Restoring Kingdom Builders

The following article is from a working draft of my e-book tentatively titled Thinking of Terminating Your Pastor?  The book is directed to church decision makers – especially board members – who are responsible for correcting a pastor and/or starting the process of removing him from office.

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One of my pastor friends once went through a harrowing experience.  After the Sunday worship service, the church board called him into a meeting.  A few minutes later, the pastor emerged from that gathering without a job.

To this day, that pastor doesn’t know why the board terminated him – and it gnaws at him.  Was it his preaching?  His leadership?  His refusal to surrender to a wealthy church bully?  Since the board never gave the pastor specific reasons why they let him go, that pastor has been forced to guess.  Imagine that you’re visiting a country overseas, when suddenly the police burst into your hotel room and haul you off to jail.  Wouldn’t the first question out of your mouth be, “What have I done wrong?”  That’s how pastors feel when they undergo a forced exit – and they are entitled to know why they’re being pushed out.

Legally, you may not have to tell the pastor why you’re letting him go, but on a spiritual basis, it’s essential.   According to Scripture, you must have specific reasons for dismissing a pastor (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Timothy 5:19-21).   Once you formulate and agree on them, you’ll need to share them with:

*The pastor, who in turn will share your reasons with his wife, children, extended family, friends, ministry colleagues, advisors, and any prospective churches or employers that may be interested in hiring him.

*Denominational leaders, who will want your board to account for why you dismissed your pastor.

*An interim pastor and any future pastors, who will need to know the truth about why you dismissed your current pastor because it will affect whether they’ll want to come to your church.  In fact, they may wonder if you’ll dismiss them the way you dismissed your current pastor.  When I was called to my first pastorate, I had great apprehension about taking the position because the board had fired their previous pastor after only one year of service.   What assurances did I have that they wouldn’t do the same thing to me?

*Future board members, some of whom may be reluctant to join a board that pushed out their pastor.   After a pastor is forced to leave a congregation – especially a pastor who is loved by many people – some churchgoers will look for someone to blame, focusing their attention on the church board.  Because board members may be vilified after a pastor is terminated, it may be difficult to fill future board positions in the future, at least for a while.

Should you share your reasoning with family and friends?  What about the congregation?

While I tend to lean toward at least partial disclosure, do all in your power not to harm the pastor’s reputation or ability to secure a new position.  There may be legal repercussions if you do.

Regardless of your reasoning, make sure to keep your story straight.   Avoid giving various parties different sets of reasons why you made the decision you did.   If you share varying reasons with different parties, some will compare notes and seek to discover the real reason why you removed your pastor … and your board won’t look credible.

You may have noticed that I didn’t mention one particular party in my list above: God.

Hopefully, you won’t be telling God why you dismissed your pastor … you’ll be responding to God’s guidance instead.

Never say, “Lord, please bless our decision to remove our pastor from office.”

Say instead, “Lord, we strongly sense that You are leading us to remove our pastor from office, and we only want to obey Your will.”

And if you cannot sincerely say that last line to the Lord, seek to handle the difficulties you’re having with your pastor in another way.