Kintsugi and a Church in Pastoral Transition

“I have become like broken pottery.” -Psalm 31:12 (NIV)

When life is harsh and brutal, how do we respond to the brokenness which occurred?

The Art of Kintsugi

Recently, my wife and I have become fascinated with Kintsugi. This is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken areas with an adhesive mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

The effect highlights and draws attention to the breakage and repair, making it part of the history of the object, rather than disguising what was once shattered.

The philosophy behind Kintsugi reflects the reality of life. All of us will experience knocks, breaks and shatterings, just like a piece of pottery. But will we value a repair or restoration that actually illuminates the fractures?

For the follower of Jesus, the Japanese concept of Kintsugi is not teaching us something new, rather it’s a reminder of our biblical values. We are to be those who embrace our weaknesses, or brokenness.

Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10. On the basis of the grace and power of God,

“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may result upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

How does all this relate to a church going through pastoral transition because its pastor has abruptly left?

Quick Pastoral Exits Reveal Brokenness

It’s no surprise that churches, like individuals, are susceptible to knocks, breaks, and shatterings. The quick exit of the pastor often reveals a corporate brokenness on a number of levels. Unfortunately, instead of embracing it, the tendency of the leadership team (which is left to pick up the pieces) is to try and hide it.

Sure, the pastor made mistakes or got caught-up in sin. But rarely does the brokenness stop there. Often the leadership team played a part. Yet, when we were wrong, when we failed, when we made a poor decision, when we were oblivious to what was obvious, when we were self-absorbed instead of serving others, -it’s hard to be humble and transparent.

The church is hurting, the church is angry, the church is confused, the church is frustrated. The leadership team usually is very aware of this and typically doesn’t want to add fuel to the fire. There is a fear. The fear that if they address the issue(s) directly it will lead to more people leaving, less people giving, and less people being involved.

The assumed response is to hide the brokenness instead of embracing it.

Yet in my 10 years of experience as an interim pastor, having served 6 different congregations, those churches which embraced their brokenness healed more quickly and entered more easily into a new season of Christ-honoring ministry.

Be Careful of Image Management

If you’re on the leadership team, don’t under-estimate the difficulty and pressure of handling the church’s brokenness. The temptation will be to resort to “image management”. This is the attempt to control the narrative, seeking to enhance how others perceive us, spinning the facts so others will trust us and follow our leadership.

That’s what you will be tempted to do, but don’t go there!

People rarely insist their church have a perfect appearance. What they desperately want is to see authenticity. Most people don’t leave churches because there is, or are, problems. Sure, the spiritually immature or fringe person might bail, out of an unrealistic expectation that the church should be perfect. But most will stay if there is a sincere embracing of brokenness.

This is the time for the leadership team to have courage and humility to “call a spade a spade.” Speaking the unvarnished truth without avoiding unpleasant or embarrassing issues.

Embracing Brokenness

So, how does the leadership team model the embracing of brokenness? There are the 3 essential steps:

1. Identify

The leadership team needs to do the hard work of accurately understanding what happened. They need to know the truth. Be open to hear everyone’s perspective. In the case of an abrupt departure by the senior pastor the truth may be inconvenient but it’s critical to have the facts of what was known ahead of time…what was only suspected ahead of time…and what did others try to warn us about ahead of time. From all this research, write a statement describing the various levels of brokenness in your church.

2. Admit

In an appropriate setting the leadership team needs to describe the brokenness to the members of the church. That doesn’t mean that all the details are shared (that would probably be unloving), but without judgement or justification acknowledge what is broken. When we refuse to keep issues hidden but bring them into the light, they lose their control over us, and we are given a freedom to move forward.

3. Address

There are two aspects of addressing the brokenness in a church. The first is to publicly focus everyone’s attention on the hope we have that God is working in this for our good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28). Facing brokenness can easily lead to despair that the future holds anything good. The leadership team needs to help the church keep its eyes on the Lord and not current circumstances. The lyrics of David Crowder’s classic song “Come As You Are” powerfully speak to this. Go read them with a corporate mindset.

Second, addressing the church’s brokenness means talking openly about specific action steps that will be taken to correct the known problems, to reconcile with those who have been hurt, and to put in place boundaries so this doesn’t happen again.

Obviously, we don’t celebrate sin, but we can embrace our brokenness: highlighting the wonderful work of restoration and repair that is possible in Christ. On both a personal and corporate level, our brokenness does not have to define us. But by the grace of God it can direct the church into a future of Christ-honoring ministry.

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TRM offers additional help and support for church leadership teams handling an abrupt pastoral departure. There are two workbooks that give practical advice for this critical transition season. Go to My Store to purchase either.