What makes a good pastor, especially in 2017? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Over the past 9 months, I served on my church’s Pastoral Nominating Committee (PNC) - we successfully concluded a search for our wonderful new pastor in the last month.

As a business person, when I joined this committee I thought it would be like being on an interview team for an executive position in my company. How wrong I was! While there are some similarities, selecting a minister feels more like selecting (and replacing) a beloved spouse. But it’s even “worse” because the whole family (congregation), while just getting over the loss of their prior spouse (pastor), needs to approve the decision before the PNC is allowed to propose (decide). I learned a tremendous amount from this process.

To start with, it’s difficult to say definitively what makes a good pastor given that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Generally, a good minister fits with the needs and culture of his or her congregation. Realizing that this can vary dramatically across religious institutions, for me and how I experience my church, specifically this means someone who:

*has a deep faith and an open mind.

*is more spiritual than traditionally religious.

*welcomes people from all stages and states of their spiritual journey.

*appreciates questions about faith as least as much as and maybe more than answers.

*is both smart and empathetic.

*writes sermons that are relatable, current, practical, and that help you walk out of church with the tools and motivation to lead a better life.

*integrates a heavy dose of humor and the arts, as well as prayer and the bible, into the lesson.

*makes everyone they meet feel like family.

*cares about the world inside and outside of their community, and finds ways to help their congregation make a difference in both.

*can attract a diverse congregation while helping members share perspectives and find common ground and/or mutual understanding - this is especially important to me now given today’s divisive times.

*and finally, has a healthy appreciation for pet participation, children squirming in the pews, and people in bike shorts and sports uniforms, all regular occurrences in my church life.

Second, I have a feeling that the processes churches follow to find their ministers may vary just about as much as their criteria for what makes a good minister. While parts of the search process we followed seemed strange to me at first, the overall process was robust and in the end worked very well. Here were a few learnings from our success:

1) Be intentional about the transition process, don’t rush. Our prior ministers, a married couple, Mark and Cheryl, served our congregation for 29 years. They truly are beloved family to all 350 of us. Theirs are immeasurably large footsteps to follow in, the comparison to any candidate, no matter how strong, could have been a harsh one. To help with this (note this is the part that I thought was strange but now mostly appreciate):

*Mark and Cheryl gave us 4 years’ notice when they decided to retire - we had ample time to mourn, recover, prepare and plan. We called it the “long goodbye”!

*We selected a “transition team” to lead and manage the administration of the church after Mark and Cheryl left.

*During the transition time, we hosted rotating guest ministers, referred to as “spiritual catalysts” who lead us in worship each week. Mark and Cheryl were the first spiritual catalysts to help the transition team settle in while they were still present. The ensuing slate was diverse, thought-provoking and designed to showcase various styles, talents and approaches to ministry.

*We were not allowed to start interviewing candidates for the permanent position until about a year after Mark and Cheryl retired.

*No one who was part of the transition team including the spiritual catalysts was allowed to interview for the permanent position.

*Mark and Cheryl have not been allowed to come back on campus since their spiritual catalyst roles ended; it will be up to the new minister to decide when they are welcome back.

2) Before starting the search process, make sure you have an up to date view of what the church stands for and what its priorities are. Our church did a comprehensive “mission study” (a cross between a visioning exercise and a strategic plan) after Mark and Cheryl’s retirement and before the search process launch.

3) Carefully architect and select a search committee - make sure the team:

*Is comprised of a diverse group who represent an accurate and broad cross-section of the congregation. There were many times, while debating a candidate’s potential, we would remind ourselves that we represented various facets of the congregation and if a good number of our committee weren’t excited, then it was probably safe to assume that the congregation would be equally mixed.

*Has a diverse set of skills and characteristics - the leader, the manager, the doer, the empath, the hard-ass, the dreamer, the realist, the organizer, the ponderer, the thinker, etc. It may be obvious but while at times possibly annoying, this diversity leads to better discussions, decisions and a more robust exploration and process.

*Is willing to put in the time and effort to get to know the candidates and what they stand for. We literally listened to hundreds of hours of recorded sermons, read more than 125 applications, spent hours in interviews, and devoted complete weekends to hosting finalists.

4) Based upon the church’s plans and priorities, create a job description that clearly identifies the most important traits, characteristics and experiences that you would like to see in your new pastor. Refer back to this often as you think about the various applicants and their candidacy.

5) Follow a structured and rigorous pre-screening, filtering, and interview process. We had 12 people on our committee and more than 125 serious applications so we really had to be organized. We committed to reading every application, we then ranked candidates and discussed top candidates before we chose those with whom we hosted video interviews. In the interviews, we had clear agendas, interview guides and roles. We took careful notes, and discussed candidate in batches. We methodically whittled the list down and spent more and more time with the emerging finalists.

6) We hosted each finalist for an entire activity-filled weekend including watching them deliver a sermon at a local “neutral pulpit.”

In the end, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a big part of what makes a good minister is the fit with the congregation. Being intentional upfront about what defines fit, and then tailoring a robust transition plan and search process that allows the congregation to be exposed to a variety of styles and approaches, and the PNC to take their time to find the right minister is well worth the effort.

This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

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