A Changing World!

Amanda on March 11th, 2009

A lot of you have been experiencing transition and change with this crazy economy, not only in your households, but ministry/church jobs. It is such a confusing place to be. I know I find myself wrestling with the questions…”Isn’t this God’s calling for our family?” “How will He provide?”.

Courtney Laib had such a great post about transitions and their journey of faith in this changing world…

My husband and I have been going through a church transition for the last few months, that we never expected. Our church in Illinois (like many all over the country) is going through some tough financial times, which is resulting in a staff down-size. In order for our church to continue to be obedient to God through finances, and not go broke,  we have to down-size. My husband has been the Pastor of Student Ministries here for almost 7 years and he really loves it. To make a long story short, after much praying we decided that God was clearly telling us both that it was time for us to move on to something new. So rather than forcing the lead pastors to have to ‘fire’ people, my husband relinquished his position. After a few months of searching , my husband was hired last week by a church in Chino, CA (Inland Hills Church) to be their High School Pastor. We are super excited for this new adventure even though it will be hard to leave many friends and family members behind in Illinois. We are leaving our current church with no regrets, no hard feelings, and no broken relationships. We have total support from all of the staff and other people my husband has worked along side for the last 7 years. So… my question is this: Have any of you ever been through a transition like this? What was it like for you? Any certain things we should expect or not expect? I’d really like to hear some of your stories!

Discuss (8)

Laura at 5:27am March 12

Transition. I know that word well. While we have not been at a church for that length of time, I have moved across several state borders after hubby serving almost 2 yrs. in one church. We are in our third church now and I would say that my number one tip would be to get involved slowly at your new church. At previous churches, I jumped into the children’s/nursery ministry b/c it was the first opening with a need (isn’t it always :) , but I really just took my time getting involved here. I, of course, was by hubby’s side with the youth, but I didn’t take on any small groups at first. Give the Lord time to reveal where He wants to use you at the new church. In previous churches, I had always been w/ hubby in youth SS. At this church, I first joined a SS of adults my age. This allowed me to make many new friends right from the start, rather than being all-in everything youth and not meeting the rest of the congregation. I was able to learn who had children my daughter’s age.
Congratulations on this new adventure!

Andrea at 6:45am March 15

Times of transition are always difficult, but in the end God will take care of you and see you through it. My family and I just went through a similar transition.

In June 2007, my husband accepted a full-time YM position in North Carolina. We had been at our previous church in Kentucky for 9 years. The church was small and could not afford to pay him, so after a couple of years of being there he had decided to do the YM as a volunteer and get a full-time job elsewhere. I was, also, working as a full-time teacher at the local middle school. This church was the church that I grew up in so all of my family was in this town. My husband is actually from NC.

Our current church wanted my husband to start on August 1, 2007, so we had about four weeks from the time he accepted the offer to pack up and move. We left the church on a positive note and had trained others to fill the positions that we had filled for so long.

We purchased a house in NC and began wondering how we were going to sell our house that we had built in KY (we had only been in our house there for about 3 years). At the end of July we had movers come and load up our belongings in a moving truck and headed out for NC. We left our two boys with my parents to spend some more time with them while we worked at getting settled in to the house. Later, my parents drove the boys down.

God really took care of us during this transition. We found a wonderful house that is just around the corner from the church, I got a job teaching at the first interview I went to, and the church family has really taken care of us.

The hardest part about the transition was leaving my family behind. Thankfully my parents are retired and are able to come visit at their leisure, so they are here about every six weeks or so, unless we are going there.

My husband’s mother lives in a town about two hours away, so she can come to us if we need her to.

It was a tough transition, but a year and a half later I can say that everything has worked out great and God has really taken care of us. Just pray and get to know and enjoy your new “family”!