Search and Call - Secrecy

[A note before I begin... in writing today's bit of sharing, I recognize that these thoughts are not coming in any sort of chronological order. Welcome to how my brain works. Perhaps once I conclude, they can all be categorized accordingly... by someone else.]

Today's Topic: Secrecy

Tell me that we’ve lost sight of how God is at work in our lives without telling me that we have lost sight of how God is at work in our lives.

I’ll go first

One of the most heartbreaking aspects of my experience in the search and call process within the United Church of Christ has been the level of secrecy that must be held throughout the process. It begins as we are invited to create our ministerial profiles which require a certain number of individuals to serve as references.

Most often, though not always, at least one of the three references to be provided comes from within the current ministerial setting from which the candidate is currently serving. So not only do we, the ones searching, have to be enshrouded in secrecy throughout the process, we now are inviting others to also live in secrecy throughout the extent of our search.

Talk about icky!

Now I’ve heard some say that the reasoning behind the secrecy of search and call is in part to protect the relationship the pastor has with their faith community. And I have seen how that relationship can be shattered once a faith community knows that their pastor is planning to leave for another call or retire.

A large contributor to the change in relationship, I believe, is the grief that all involved are beginning to navigate. So… For those of us in the search process, many of whom are people pleasers, it makes sense to want to protect people as long as we can.

And though that may be the reasoning behind some people‘s desire to maintain secrecy in the process, another clear fact is that as soon as the process is out in the open, conflict is not far behind.

And if you are anything like me, we avoid conflict at all costs.

Another aspect of challenge with the extent of secrecy required in the process comes in the relationships that begin to form between the candidate and search committees.

Recently, In my search and call experience, I made a comment about the secrecy required in the process to a search committee during an interview. I shared that it was as if I were “cheating“ on my church by being there with them for the interview.

Again... talk about icky!

Now, I understand that not every pastor enters into the search process because they are feeling a strong sense of call from God to another setting. Some leave due to conflict. Some leave due to family dynamics. And, there are an infinite number of other reasons.

And regardless of the reasons behind leaving, I can't help but think that the secrecy required keeps us from living fully into who we understand ourselves to be as people of faith.

I have to think that an integral part of a search and call process that is too often missing is the open acknowledgment of an alignment with the Holy Spirit. The calling a pastor to a new setting or a local setting calling a pastor to walk alongside them must include this alignment.

However, in all of my years of ministry I cannot recall any clergy person announcing that they were initiating a search process because they felt that God was calling them elsewhere.

Why not? What is keeping us from doing so?

Claiming to be a people who believe that God is still speaking, couldn’t we somehow acknowledge hearing God speak?

Claiming to be a people who rely on the movement of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our lives and ministry, couldn’t we find a way to acknowledge it?

The amount of secrecy required to be held in this process leads to some easily avoidable and yet horrifically painful experiences. A simple example of the pain experienced comes when members of a faith community receive the news of their pastoral leader leaving. Some begin to feel as if they have been betrayed in some way as their pastor has been off "cheating" with other churches. And that sense of betrayal, I believe, could be avoided.

Now I've heard many times that there is a common understanding that pastors only stay for a specific period of time with their faith community. I wonder what it would be like if we continued to lift that up as a reality based on the understanding that God continues to speak, the Holy Spirit continues to move, and pastors are called to serve elsewhere.

It seems like there may be ways to avoid some of the damage done by the secrecy of this process while also lifting up one of our core believes in a God who continues to speak in our midst.

[Photo Credit: Xavi Cabrera on Unsplash]