“I was introduced to PDN (Pastors Discipleship Network) when I joined the Luteete Discipleship hub. I was introduced to several programs PDN has included Interim Pastoral Ministry”, Pr. Dickson says.
The PDN Discipleship hub model brings together Senior Pastors in different communities every week to support, and exhort each other, as well as keep each other accountable. It is in one of these sessions that PDN’s Interim Pastoral Ministry (IPM) was introduced to Pr. Dickson.
The PDN IPM Program seeks to offer individualised support to a church experiencing gaps in its leadership. Sometimes a pastor is not able to give the much-needed leadership in a church because he/she is sick and cannot offer pastoral leadership, or death, or there is a need to travel for different reasons like study, a sabbatical, on leave, or a mission trip. A gap can also be brought about when a pastor has fallen morally and a break from leadership is needed. Sometimes it may be a lack of some specific competencies and the need for support in a specific area. PDN’s IPM Program comes to bridge the leadership gap by deploying an Interim Pastor who serves within a church’s existing structures to provide continuity of spiritual leadership which gives the church stability and the opportunity to grow its roots and spread its branches.
“PDN intervened through the deployment of a Pastor at my church who helped provide us with capacity building of the church ministers. The IPM Pastor helped us through training the ministers in capacity building. Some of the things we learnt were leadership skills. We learnt how to put up systems in the church. I was also invited to several conferences and trainings at PDN”, says Pr. Dickson.
PDN run a needs assessment analysis to determine the specific needs of the church, the nature of engagement and period of deployment. After the assessment PDN deployed a well-trained, trustworthy, seasoned Pastor to support Pr. Dickson and his team for 6 months. The receiving church leadership and IPM run an orientation meeting to familiarize themselves with IPM, purposes for smooth transfer of responsibility, and expectations on each side.