some congregants go with them.

There needs to be good process work done before making that decision, and that is not the first decision to make anyway!

(Image DALL-E. But similar what it would look like for me to try plumbing)

Mistake 2: “We are doing to do it like (their favorite example.)”

Some of those pastors have put their stories in books. Some leaders tell others how they did it as a template for a church to follow.

Often, a pastor will tell me they had a personal conversation with (their favorite example), and they are now advising them. That’s great.

But my experience after advising hundreds (400+) of churches in this area and being under contract with over 60 is that if you have seen one good church, you have seen one good church.

Your process must fit your church in your context, community, and leadership situation. It also has to include your church’s financial considerations.

It should include the context of your current leaders, staff, board, and congregation.

When a pastor tries to cut and paste a solution from one church, even a church in their denomination, region, or tribe, they neglect some critical parts of the process.

What a church needs is a bespoke tailored plan to their unique situation.

Mistake 3: Not including relevant stakeholders

The biggest miss here is the Senior Pastor’s Spouse. “I have talked to my spouse; they are on board with everything.” But when I probe a bit, I get a different story.

In fact, I have learned not to accept a contract without speaking to the spouse.

However, other stakeholders are often not briefed, engaged, and challenged. I see that as short-sighted if one desires strong momentum on the other side of the process.

The process needs to appropriately engage the other stakeholders, such as the board, key staff, high-impact leaders, and others, to help drive the vision forward.

When a current pastor tries to drive that process with those stakeholders, they rarely get totally honest answers and thoughts. Again, great deference is made. This is where I tend to earn much of my keep helping the church devise a great plan for all to move forward.

Mistake 4 is …..well, I am out of space for this issue.

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