I think I've got it!

I think I've got it!
After 20+ hours of face-to-face meetings with Pastor-Parish Relations Committees, taking and transcribing careful notes into profiles, I know just what my churches want in pastoral leadership:

"Someone who is not too young because young preachers are too impatient for change and, well, you can't push people in the congregation too fast, you know. But we have to have someone young enough to attract young adults and work well with youth and children. That's where we are losing people."

"We need someone with energy -- lots of energy because we count on the preacher to do the ministry of the church. We will appreciate someone who can do it all -- visit the shut-ins, visit the senior members of the church who tend to feel neglected if the preacher doesn't stop by every week, take communion to people who missed the sacrament at church, preach, teach some Bible studies (and, by the way, we need a good precher who will keep our attention). It's nice if the preacher is also willing to teach Sunday School."

"Be sure to send us someone with thick skin. We have people who criticize everything the pastor does. They have been doing that for years. They don't come to church, but they still complain. It's only a handful of people, though. We haven't said anything to them because we don't want to hurt their feelings. We haven't stood up for our preacher the way we should. So be sure that whoever comes can take criticism."

"We need someone who is friendly and gets along well with people of all ages. We need someone who will be active in our community and a face for the church that we can be proud of. We need someone who will attract these young adults that we are missing without needing to change anything about the way we like to worship. We expect our pastor to give special attention to our members, notice and follow-up with the visitors. "

"We want someone who will make us proud to be members of our church but we don't want anyone to nag us for money. We want someone well-educated but not someone who will talk over our heads. We want our preacher to be in there working alongside us at our fundraisers. We want our minister to be fresh and rested as long as that doesn't mean taking a day off each week and all that vacation schedule that the conference has. There's a lot of work to be done at our church and we look to the minister to cover all the bases."

"We want a preacher who will respect our ways of doing things. If they are contrary to that Book of Discipline, the pastor should know that we've been doing things this way for a long time and we know what is best for our congregation."

"By the way, our pastor needs to be a man because our choir director grew up Baptist. We don't want to offend the choir director. And we want a pastor this time whose wife can sing in the choir and be active in church functions. If she sings alto, that wouuld be especially helpful. And, of course, we want children in the parsonage. That would really help boost our youth. If the new pastor and his wife has a son who could play tackle for the football team next year, that would be a big asset for the church."

"You can tell the cabinet that we know we need to change. We see that our church is declining and our members are on the senior side. But you just can't rush changes. We want someone who will help us take baby steps. Send us someone who will help us change without getting anyone upset."

Yes, indeed. I've got it.
I didn't make these up. Every one of those things have been said to me by some PPR committee in my district.

I take careful notes so that, when I write the profile, I won't confuse what they actually said with my imagination or a bad dream. I have accurately listed what they say they want. And if we, on the cabinet provide what they want, these churches will be gone in 10 years.

What they want to protect is their comfort zone. Their comfort zone and what they need to be vital, growing churches are very different things. Lord, have mercy.