by Pastor Dan Baumgartner

We believe God intends for our worshipping community to be grounded in God's love, centered on Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to be a blessing to our world, our city, and one another. - Bethany Statement of Purpose

Shock. That was my first response when Anne and I began to feel that our time at Bethany was coming to a close. By now you have heard me talk about it during worship, received the congregational letter, read it on the web site or heard it from a friend.

Surprise. That was the feeling when it seemed like Los Angeles was becoming a possibility. And when the call came to pastor the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. And when it seemed unmistakably clear that we were to be involved in that community’s next chapter.

Grief. I cried when I told Bethany we would be leaving in October, and a number of times since then. Everything is pretty tender right now.

As the days have unfolded, a new word has been appearing with increasing frequency: Transition. For Bethany, for Hollywood, for our family, for friendships, for me. Since the Baumgartner world has been rooted in Seattle for a long time, there are a million details to consider and decisions to make. Transition. Webster’s says it is “a process or period in which something undergoes a change and passes from one state, stage, form, or activity to another.”

I’ve gone through a number of transitions in my life. One was many years ago when I realized that following Jesus meant something radically more than being a good or religious person. Everything seemed to change.

I transitioned from single to married, business to seminary, seminary to a church in Minneapolis, and from Minneapolis to Bethany. All of them contained some elements of shock, surprise and grief, as well as hope and excitement. Along the way I feel like there have been three common threads:

First - Jesus is in the times of uncertainty. I know it sounds like a pastor’s proverb, but it’s true. Each time the ground moved was a good time to rely on Christ, to look more carefully for Him and to re-discover that He provides what is needed.

Second - times of transition have also offered wonderful opportunities. It doesn’t mean there were not costs, but new doors inevitably opened.

Third - I take no credit for this one, but a wise older friend once told me “Every time I have faced a transition, I eventually realized that what I had been doing had prepared me for what was coming next.” I think that’s a God thing.

These three things are already happening in Bethany as we embrace this time of transition. On July 11, we were beautifully reminded in worship by Lynn Beaumont that God is with us, and we can depend on Him to provide.

Opportunities for new relationships, chances for people to step into leadership in new ways and provide fresh ways of thinking about things are bubbling up.

We often talk about the leadership within the Bethany community. This has been and is a church with remarkable lay leaders and staff. We have spent the last 11 years nurturing the kind of Session community that pays attention to the Lord. It spills over into home groups, ministry teams, new mission endeavors. Leaders focused on Christ are in deep supply here, are leading us well and are more than ready for a time of change.

So, what comes next? On July 13, our Session elders and staff spent a couple hours processing what this transition felt like as it began, and what we ought to be looking for.

We were joined for an hour by Scott Lumsden, the Seattle Presbytery Executive and Madeleine Brenner, a UPC elder who is co-chair of the Presbytery Committee on Ministry. They helped us think about our needs for interim leadership in this time. A fairly normal course of action for a church would be to hire an interim pastor to help a community take a deep breath, ask some good questions of itself and the Lord, and then begin to search for the next permanent pastor. Sometimes interim pastors are not hired, and different models of transitional leadership are explored.

Either way, the next step for Bethany’s Session (which is responsible for the interim leadership configuration) is to name a Transitional Team of about seven members. That team will pray, research and suggest an interim plan to Session. They would also interview potential interim pastors, if that was the decision, and Session would approve any hiring. Session will name a Transition Team in the next month or so.

Once an interim plan is in place, the regular Nominating Committee will go to work finding people to serve on a Pastor Nominating Committee. This team will be voted on by the congregation.

In the meantime- Bethany will teach and worship and engage in ministry. We will tackle the seismic reinforcement project, and baptize our kids and reach out to the community. We will welcome people into new home groups and plan for retreats and study scripture. During this transition, we will seek to be a “worshipping community…grounded in God's love, centered on Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit in order to be a blessing to our world, our city, and one another.”

Some things don’t change…even during transition.