Restoring Kingdom Builders

Several decades ago, a woman was dying in a church I served as pastor.  She did calligraphy and offered to use her talent to write out a few Bible passages that I loved.  One of the passages was Jeremiah 1:6-7.  After the Lord calls Jeremiah to be “a prophet to the nations” in verse 5, Jeremiah counters by saying in verse 6: “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak.  I am only a child.”

The Lord responds in verse 7, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you.”

Like Jeremiah, prophecy is one of my top spiritual gifts.  For me, it’s not the ability to foretell the future but to forthtell the Word of God in a contemporary setting.  I see things other people don’t see – and honestly wish I didn’t.  I’d gladly trade this gift for the gift of encouragement or leadership or evangelism, but the choice has never been mine.

So I try and use the gift in love, all the while realizing that while some people wish I’d shut up, others stopped listening a long time ago.  In fact, there have been times when I’ve tried to shut myself up – but it’s ultimately futile.  As long as I draw breath, there are issues that I have to speak up about and speak out against – even if few are listening.

Try as I might, I cannot remain silent.

I mention this because last year, I spent some time with a pastor friend who is tough, smart, energetic, visionary, and purposeful.  Over the years, he grew an influential and impactful church in his community.  He amassed an all-star staff and earned glowing credentials.  If any pastor seemed immune to having trouble with his church board, he was the guy I’d nominate.

Now he’s gone.

One day, his biography was on the church website.  The next time I looked, it disappeared – and without any explanation.

And it was all because of a major disagreement he had with the church board.

What in the world is going on in churches these days?

I served on church boards – whether they were called deacons, elders, or the Board of Directors – for 28 years.  In most churches, the pastor automatically becomes a member of the board.  I’ve wrestled with hundreds of issues and sat through 7-hour board meetings and many weekend retreats.

So while I know what it’s like to be a board member, most board members have no idea what it’s like to be a pastor.  And yet church boards keep making the same mistakes with their pastors, especially when conflict surfaces.

Here’s a list of deadly sins that church boards often make:

First, they fail to view the pastor as a professional.  Several decades ago, the pastor was often the best-educated person in any given church.  Besides obtaining an undergraduate degree, the pastor was also expected to obtain a Master of Divinity degree which took three full years to earn.  Many pastors now have Doctor of Ministry degrees as well.

And we were expected to pursue ordination which involved an oral examination on biblical and theological issues in the presence of ministerial colleagues.

Many people in a church are equally well-educated in their fields.  They too have earned credentials.

A pastor wouldn’t think of telling an attorney or a computer programmer or a doctor how to do their job.  So why do so many board members think they know how to lead and teach and shepherd a church better than a credentialed pastor?

Yes, pastors make mistakes.  No, pastors are not infallible.  But the job of a church board is to understand the pastor’s agenda and to bolster it in every way they can.  After all, the pastor walks the halls of the church all week long.  He has a unique view of the entire ministry.  Board members put their feet on the campus maybe two or three times a week, and then only for a few hours.

Why, then, do so many boards choose not to a support a pastor’s vision but to sabotage it instead?

The best boards do everything they can to support their pastor’s vision for advancing their church.  The worst boards think they know best and either block the pastor’s vision or substitute their own.

That’s Deadly Sin Number One.

Second, they side with staff members over against the pastor.  In most congregationally-run churches, the congregation elects the board, the pastor works for the board, and the staff work for the pastor.  If individual staff members aren’t getting along with the pastor, then they need to work matters out with the pastor – period.  If they can’t do that, then the staff member needs to resign and go somewhere else.

Unless the pastor is violating Scripture or acting illegally, he runs the staff, not the board.

But increasingly in churches today, when a staff member isn’t getting along with the pastor, he goes to several board members and complains to them about the pastor.  The board members then become advocates for that staff member.  So if the pastor tries to reprimand the staff member, or eventually fires him or her, the board ends up defending the staff member instead.

How can a pastor then stay in a church where the board (a) has stolen staff supervision from him, (b) has chosen a staff member over their pastor, and (c) has destroyed the trust between board and pastor?

That’s Deadly Sin Number Two.

Third, they begin making decisions without the pastor.  Twenty years ago, the leaders of the church I was serving as pastor were engaged in a project for which we needed approval from the City Council.  We put together packets for all seven Council members but were only allowed to meet with three of them – and those three had to publicly disclose that they had met with us before the meeting.  This arose out of the Brown Act, a law passed in California in 1953 designed to stop public officials from holding undisclosed, informal meetings away from public scrutiny.

In other words, the Brown Act was designed to keep the members of a City Council or County Supervisors from meeting in secret and making decisions without any public input.

We need a Brown Act in our churches today as well.

It’s one thing for board members to discuss matters between themselves before and after meetings.  It’s another thing for them to deliberate and make decisions without the knowledge or input of the pastor.  (“I’ll back you up.  Will you back me up?”)

It’s the equivalent of declaring war on the pastor and on the church.

If and when a pastor discovers that a church board is making decisions behind his back – even if they aren’t meeting together physically but through conference calls or email – the pastor knows instinctively that either he needs to leave or the board needs to leave.

That’s Deadly Sin Number Three.

That’s enough deadly sins for today.  I’ll share four more in my next article – if you can handle the truth!