Case Study Guidelines:
Case studies are provided for
students to analyze, evaluate and synthesize course material. Each prompt and
questions are derived from the course text. Please make sure each case study is
written in APA format and style. Follow the directions provided below:
CASE STUDY
The Church Search
SCENE ONE: OCTOBER—A SUNDAY SCHOOL ROOM IN MICHIGAN
Lisa sighed in frustration.
“Why did Joe have to leave? He was a great pastor—he was why I came to this
church and stayed here. And now we have to look for someone new. I’ll do it.
I’ll be a part of this search committee. But that doesn’t mean I have to like
it.”
“Well, you could always turn to
that old saying of God opening a window when he closes a door,” countered
Jason. “I’m not happy that Joe left either, but it was a great opportunity for
him—we can’t begrudge him wanting new challenges. And maybe this provides new
opportunities for our congrega-tion—perhaps we’ve become a bit complacent with
Joe’s ministry, and this is just what we need to even were gathered around the table, all members of a midsized
congregation of a Protestant church. Their longtime pastor had recently
accepted a calling to a new church, and these seven had been selected as the
search committee for the new pastor. They had a lot of work ahead of them and
chose Nancy to head the committee. She got straight to the point.
OK,” said Nancy. “Let’s get to work. We need
to start by developing a profile of our church and con-gregation. Who we are,
what we do, and where we think we’re going? And then we need to think
care-fully about what kind of pastor we want for our future. What are the critical
characteristics for our new minister? Is preaching the most important?
Evan-gelism? Spiritual development? Community service and social justice? And
then we need to think about the questions we’ll ask when we get to the
interview process. Who will be involved? What kinds of activi-ties should we
include? And then we need to think about how we’ll welcome the new pastor once
we make a decision about who it will be. And then …”
Everyone at the table began to laugh as
Nancy’s list of “and thens” grew longer and longer. “Uh, Nance,” interrupted
Rick, “we only scheduled a two-hour meeting. Sounds like you’d like to have us
here through the night.”
“Nope,” Nancy responded, looking at the circle
of already tired faces. “We’ll just have to have a lot more meetings. But let’s
get to work for now. And let’s have a quick prayer before we get started. I
think we’ll need it.”
SCENE TWO: FEBRUARY—A LIVING ROOM IN MISSOURI
Marsha sat in the middle of the floor,
surrounded by piles of spiral-bound documents. “Who knew that so many churches
could be looking for a pastor? I mean, it’s good news for someone like me, but
it makes the whole process so much more confusing.”
Marsha’s husband Ron—also sprawled on the
floor—flipped through some of the papers. “We just have to be systematic in
looking through these profiles
and think about what you want in a position
and where you can best serve. You have gifts in music min-istry and youth
ministry that could make a big differ-ence for some congregation.” Ron looked
up from one profile. “This one, for example, would probably be a bad fit. It’s
a big church, and they’ve really divided up the ministerial jobs. I’m not sure
you’d ever see the kids in the church much, let alone get to work with them in
the way you’d want to.”
Marsha looked up. “I know. We should just be
careful about looking through everything. It’s just such a scary prospect. I’ve
been really comfortable in my role as a youth minister, and moving to a larger
role seems like a big step.” She started laughing. “I know we’ve been through
all this before, and we’ll go where God calls us. But this discernment thing is
really tough sometimes!”
Half an hour later, Marsha and Ron were both
engrossed in the church profiles. “Hey,” Marsha said. “Here’s a good
possibility. It’s not a very big church, but the values and mission really
match a lot of my own commitments. And they’re clearly big on encouraging music
and youth programs. What do you think about moving to Michigan?”
SCENE THREE: APRIL— A RESTAURANT IN MICHIGAN
Nancy looked across the table at Marsha. “I’m
so glad to finally have the chance to meet you in person after all our time comparing profiles and talking on the phone. This process is sure a lot more compli-cated
than I ever anticipated!”
Marsha smiled in agreement. “You’re telling
me— I’ve almost been tempted to change denominations to one where pastors are appointed by the conference. Sure would make this process simpler.”
“True,” said Nancy. “But I must admit that I
like a system that empowers the congregation and the pastor. I mean, I love our conference minister and have great respect for him, but I’ve never liked that
idea of ‘matchmaking’ for the church.”
Nancy then pulled out a notebook and began
sort-ing through some pages. “As you know, Marsha, we’ve got a pretty full
weekend ahead of us. After we finish dinner, we’ll head over to the church,
where
you’ll meet with the entire search committee.
And then we have more meetings with the committee in the morning and we’ll give
you a chance to tour the com-munity and see what life here is like. And then,
on Sunday, we’ve arranged for you to preach at a ‘neutral pulpit’ so committee
members can hear you. And then the committee will be able to make a
recommendation to the congregation, and you can think and pray about what you
want to do. And then …”
Marsha laughed. “Rick told me you were the
queen of ‘and thens.’ But, yes, it looks like we have a busy weekend ahead of
us and a lot of challenges to consider. Let’s start with supper.”
Case Analysis Questions
1. How have Marsha’s experiences so far
repre-sented aspects of the anticipatory socialization process? Is it also
possible to consider anticipa-tory socialization from the point of view of the
church searching for a new pastor? What does
anticipatory socialization look like from the organization’s point of view?
2. During the weekend ahead, what questions
should Marsha anticipate during the interview process? What questions should
she ask? What are the various functions that the interview will serve for both
Marsha and the congregation?
3. Assuming that Marsha eventually takes on
the role of pastor with this church, what should she anticipate during her
first few months in her new role? Are there steps that she can take before and
after moving to Michigan to ease her transition? Are there steps the
congregation can take to help her make sense of life in the new church?
4. A pastor’s role is one in which the
supervisor could be seen as the congregation. How could the leader-member
exchange model be adapted to account for these kinds of organizational
positions?
