We sometimes get asked if VitalChurch Ministry has church consultants on our staff who can offer an outside perspective to a struggling church. While a lot of what we do can be considered “consulting,” we don’t tend to call ourselves consultants. There are a lot of reasons for this, and in this blog post, we hope to provide some of our reasoning and also explain how our interim pastors are different from traditional church consultants.
We understand that not all church consultants are the same. We are also not trying to disparage church consultants or necessarily steer your church away from hiring one. Many church consultants provide valuable services from which churches can benefit. For some churches, a church consultant is perfectly adequate, while for others, something more is needed.
A church consultant can be a great option if your church just has one or two issues on which you would like some outside feedback. Maybe you sense that people aren’t growing in their faith or you are struggling to recruit the volunteers you need to keep your programs going. A church consultant can help you look into issues like these and determine the root causes. They can also offer suggestions for how to move forward.
Here’s what most church consultants won’t do, however. Church consultants won’t become a part of your church and help make changes from within. However, this is something the interim pastors at VitalChurch Ministry will do.
When your church brings in an interim pastor from VitalChurch Ministry, your church gets a pastor—and all that entails. Our pastors don’t just preach on Sundays; they join the life of the church. They work hand in hand with the church staff and the governing board. They help develop new programs and modify existing ones to make them more effective. They provide leadership training. They help bring about reconciliation when needed. And so much more!
Our interim pastors are trained and experienced in working with struggling churches. Churches that are struggling can look very different from one another. A church can be struggling because it has seen a steady decline in membership over the years, or it could be struggling because it is in the midst of a crisis due to a singular incident, like the unexpected resignation of the lead pastor or a church split. Whatever the issues and whatever their causes, our interim pastors can come into the situation and provide hope, facilitate healing, and help the church prayerfully discern the way forward.
Does Your Church Need a Church Consultant or an Interim Pastor?
Many churches benefit from the work of church consultants, but if you think your church needs something more, we would love to talk with you. The conversation is free and confidential, and we won’t give the “hard sell.” We will simply give you more information about what we do so you can determine if working with VitalChurch Ministry is the best option for your church and its needs. Contact us through our website, and we will get right back to you.