The Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC) convened for a called meeting at 5:00 p.m. on 5 February 2006 in room 105 of the WPC Mission Center.  The Moderator, H. Holderness, was present and called the meeting to order and it was opened  with a prayer by D.Elvers.

Associate Pastors P. Ransford and B. Berghaus were present. 

Elders F.Anton, A.Denson, B.Derr, D.Elvers, N.Gaddis, J.Graham, C.Haynes, J.Jones,   S.Landis, B.Nicoll and M.T.Peters were present.  Elder D.Wellemeyer was absent and excused.

 WPC staff member N. Rozak was present

 Clerk of Session D. Derr was present.

Rev. Lynn Stahl, Pastor of North Raleigh Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, North Carolina and Moderator of the Presbytery of New Hope Committee on Ministry was also present.

 The Moderator declared a quorum present.

   The Vacancy Process of Departing Retiring Pastor,

Interim Pastor and Calling New Pastor

The Moderator introduced Lynn Stahl and turned the meeting over to her to go over the vacancy process. She distributed a paper entitled “Presbytery of New Hope Policy Concerning Pastors and Their Former Parishioners” and a paper entitled “Process Outline for Pastor Search/Call”.  After allowing time for reading these papers Lynn Stahl led a discussion about them talking about the dynamics and issues and concerns of a pastor leaving, followed by an interim pastor and then by the new pastor. Those papers are attached.

 The Session’s current business, having been completed, the Moderator declared the meeting adjourned and closed it with an adjourning prayer by S.Landis at 6:00 p..m.

 Respectfully submitted,

Dailey J. Derr                                                                             Haywood D. Holderness, Jr.

Clerk of the Session                                                                                                Moderator

PRESBYTERY OF NEW HOPE

     . .

      Policy Concerning Departing Pastor~ And Their Former Parishioners

A.        The act of a pastor leaving a field of service does not and should not demand hat the ties of love and friendship formed through the years be severed. However, a departing pastor and the congregation must exercise care to help strengthen the ties between the new pastor and members of the congregation. Developing relationship between the people and their new pastor can be tender and takes time; whereas, their relationships with the former pastor have the strength of being: developed over time. In the service of God's Kingdom, it is important to do all we can to he1p strengthen ties between the new pastor and the members of the congregation.         

B.         Therefore, the Presbytery of New Hope following our Constitution and in accordance with the Book-of-Order G14.0606 affirms the fo1lowing policy. Former pastors shall not conduct worship, preach, celebrate the sacraments of baptism or the Lord's Supper, conduct weddings or funerals. or engage in any other form of pastoral service for the congregation recently served. Congregational members are informed not to request such services from the former pastor and the former pastor must, with pastoral care, decline any such requests from former parishioners. Exceptions to this rule may only be initiated by the incumbent pastor/moderator, who may,  at his/her discretion, ask a former pastor to perform a pastoral function. In such cases, however, it must be made' clear to the church members that a former pastor's involvement is done at tbe request of the incumbent pastor and with the approval of tbe session. Even then it is advised that the former pastor take a reduced level of participation and assist the current pastor.

Obviously to go from a position of having important pastoral functions to having none is a very difficult transition. The Committee on Ministry of Presbytery must assume some responsibility for assisting ministers in that transition. A departing pastor accepting a new call will have ample opportunity to exercise professional skills in that new call. Retired pastors staying in the same area may well be able to perform many and varied pastoral duties in other churches in the Presbytery where their experience and help would be most valuable.

c.         While friendships will certainly continue with the departing pastor, the pastoral relationship should not. This distinction is an important one. It signifies a boundary that is essential to the well being of the congregation as it moves forward under new pastoral leadership. Final1y, it is understood that the recently departed pastor usually will not return to worship regu1arly with a congregation they served until at least one year has lapsed in the newly installed pastor's tenure. And if ultimately the departed pastor does return to worship regularly, continued care must be exercised to be supportive of the new pastor.

S020506 Called