In an age of personal choice and options for everything and everyone, it is challenging for people to
understand the annual "United Methodist shuffle." Each year, all United Methodist pastors
receive a new ministerial appointment.
This term is used to mean the annual assignment to a field of service of ministerial members active in
their regional area. The appointment may be to a pastoral charge or to appointments beyond the local
church, such as chaplaincy in the military or hospitals. Only those ministerial members who are retired
or who have been granted a leave of absence for medical or professional reasons do not receive an
appointment.
The clergy deployment system for The United Methodist Church is referred to as the itinerant system.
Under this system ordained ministers are appointed or sent by the bishop to their assignments. It is the
obligation of the ministerial members to accept these appointments. The term is also often applied to
the place or position to which the ordained minister has been assigned by the bishop.
We in many ways model the work of John the Baptist, always preparing the way for the next leader and
emulating the words of Jesus to Peter in John 21 that as mature Christians, we may be led and sent to
places we do not necessarily wish to go.
This shuffle, is often the source of misunderstanding due to reassignment, and a source of grief for
pastors and their congregations, and especially for pastoral families. Indiana Area Bishop Michael
Coyner who wrote a book on the topic, Making a Good Move, believes it’s important for the congregation
to understand the grieving process the pastor and the family is going through and vice versa.
"Moving is an experience of grieving people meeting grieving people," Conyer said. "The
church has just lost a pastor that’s meant a lot to them, and what they may forget is that there is a
new pastor with a family that is coming to them who is also in the midst of grief.
"Everybody has to give each other time to get over their grief, to get used to each other and
re-establish trust. It’s not just about somebody getting a promotion or a new job. It’s a person and a
family, coming to a new place out of some sense of loss from where they’ve left."
The pastors were once asked as part of the covenant of ministry to be faithful in itinerancy, "Will
you go where you are sent, and stay away from where you have been?"
Once upon a time this question was easily handled because of the distance of land between one place and
another, and the cost of long distance phone service. In this day and age of unlimited talk and social
media, staying away from where you have been is a bit trickier.
We are encouraged to be clear and consistent about those that remain "friends" from a previous
appointment that you are their friend, not their pastor. We have to continue to encourage them to turn
to their new pastor every time a pastoral need or concern arises. It is the role of the "new"
pastor that is currently appointed in that location to extend any and all invitations to previous
pastor(s) if a family would like a previous pastor to participate in a wedding, baptism, funeral, etc

It is challenging to do this without hurting peoples’ feelings or seeming rude. We remind yourself you
are trying to live out our three simple rules and model them for God’s people: 1. Do no harm. 2. Do
good. 3. Stay in love with God.
We continue to include within each conversation within the framework of our United Methodist Connectional
system:
• We are itinerant.
• We have covenanted to go where we are sent. It is a part of our ordination/licensing.
• We seek to honor and encourage the ministry of those who come next to lead this congregation. It is not
our desire to serve as an obstacle or stumbling block to the leadership that is coming next.
• This is an exercise in Christian living – it is about loving one another, and holding one another
accountable in Christian love.
(Editor’s note: Pastor Jeff Ridenour is concluding seven years of service at Bradner United Methodist
Church on Sunday. He will continue to serve Trinity United Methodist Church in Bloomdale. Rev. Mark
Kuhlman will assume the duties at Bradner in addition to his continuing service at Wayne United
Methodist Church.)