What Faith Communities Get Right About Leadership Transitions

When a nonprofit leader departs, whether after a long, celebrated tenure or a difficult chapter, boards often feel pressure to move quickly. There’s urgency to stabilize, reassure funders, and “get the right person in place.”

In that rush, something essential often is skipped.

Many faith communities approach leadership transitions differently. They appoint an interim minister before calling a permanent one. That interim period is purposeful, structured, and deeply human. There’s a great deal nonprofit boards can learn from this practice. 

I’ve seen the consequences of leadership transitions firsthand in my nonprofit work, including during my years at PFund Foundation, where I watched many grantee organizations navigate leadership departures. I’ve also seen a more intentional approach through the United Church of Christ, where my father-in-law served as an Associate Conference Minister supporting congregations through interim transitions.

In congregations, interim leaders help communities process the departure of the previous leader, understand what brought them to this moment, stabilize the organization’s finances and systems, and clarify what is needed next.

Nonprofits experience many of the same dynamics.

Transitions Are Emotional, Whether We Acknowledge It or Not

When a beloved, highly capable leader leaves, boards may continue governing as though the same leader were still in place. A successor may bring real strengths but need more guidance, feedback, or development than their predecessor did. At the same time, staff and board members may grieve the loss and become protective of the previous leader’s legacy. The new leader can find themselves compared to someone they can never measure up to.

When a leader leaves under difficult circumstances, the opposite can happen. Exhausted board members may feel such relief that they step back just when a new leader most needs clear expectations, support, and accountability. Left to navigate without a map, the new leader may make decisions in a vacuum. Months later, the board may discover that the organization is no longer aligned with its intentions.

In each case, the challenge is not simply finding the right next leader. It is stewarding the transition well enough to give that leader a real chance to succeed.

The Work of an Interim Is Real Work

In faith communities, interim leadership is not a pause. It is a distinct phase with clear responsibilities. 

It creates space for reflection: What are we carrying forward? What do we need to let go?

It ensures the organization’s fundamentals are sound. Finances are reviewed. Systems are stabilized. Governance is clarified.

Finally, it creates time to ask what the organization actually needs next. A change agent? Someone who can strengthen what already exists? A leader who can help the organization explore a future that is not yet clear? Without an intentional interim period, boards often answer those questions too quickly, or not at all.

Nonprofits Skip This Step at Their Own Risk

Too often, nonprofit boards move directly from departure to search. They may conduct a thoughtful search, but do so under pressure and without fully understanding what the organization has just been through or what its next chapter requires.

Then good leaders struggle. Some leave. Others are pushed out. Boards find themselves back in transition, wondering what went wrong. It’s not always about the leader or the board. It’s often about the transition.

A More Intentional Path Forward

An interim period offers something nonprofits rarely give themselves: time to be deliberate.

Time to understand what the leadership change means for the organization. Time to define the role and expectations of the next leader. Time to re-engage a board that may be exhausted or out of practice. Time to realign governance, especially after the departure of a long-tenured executive director.

Most importantly, it creates the conditions for a new leader to succeed. The goal isn’t simply to fill a role. It’s to prepare the organization for its next chapter.

A Stronger Beginning

Leadership transitions do not have to be treated as an uncomfortable and disruptive gap between one executive director and the next.

With the right structure and support, they can become a time for reflection, alignment, clarity, and renewal.

This is the work of intentional interim leadership. It’s work I take on selectively, partnering with boards willing to slow down, reflect, and lead through transition with purpose.

The point isn’t just to find the next executive director or CEO.

It’s to make sure the organization and its next leader both thrive.