Think about attachment and detachment for a moment. We become attached
to a significant other, our children, our work, and the list could go on.
What about attachment to pastors and the church they seek to serve? Yes,
we may come to love a pastor. The problem is: they come and go. A pastor’s
tenure can be for many years or shorter. When they depart we are confronted with
detachment. Will it be the same with the next pastor? Most likely, it will not
because they bring with themselves their personality, their style, and their
approach to ministry. Yet, a new pastor can mean excitement and the joy of
establishing a relationship how ever temporary it may be.
Did you ever consider that a pastor goes through the same joy of attachment
and the pain of detachment? In my forty-five plus years of ministry, I have served
a total of ten congregations including my student church while I was in seminary
and the three interim ministries since retirement. In each of these congregations I
have become attached to the members. I have loved them as we have worked
together in ministry. Whenever I have left a congregation there has been pain and
loss through detachment. However, I did not give up on ministry simply because of
the pain of detachment. I knew God had bigger plans with the excitement of a new
congregation to which I have been called to serve.
In my short time with you I have come to love you and appreciate the
possibilities of ministry that God has in store for us
Will you allow the pain of detachment to keep you from fully being a part of
First Christian Church or will you embrace the wonderful ministries that we can do
together?
Pastor Nik
