The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow: Pastoral Transitions in a Social Media World

Today is my final day as the pastor of Mission Bay Community Church and this post will be the last time, for a while, that I'll focus on my pastoral life there.  It has been a splendid 11+ years, our good-byes were healthy and, after a few last administrative hand-offs, it will be time for us to move onto the next stage of our ministry.  For those who have gone through this process before, you know that it can be a difficult one for all involved and that there are no hard and fast rules about how approach the transition in this day and age of social media.

First a little context setting. As a Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation MBCC will work with the local governing called a "presbytery" to move through a process of seeking and calling a new pastor. This usually means having an interim pastor, doing some kind of search and then calling someone as their new pastor. As for me, since I am not headed to a new church AND I am staying in the area, I will become what is called a "member-at-large" and will affiliate with a congregation as a Parish Associate. This is usually not a paid position, but one that allows a minister to support the pastor of a congregation and is usually held by folks engaged in other areas of ministry that are not congregational in nature.

Throughout the entire process, we strongly encourage the departing pastor and the congregation to extricate themselves from each other's lives in order to allow room for new pastoral leadership to take hold. In a case such as mine where I was the founding pastor, it is even more important that I do not inadvertently influence the life of the church as they go through a pastoral search for the first time and seek to discern God's hopes for their future. And while it seems severe and harsh, this means being very clear about boundaries of interaction after I am no longer the pastor.

Creating these boundaries are often difficult to maintain, especially when the pastor stays in the area. Most of us have heard of many a pastors have an unhealthy influence on a congregation after their time is as pastor is done. With the best of intentions and love, many pastors who can't let go can end up doing harm to the very community that are trying to help. Usually geography helps to build separation, but in this day and age of social media, geography no longer can be assumed to be a determining factor in creating healthy space between the pastor and the congregation.

In the case of Mission Bay Community Church, social media was not seen as a strategic use of technology, but a way of life. Via texting, email, Twitter and Facebook we cared for one another, shared news and enhanced the nature of how we were church together. It would be one thing to acknowledge that we will bump into each other at the local cafe or farmers' market, but when there are hundreds of updates showing up in Twitter and Facebook streams, there is an added layer of intentionality that must be addressed when a pastor leaves.

As we talked about interaction after I was done being their pastor, we went from being painfully rigid, trying to think of every possible interaction that might happen to being overly general and just trusting that folks would figure it out. As I worked this out from my perspective thinking through what I believe would create difficulties it became clear that I hit the, "It's going to be really hard to create division" trifecta: I'm not leaving the city, I'm all up in the social media and I'm not moving to serve another congregation.

In the end we came up with a "covenant" for our future rather than a list of dos and don'ts.  While the elements may feel somewhat harsh, I feel it is necessary, especially as the founding pastor, to highlight the importance of creating separation if they are to be most open to where God may be leading. I don't think that anyone feels that I no longer care about their individual and communal joys and struggles in life, but we need to be clear that it is no longer my place to offer pastoral care, input on congregational life and/or commentary on pastoral leadership.

Here is the Covenant for Our Future that was received by the congregation on May 8, 2011 when we officially dissolved the pastoral relationship between myself and Mission Bay Community Church. Feel free to "liberate" some and/or all of it for your use.

A Covenant for Our Future

understandings about the future relationship between Mission Bay Community Church and Bruce, R., E., A. and A.

The intention of this covenant is to act as a reminder of the importance of the relationship between pastor and congregation.  To ensure a healthy transition from the current called pastor to an interim pastor and then to a new permanent pastor all must exercise great self-restraint in order to allow time for all to reflect on past ministry, dream about future ministries and allow for a relationship with future pastors to flourish.

We also acknowledge that there are complexities which can and will influence the nature of this particular pastoral transition: existing social networking relationships, the Reyes-Chow/Pugh Family remaining in the area, Bruce not moving to pastor another congregation and his visibility and involvement in the public arena.

The following measures may seem harsh, even legalistic, but the intent is to be forthright in our commitment to create space for all involved to grieve, reflect and dream.

With a posture of grace, understanding and trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit . . .

We all covenant to . . .

• Hold one another in prayer.
• Refrain from all intentional interaction online or in person until at least one year after the installation of a new called pastor including online commenting, texting, phone calls, etc.
• Treat online interaction with great care understanding that some people may need to "unfriend" on Facebook, "unfollow" on Twitter and/or find ways to remove undue social media visibility.

The Members and Friends of Mission Bay Community Church covenant to . . .

• Pray for the emotional and spiritual well-being of Bruce, R., E., A. and A. as they discern God's calling on their spiritual and church lives.
• No longer approach Bruce or his family regarding issues of pastoral care, congregational life or future pastoral leadership.
• Allow ourselves adequate time to honestly, fully and faithfully grieve the end of Bruce's time as pastor and the departure of his family from the life of the church.
• Welcome and embrace new pastoral leadership and joyfully engage in a process of discerning God's calling on our future.

Bruce, R., E., A. and A. covenant to . . .

• Pray for the emotional and spiritual well-being of Mission Bay Community Church, as individuals and as the gathered  beloved community as they discern God's calling on their ministry.
• Allow ourselves time to grieve the end of a pastoral and congregational relationship.
• Seek out a new worshipping home and fully participate in the life of the larger church.
• Bear the primary responsibility for maintaining healthy boundaries, refraining from and discouraging any interactions regarding issues of pastoral care, congregational life or future pastoral leadership.

Obviously, as churches go through these social media enriched transitions, each person will need to decide how much he/she needs to be cut off from "exposure" to the activities of the departing pastor or the congregation.  For some this will require unfriending/hiding people on Facebook, unfollowing on Twitter and/or deleting contacts, but for most it will simply require extreme discipline to resist even the most innocent of interactions. We must not underestimate the power of the relationship between pastor and congregation and there must be time given for that relationship to lie fallow if a new form of relationship can ever be explored.  This tension has always existed for random face-to-face interactions after a pastor leaves; social media has only heightened the frequency that these interactions might take place.

And for those that want some concrete advice, here are  few things to be sure to do in terms of social media connections . . . or at least what I have done as the departing pastor. If you have any other good ideas or insights, please offer them here or on the Facebook Status Update. It would also be great if you could share any litanies, prayers or other resources like this Litany of Farewell offered by youravgpastor.

• Send a "final" email out to folks (at least elders and staff) so it is clear when you have begun this new phase.  Email conversations can go on and on, so it is important to offer a mark of finality.
• Create an autoresponder for your church email list that directs folks to new church connections as well as a way for non-church contacts to remain connected.  Send an email to bruce@missionbaycc.org to see the one placed on my church email.
• Remove yourself from internal communication lists, groups, docs, etc. on Google, Yahoo and other sharing platforms. With so many ways that people communicate, share docs, etc. it is important, for your own sanity, to not see conversations that you are no longer meant to be part of.
• Delete any groups or lists that you created that set aside congregation members in your news and updated streams.
• Have your administrative access removed from all congregational social media platforms.  This might include having the church change passwords and other access points.

The "line" over which we must not cross when it comes to pastoral transitions is wide and gray thanks to the expansive nature of social media. I strongly believe that how pastors leave a congregation is just as important as how one arrives at the beginning of a call and serves during their time, so the more we can offer each other good models, perspectives and insights the better.

And a last thank you to any of the MBCC crew who may be reading this, it has been a privilege to be your pastor. Peace.

[Taken with permission from Bruce's blog on Patheos.com . Originally posted 5/31/11. Follow Bruce on Twitter @breyeschow.]