Do Methodist Pastors Move All The Time?

I get one question over and over again. The question goes something like this, “I heard that Methodist pastors move a lot; how long are you going to be here?” I say, “Forever,” but reality is a little different. United Methodist churches actually have a very intentional system for evaluating and appointing pastors every year. For 12 years in a row I have been reappointed to pastor The Orchard. Appointments are made in June of each year. It’s July. Whew . . . I’m thankful to be back for at least one more year of dynamic, life-changing ministry!

If you have ever wondered how Methodist pastors are assigned to churches, keep reading.

The Methodist “appointment” process is different from the “call” process that many churches use. In the “call” system a pastor is called to a church by that church’s Board of Elders (or some other leadership group). A pastor is invited by the local church after a battery of interviews to take the job as pastor. This “call” is not to be confused with God’s calling to full-time or ordained ministry. Evidence of God’s calling would be a likely criteria point for local search groups, but the church actually “calls” the pastor to come join them in ministry.

In the United Methodist Church, a partnership is formed between the local church, denominational leaders, and the pastor. The partnership is intended to create accountability, fairness, and effective leadership in local churches. The Methodist pastor is “appointed” or “sent” to a local church after a process of consultation that includes three entities:

                  One, the pastor and his or her family.

                  Two, the Personnel Team in a local church (called P.P.R. in many U.M.C. churches)

                  Three, the Annual Conference Cabinet.

The Conference Cabinet is the only entity that might be a little hard to understand. The Cabinet is made up of the Bishop and District Superintendents from a Conference. The Orchard, for example is part of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. We have about 1000 sister United Methodist Churches in an area roughly north of a line that runs from LaGrange to Augusta. The geographic area of the North Georgia Conference is divided into twelve different districts, each with about 80-90 churches. The Bishop leads the whole conference, and the district superintendents lead an individual district. The Orchard’s district is the Athens Elberton District (you might guess what geographic area that covers).

The Cabinet begins discussions at the start of every year to decide which pastors will move and which pastors will stay. Through the spring, there is a very intentional process that includes feedback, evaluation, prayer, discussion, consultation with local churches, and more prayer. In May, the new appointments are announced, and in June, the pastors actually move.

The first part in the process is feedback that the pastor and the local church give to the Cabinet. Each year, the pastor and the church (represented by the Personnel Team) receive a form that asks about their desires for the coming year. The form has a few choices. In general, the choices go like this:

                  1. I must stay at this church. I am fulfilled here, and my leadership is vital to our mission.

                  2. I would like to stay but am willing to move if I am needed.

                  3. I’m not sure. (Note: never check this box.)

                  4. I think my time may be up, but I’m willing to stay as long as I am needed.

                  5. Help, these people are crazy. Get me out of here!

Maybe the form is a little more formalized, but you get the point. As pastor, I am invited to check one of the boxes and add additional notes, and the personnel team is invited to do the same. Each year, the entire list of pastors is reviewed based on the feedback from these forms affectionately called the move/stay forms.

In the process there are basically three votes. The Cabinet has a vote, the pastor has a vote, and the local church has a vote. Read this slowly and it will make sense: Nine out of ten times, two out of three votes wins. In other words, if the pastor and the church want things to stay the same, then nine out of ten times, that will happen. On occasion, the Cabinet, led by the Bishop who has the final and deciding vote on all appointments, must move a pastor to meet the needs of the Conference. This decision most often has to do with appointing a pastor to a church where the existing pastor is retiring. That scenario, especially in large churches, often creates a domino effect of appointments that can go only two or three churches deep, but has the potential to affect as many as a dozen churches before the dust has settled.

I know there are lots of big, new words here, but I hope you have gained a thumbnail understanding of how Methodist pastors move. It’s not random or pre-programmed. It does not happen every four years. It happens every year, but most of the time the outcome is that a pastor stays put. The process is highly intentional and covered in prayer from beginning to end.

May God bless all the churches who are receiving new pastors this July and all the pastors who have been sent to lead the mission of those churches. There have been no new appointments, only reappointments, to United Methodist Churches in the Loganville area this year.