Succession

Some Churches in Malaysia Need Interim Pastors

Soon-Hock Lim 9 Comments

by Lim Soon Hock (15 Aug 2026)

The interim pastor or minister is a very much studied and well-developed practice in Western churches. Not so in Malaysia, and I suspect, in Asia. In my 40 odd years of church ministry I have not heard it being mentioned. When I started to research on the topic I was, however, surprised to find a dissertation on the internet by a Malaysian pastor on the interim ministry.1

By its simplest definition, an interim pastor is a minister who is engaged by a church after the departure of its previous pastor and before a new pastor arrives.2 By definition, the period of engagement of an interim is short—usually a year to two. His (or her) role is also defined by the place he stands in the timeline between two tenured pastors—to transit the church from the ministry and leadership of one pastor to the next.

Why Malaysian Churches Don’t Engage Interims

With the above understanding about the interim minister, let’s go back to the question, why isn’t it practised among Malaysian churches? The first and most obvious reason is because they don’t know that there is such a thing as an interim pastor. Engaging an interim would not have crossed their minds. They don’t know they need one and they don’t know what to look for.

Secondly, many evangelical churches in Malaysia, more so among the non-denominational type, are not heavily dependent on a full-time pastor or a Senior Pastor to lead the church. The group of lay-leaders can capably (albeit with the constraints of time) minister and lead the church.3

Thirdly, churches don’t perceive the transition period between tenured pastors as an opportunity to work on critical issues facing the church. The sad truth, from my personal experience and observation, is that most churches don’t believe they have any serious issues. If they do, they don’t want to deal with them. Much less, to engage someone from the outside to guide it through the process.

When Malaysian Churches Should Engage Interims

It would be right to say that not all churches going through a transition between two tenured pastors need to engage an interim for the intervening period. For example, when the succeeding pastor has already been identified, lay-leaders are able to carry out pastoral functions, there aren’t any issues that the church cannot effectively resolve itself, and the church is generally quite healthy and united.

However, many churches are far from that ideal condition. When such a church is without a pastor for a long or indefinite period it usually leads to a worsening of its condition. One answer is to engage an interim pastor to help the church through at least two basic issues.

One, to address any effects from the departure of the former pastor. The former pastor could very well be a beloved pastor whose departure is not due to any negative reason, but simply because he is retiring from full-time pastoral ministry. Nonetheless, the church might be experiencing grief as a result of the pastor’s retirement and/or anxiety about the future of the church.

If the departure of the former pastor is due to some issue like sin, conflict, or poor performance, there will be an even greater need for an interim. In such cases, the latter is needed to help the church deal with the residual effects of the former pastor’s departure, including the reason for and the way his tenure had been terminated. The goal of the interim is to bring healing and closure for the church.

Secondly, if a church has had a difficult experience arising from the departure of its former pastor, it may be ill-prepared to look for the next pastor. And I add, who is a right fit for the church. In another instance, a church might have been searching for a pastor for a long time, but without success. An interim can fill the ministry and leadership gap while guiding the church to search for and prepare it to receive its new pastor.

In an era when there is a short supply of full-time pastors, an interim might also be instrumental to raise up a full-time or bi-vocational pastor from within the church.

The above points are just two of the most basic reasons why and when a church needs to engage an interim pastor. We will look at other critical reasons in subsequent articles as we discuss the unique role of an intentional interim. I believe many churches in Malaysia could do with the services of a trained intentional interim and greatly benefit from his (or her) ministry.

Leadership Succession From Within

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This blog posting is a follow-up to the previous one I wrote, and I am calling it: Leadership Succession from Within. I wrote this article some 10 years ago for Georgetown Baptist Church’s 50th Anniversary magazine (2006). I have made some minor edits to make it more appropriate for the blog. I believe it is worth a read and  careful thought.

Succession Planning

Many churches start well, but when the pioneers or the pastors move on—the church starts to falter. This may last for years, until it is able to engage another capable pastor. The momentum, however, that had been built up during the previous pastor’s tenure is all but lost, and the new pastor has to practically start from ground zero.

To their credit, the leaders of Georgetown Baptist Church did well to keep the church going when the previous pastor left for Petaling Jaya: ably organizing themselves to provide pastoral care for the whole church and then still had the time, energy and vision to plant a new church in another part of the city.

It was not until December 1993, almost four years later, that I became GBC’s next pastor. Imagine how much more the church would have developed if there had not been such a gap—if there had been another pastor who immediately took over. Not just any pastor, but a pastor who had been groomed from within the church. Engaging someone from outside would mean time for the new pastor and the church to get to know and trust each other. Inevitably, I had to start almost from the ground. As a result the church hardly saw any numerical growth in the first four years of my tenure.

Before I left I was determined that this would not happen again; that there would be a pastor groomed up from within GBC and waiting in the wings to take over…. In such a situation there might still be hiccups, but certainly much less. This is because the succeeding pastor already understands the philosophy of ministry and vision of the church, he has worked with the church leadership, the members know him and have “taken to him”. Not that he will simply carry on doing everything that the previous pastor has done. Any good pastor will definitely introduce change, but he will have the advantage of building on the blocks—blocks that he has helped to develop in the first place.

Leaders must never fear raising up other leaders; even if it means that some of them will outshine us! That was what I aimed for. My goal was to pass the church into the hands of better men and women.

Paul was a great apostle—some say, the greatest. But in my mind Barnabas was the greater man. He recruited Paul because he saw Paul’s potential. He mentored Paul and wasn’t afraid that Paul might overtake him. Eventually when Paul did, he wasn’t concerned for his own face. My hope is to be a Barnabas to some Pauls.

Success is not about growing a great church. “Success” is about having a “successor” to take the church even further.

Leadership Succession

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In recent weeks I attended two very significant events. The first was the celebration of the life and ministry of Pr. Dr. Daniel Ho, who at the age of 65 stepped down as the Senior Pastor of Damansara Utama Methodist Church. The second was the celebration of Georgetown Baptist Church’s  60th Anniversary and dedication of their new building with a seating capacity for 1,200 people.

Close-up on the Hand of a Male Athlete Passing a Relay Baton to Another Athlete, With a Dramatic Sky in the Background

Daniel Ho’s readiness to step down as the SP of DUMC, a church he co-founded and led for more than 30 years, and which has grown into a mega church, is a testimony to his humility and leadership philosophy. Too many pastors (including lay leaders/elders) don’t know how to let go. And that is one of the reasons for the stagnation or even decline among some churches.

However, Daniel Ho had worked hard on the development of the leadership for the next and even later generations. He had been grooming his young lieutenants for a long time, and over the last couple of years he had taken deliberate steps to transit the leadership of DUMC to the designated successor, Chris Kam.

It’s the stories of Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy played out in our contemporary church scene.

I cannot claim to have been as intentional as the Biblical examples or Daniel Ho, but I did my bit at GBC. After 13 years as the SP I felt I was no longer the right person to take the church to the next level. GBC needed someone fresh, more able and with greater energy. I believed that Ng Kok Aun was God’s man. In fact it was by my encouragement that he had stepped into the full-time ministry eight years earlier. And during that time as we served together he had proven himself faithful and able.

At the point of transition, Kok Aun may not have been fully ready to assume the role of GBC’s SP (my fault due to lack of foresight), but 10 years later it is evident that he is God’s man for this season. The church has grown; it is healthy, strong and united. And one of the evidences for this is the new church building.

I strongly believe that there is a huge need for intentional leadership succession in the church today. Pastors and church leaders need to identify and intentionally raise up their successors. Secondly, a pastor or church leader must not overstay his time, especially if he is the main leader of the church. When he is no longer the man to lead the church he should be ready to admit it and step out. If a pastor is not prepared to do the latter he will not do the former. This calls for humility and honesty, as a pastor listens for the leading of the Lord during the different seasons of his life and ministry. It may be time to go and for his successor to take over.

We must think long term, we must think into the next and later generations; for without succession there can no long term success into the future generations.

Read next about “Leadership Succession from Within”.