Covenant for the Pastoral Search Team

Covenant for the Pastoral Search Team

WHEREAS, members of the Pastoral Search Team of _______________ Church have been selected to this position of highest trust and responsibility;

WHEREAS, members of the Team recognize the potential effect of our deliberations and recommendations to the church upon its future mission and ministry in Christ’s Church, the spiritual health and fitness of its fellowship, the teaching of its children and the maturing of its membership in relationships characterized by grace and love; and

WHEREAS, it is acknowledged and confessed that the discovery of God’s will and direction in the calling of a pastor can be confused and complicated by human and supernatural factors not easily understood,

We solemnly enter the following Covenant together before the Lord.

A COVENANT OF PRAYER

We will uphold one another in prayer and seek, both separately and together, the clear leadership of the Holy Spirit.

A COVENANT OF HONEST COMMUNICATION

We will speak openly and honestly with one another without taking offense. We realize that we need the opportunity to ‘think aloud’ in order to help sort out impressions and responses as we study our church’s needs and evaluate potential candidates.

A COVENANT OF CONFIDENTIALITY

We will treat, with confidentiality, Team discussions and evaluations regarding specific potential candidates. We will deal responsibly with privileged information. We will agree in Team on appropriate process and progress reports to the Board of Elders and church. We will not publicly criticize the perspectives or decisions of any other members of our Team.

A COVENANT OF ACCOUNTABILITY

We will proceed with ethical sensitivity and thoroughness in all investigative and evaluative procedures in the consideration of any pastoral candidate. If a potential candidate has been engaged in conversation and is later dropped from consideration, we will notify him tactfully in writing. We recognize our accountability to our church and to God for our decisions.

A COVENANT OF UNITY

We will present to the church for its consideration only such recommendations as we can fully support as a Team. Where there are honest differences of opinion, we covenant to work these out before making a recommendation to the church.

Therefore, we enter into this Covenant with our Lord, being led by the Spirit, in order to faithfully discern his will in the calling and selection of a pastor to our church.

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Blog posted by Dennis Baker, CAM Senior Ministry Consultant