Ten Commandments for Pastoral Searches

In a recent newsletter, I reflected upon Search, a fascinating and disturbing novel about a progressive, California congregation’s search for a new pastor. While the church couldn’t be more different culturally and theologically from my own church tradition, I found that its struggles to locate and call a new pastor seemed all too familiar.

There seem to be some basic “thou shalts” and “thou shalt nots” that should probably characterize the efforts of churches to identify, interview, and call their next pastor. I’ve come up with ten. The first three commandments are for the congregation, and the final seven are for the search committee.