The Ministerial Director > Getting Started > Transition into a Ministerial Director

The move into the Ministerial Department of a local conference is not a difficult one, though you will immediately notice some things that are quite different from the pastorate you likely just left. Among them:

•You have access to people and information you didn't before. As a departmental director, you will be in meetings with freer access to conference administration and other department directors than you've ever had before. You'll need to forge new working relationships, and you'll discover that the way some things seem to appear in the field will look quite different when you are in the conference office. You'll also soon discover that you aren't free to share all the information you have, some of which would explain away some perceptions you had in the field.

•Your pastoral colleagues will view you differently than they did before. Even if you were well-known and respected in your conference before stepping into this role, the mere fact that you have joined the conference office team will be a barrier between you and some pastors you had counted as friends. You can restore those friendships easily enough by continuing to be the same authentic, trustworthy, and down-to-earth person you were before you went into the office.

•If you are coming from a local church in the same conference, you'll need to completely absent yourself from that church, at least for a while. Fortunately, when you first start your new role, it's wise to visit as many churches as possible during those first Sabbaths so that you can truly get a sense of what things are like throughout your conference. Even if you've been in a conference for some time, you'll learn some things you did not know before, things which can help you be a pastor to your pastors.

Hint: When you do visit a church, don't call ahead and announce you are coming. Just show up. The next week, take the time to write a letter of affirmation about the pastor of the church (find something about their leadership or their sermon or their interactions with their members, etc) to the conference president, and CC the pastor. Don't do this by e-mail. Put it on paper. And do it right away. This will mean a lot to the pastor!

•Help your family find their footing. If it's a geographic move, they will need to adjust to a new church and a new school. More on this topic here.

•Enter your new role as a learner, not as an expert. Though you may well know a lot about pastoral ministry, you are a rookie in this role and it's not always what you think it will be. Seek out the wisdom of others such as your union Ministerial Director or Ministerial Director colleagues from around your union.

•Expect that you'll find yourself missing a lot about the pastoral work you just left. Much will change, and though most of it will be pleasant, you will find yourself missing a lot about pastoral work. But be patient with yourself and don't judge your new work too quickly. It often takes a year or more to hit stride, so allow for the fact that you will be experiencing a lot of new things and learning how to deal with them. Next...

Mark Weir, Ministerial Director for Upper Columbia Conference, shares his thoughts on transitioning from the pastorate to Ministerial here.