Many people don’t think of California as an overly “Christian” state, but even though it’s not anywhere near the Bible Belt, it definitely has it share of Christians and Christian churches. It’s hard to say exactly how many churches are in the state, but it’s estimated that there are more than 15 million Christians in California, according to the U.S. Religion Census.
There are plenty of denominational churches in California, but the state also has a large amount of independent, non-denominational churches. Many denominational churches can tap into resources provided by their denomination when they find themselves in a time of transition, like when they’re without a senior pastor, but a church without denominational support is more likely to turn to an organization like VitalChurch for an intentional interim pastor. VitalChurch has provided intentional interim pastors for both denominational and non-denominational churches in California, and we can help yours too!
Why do we mention California specifically? Well, the VitalChurch headquarters are here (in San Clemente, California), and several of our intentional interim pastors call California home already. It’s very easy for us to quickly mobilize our team to conduct church health assessments and provide intentional interim pastors for California churches.
We’re also very familiar with California. If you know anything about California, you know that different areas have distinct cultures. The culture in San Francisco is very different from that of San Diego, and Orange County is wildly different from the Central Valley.
Having worked in California churches for many years now, we’ve come to appreciate and understand the uniqueness of the various regions of California, and have learned how to adapt to them in our ministry. Of course, we never change the gospel, but we do understand that the people in different areas have different needs, as well as ways of “doing church.” Our intentional interim pastors never come to a church to completely change its culture, but work within that culture to effect needed change—to make them more in line with the Word of God and more fruitful in their ministry.
Could your California church benefit from the ministry of an intentional interim pastor? One of our experienced, seasoned interim pastors can come to your church and walk you through our effective, biblically based three-phase process for church revitalization. If you’re just looking for someone to fill the pulpit on Sunday mornings, we may not be a good fit. We’re in the business of transformation, restoration, and revitalization.
We’ve stepped into extremely difficult situations before—no church is beyond hope. If your church is willing to put in the work to make the needed changes, it could look extremely different a year or two from now.
If you’d like to learn more about our interim pastor ministry, contact us today. We’d love to hear about your church and see how we can work together.