What does it mean to be an interim pastor and lead freely?

Rather than staying with a church for a long time, one local pastor's focus is to help churches transition into their next greater role in the community.

Eric Friesen is the Interim Pastor at Church of the Way in Winnipeg. However, his time there is coming to a close, as that is the name of the game when it comes to interim and transitional pastoring roles. 

"An interim pastor means making sure you're in the space of helping with everything pastoral, basically. You're not permanent, but the space between. You're helping churches through the transition of figuring out what the next step is."

When Friesen signs on to be the transitional pastor with a local church, he's with them for a short time. 

"I'm the guy who sets the stage for the person who can stay there forever."

Friesen finds churches that are often at an unhealthy point and spends time with the leadership mediating through issues. 

"I'm interested in churches that are pretty honest about where they're at."

While Friesen did spend seven years at one church and just over 11 years at another, he became aware of his gifting to help churches during transitional times in their church lives for a shorter period in 2016. 

"Sometimes churches say, 'We want you to come in and ask tough questions. We know there's a few areas of ministry that are not doing well and we need you to speak into that.' Often there's a lot of unhealth and congregational meetings that haven't gone well for a long time."

Friesen isn't afraid to ask the tough questions. Having an outside and unbiased perspective is vital to the role of a transitional pastor like Friesen.

"When we look at issues, I'll find there are some common threads and I pull on them, I ask questions about them. That can feel good or bad."

The service Friesen offers comes with a name he created, called 'Lead Freely.' He offers mediation sessions which can be from one sessoin to a couple of weeks worth. He also offers transitional pastoring which he signs a contract for anywhere between a year to a year and a half. 

At this point, Friesen is ending his time with Church of the Way and doesn't have the next position lined up. However, that's what he's used. People wanting more information on what Pastor Eric Friesen offers can check out his website.