I once served as the pastor of a church where the board chairman made a colossal mistake … and I didn’t know what to do about it.
The elders had hired a contracting team to renovate a warehouse we rented into a contemporary worship center. The contractors we hired lacked a sense of urgency and weren’t making much progress. Worst of all, when the contractors billed us, we paid them immediately … but they were diverting funds to other projects without paying their sub-contractors.
Concerned that we might be getting ripped off, I recommended to the elders that we consult with an attorney, who told us in no uncertain terms not to pay the contractors any more money until we received lien releases from all the sub-contractors.
One Friday afternoon, the contracting team met with the board chairman (I’ll call him Ben), another elder, and our associate pastor in my office. (I wasn’t present.) The contractors said that if we didn’t pay them even more money, they’d pull their people off the job.
Ben took out the church checkbook – he also served as leader of the finance team – and wrote the contractors a large check. He wanted to keep the project moving along. The associate pastor warned him not to do it … but Ben did it anyway.
When I was informed later that evening of what had taken place, I was justifiably angry. Not only had Ben acted against the advice of our attorney, he had also paid the contractors in direct violation of the will of the other elders.
What in the world was I going to do?
Since I accounted directly to the elders … and since Ben was the chairman … in a very real sense, he was my boss. How could I confront him – of all people – with wrongdoing?
After a terrible night, I arose that Saturday morning and drove to the warehouse. There was a small room upstairs where some men held a half-hour prayer meeting early every Saturday.
Ben – who met me for prayer on Saturdays – was the only person to join me that day.
And he felt just terrible.
He told me softly but emphatically – with his head hanging down: “I blew it.”
I don’t recall what either one of us said after that, but as pastor, I had to discern how to handle Ben’s mistake.
I don’t remember how many Christian leaders I spoke with about Ben’s action, but I do recall talking to two in particular … and one gave me counsel that I’ve always appreciated.
This leader … who had known Ben for several decades but was now serving at another church … told me that I needed to put Ben’s blunder in the context of his total life and ministry.
This leader told me: “Ben has served the Lord faithfully as a layman ever since I’ve known him. He has done it all joyfully and yet has never been paid a nickel. His track record does not indicate that he’s made similar mistakes in the past, so please take his entire life and ministry into account as you make your decision.”
I finally decided that Ben could remain as chairman of the elders, but that he would have to step down as finance team leader. (I never wanted him to hold two such positions – it concentrates too much power in one person’s hands – so it was an arrangement that I welcomed.)
I called Ben into my office and shared with him my decision. He completely understood my reasoning and didn’t fight me. He resigned as finance leader immediately.
I don’t think we ever discussed it again.
Years later, I left that church and moved hundreds of miles away. I didn’t think I’d ever see Ben again.
But a few years ago, he and his wife were driving across the country, and the other elder I mentioned above invited me to lunch with Ben. We had a great time.
Ben died several years ago, and although I wasn’t able to attend his memorial service, I wrote his wife a letter. Although I can’t find the letter on my computer, I know that I didn’t mention his mistake more than two decades before.
In the context of his entire life, it simply didn’t matter.
We live in a culture that exhibits zero tolerance toward the mistakes of public persons. Say or do the wrong thing in someone’s eyes, and they’ll mention it on Twitter … slam you in a blog … or denounce you in a press conference.
I fear that much of that spirit has leaked into our local churches.
There is great pressure on pastors to be perfect. It’s a pressure that I felt every day during my 36 years in church ministry.
And it’s an impossible standard to meet.
In fact, it’s one of the reasons why I’m glad that I’m not a pastor anymore.
Because when a pastor misspeaks from the pulpit … or makes a less than stellar decision about a staff member … or doesn’t show up for a large social event … there are always people ready to pounce on him and denounce him.
But I maintain that we should view pastors – and all Christian leaders – through more charitable lenses.
Yes, pastors who are guilty of clear-cut heresy, sexual immorality, or criminal behavior need to be confronted – and fired.
But most of the time when a pastor makes a mistake, it doesn’t approach the gravity of these offenses … and yet there will always be someone who magnifies a mistake and concludes, “Let’s just fire the guy.”
In Ben’s case, his life and ministry were not defined by a single mistake.
Ben loved his wife and spoke highly of her. He spent a bundle when his daughter got married. When his father died, he invited his mother to live in his home.
I can still see him reading Scripture before board meetings … inviting the board to pray in the four corners of the warehouse before we starting using it … and reminding me all the time, “God is in control.”
And when I was attacked by a group in the church, he always supported me and encouraged me.
Because Ben didn’t define me by my mistakes, it made it easier for me not to define him that way as well.
So yes, I remember his mistake … but that’s not how I define him … and I’m sure that’s not how God defines him, either.
I think Satan wants us to focus on the flaws in God’s leaders so that we turn from them as examples.
Should we turn away from Abraham because he lied about Sarah being his sister?
Should we turn away from Moses because he angrily struck the rock in front of Israel?
Should we turn away from Elijah because he ran away in fear from Jezebel?
Should we turn away from half the Psalms because David impregnated Bathsheba and murdered her husband?
Should we turn away from most of the Book of Proverbs because Solomon had too many wives and concubines?
Should we turn away from Paul because he called the high priest “you whitewashed wall?”
Should we turn away from Timothy because he was shy and timid and often afraid?
Or should we factor in their flaws and mistakes but view their lives and ministries as a whole?
Yes, I know there’s more to be said on this subject … much more.
But for now, I want to encourage you to define the people in your life … including your pastors … not by their mistakes, but by their entire lives.
Isn’t that the way we want God to view us?
Restoring Kingdom Builders 
Will Pastor Terminators Ever Apologize For Their Actions?
Posted in Conflict with Church Antagonists, Conflict with Church Board, Conflict with Church Staff, Conflict with the Pastor, Forgiveness and Reconciliation among Christians, Healing After Leaving a Church, Pastoral Termination, Please Comment!, tagged church board and pastoral termination, forgiving a board member, forgiving church antagonists, pastoral termination on October 6, 2017| 7 Comments »
In my last blog, I wrote “an open letter to pastor terminators.”
The letter was a composite of stories I’ve heard over the years about the damage that members of the church board have caused pastors and staff members they’ve forced out of office.
One friend wrote me on Facebook and asked, “Would you send it?”
If I thought it would do any good, yes, I would send it.
But the odds are that it wouldn’t.
_______________
It’s been nearly eight years since I left my last church ministry. Two weeks from today, I’ll be writing my annual article about the church coup I experienced.
Throughout the past eight years, I’ve had this fantasy: that one day, just one of the individuals most responsible for pushing me out would contact me and apologize for their actions.
Sometimes, when I go to the mailbox, I wonder if there will be a letter of confession from one of my opponents inside.
It’s never happened.
Sometimes, when I pick up the phone, I wonder if one of the perpetrators is calling me to say, “Oh, Jim, what we did was so, so wrong. Can you ever forgive us?”
It’s never happened.
I wrote a book called Church Coup about what happened from my perspective. I have written hundreds of blogs about the problems of pastoral abuse and termination.
The damage the terminators caused was unfathomable. I lost my job … income … career … reputation … house … and many, many friends.
A nine-person team investigated the charges against me and concluded that “there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.”
But I was lied right out of the church. It’s the only way “they” could get rid of me.
I was wronged … severely wronged.
But is anybody ever going to admit their part in the conflict to me?
Almost certainly not.
_______________
So would I send a letter to specific terminators, hoping they would have a “come to Jesus” moment and apologize for their actions?
Pastor Guy Greenfield tried to do just that. In his excellent book The Wounded Minister: Healing from and Preventing Personal Attacks, Greenfield writes:
“When I was pressured to retire early in my last pastorate by the machinations of a small group of antagonists, I wrote each one a lengthy personal letter describing how I felt about what they did to me, my ministry, my marriage, my family, my health, and my future. I tried to be honest without being harsh. I felt they needed to know that they had hurt me deeply. Not one of them wrote in response, called me, or came by for a visit. Not one said he was sorry. Therefore, I had to move on with my life, shattered though it was, and start over somewhere else.”
Greenfield made the first move toward reconciliation. He followed Jesus’ instructions in Luke 17:3-4:
“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
In essence, Greenfield rebuked those who hurt him. They didn’t repent … at least, not to him personally. Should he then forgive them?
Yes, he should forgive them unilaterally, and he did. He writes:
“For my own sake, I needed to forgive them even though none said he was sorry. I tried to do that even though it took me a long time. I wrote a note to each that I was forgiving him of his mistreatment of me, knowing it would be a process rather than something instantaneous. I had to do it for myself. I did not expect reconciliation, but I did need to be free of my resentment. I did not expect sorrow or repentance from them in order to forgive them. I made a distinct decision not to seek revenge. There were several things I could have done, but I chose not to do any of those vengeful acts. I could not afford to put my future happiness in the hands of those people who made me so miserable by their abuse of me.”
Greenfield exercised unilateral forgiveness. He “let go” of his anger, resentment, and desire for revenge. And that’s all he could do.
Because whenever a pastor or staff member are unjustly terminated, biblical reconciliation … or bilateral forgiveness … as outlined by Jesus in Luke 17:3-4 almost never takes place.
_______________
On a rare occasion, I will hear the perspective of the “other” side … from a board member who tried to get rid of a pastor and later felt badly about it.
A friend once told me that his father was instrumental in pushing out his pastor, and that it haunted him for the rest of his life.
I suspect there are other board members and lay antagonists who later were horrified when they realized that their words or actions had destroyed their pastor.
When my father was pushed out of his last pastorate, a woman whose hurtful words had gone viral cried out in a public meeting, “I never meant for it to come to this. I crucified the man!”
But those kinds of confessions are all too rare.
_______________
It’s amazing to me. To become a Christian, a person must confess their sins to the Lord and request His forgiveness, which He always grants.
To remain a Christian, a person must continually confess their sins to the Lord … as 1 John 1:8-10 specifies … and again, the Lord promises He will always forgive.
But when those same professing Christians severely wound the person and position of someone God has called to serve their congregation, they stop looking at any sins they might have committed and only see the sins of their pastor/staffer.
They completely exonerate themselves and just as fully blame the person they’ve driven from office.
In the words of Jesus, they’re focused on the “specks” in their pastor’s life while ignoring the “planks” in their own lives (Matthew 7:3-5).
I have a friend who occasionally holds meetings after a pastor has been forced out. He gathers together the leaders of the church … places an empty chair at the front of the room (signifying the presence of Jesus) … asks for a period of silence … and then lets the leaders say whatever comes to their mind.
There is often a time of confession as people finally admit to others that they did indeed play a part in getting rid of their pastor … and harming their local body as well.
Maybe, since the deed was done with others, confession can only come in concert with those same people.
_______________
I’ve long since given up hope that anyone who meant to harm me will ever admit it to me.
If they did … since I have already forgiven them unilaterally … I would joyfully forgive them on-the-spot.
But I realize it’s unlikely to happen.
In his wise book Healing for Pastors & People Following a Sheep Attack, Dr. Dennis Maynard writes the following:
“Before we can reconcile with another we have to know that they are truly sorry. We need to hear their words of repentance. We need to know their contrition is genuine. To reconcile with those who are not truly contrite is to excuse their offense as though it never occurred…. We are basically giving them permission to hurt us again. We need to hear the person who hurt us take responsibility for their behavior.”
Maynard then continues:
“Those that target clergy are oblivious to the pain they cause others. They have actually deceived themselves into believing they have done the right thing. They are consumed with their public image.”
He then writes something both remarkable and scary:
“I have not found a single case of an antagonist seeking to reconcile with the pastor they targeted for destruction. True repentance would also include trying to undue the damage that their conspiracy of lies brought on their pastor…. Some will rationalize their acts of sin and evil as righteous and justified…. Reconciliation is simply not an option. To do so would be to fail to hold them accountable for the pain they have caused. We cannot reconcile with them, but for our soul’s sake we still must forgive them.”
I have a theory that the people who target an innocent pastor for termination have surrendered themselves … at least temporarily … to some sort of dark force. You can’t be a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led individual and go after your pastor with a vengeance. Kindly show me one place in the New Testament where God blesses that kind of behavior and I’ll eat my words.
_______________
I now live some 500 miles away from my former church. I cannot envision ever visiting the church again for any reason, and I have vowed never to visit the city in which the church is located, either.
There is just too much pain involved.
I accept the fact that even successful ministry tenures end. Casey Stengel won ten pennants in twelve years for the New York Yankees – including five World Championships in a row from 1949-1953 – and even he was forced out after the Yankees lost the World Series in 1960.
But to get rid of a leader, God’s people often throw away their Bibles and engage in satanic shortcuts … adopting the strategy of deception leading to destruction (John 8:44).
Since they can’t force their pastor to resign any other way, they start spreading lies about him.
Lies designed to harm his reputation. Lies designed to cause others to call for his dismissal. Lies designed to create pain for him and his family.
And that decision … to get rid of a leader at all costs … is guaranteed to cause the leader … his family … his supporters … and their congregation … immense heartache for many years to come.
_______________
The reason that I wrote this article is to encourage the pastors and staffers who have been forced out to:
*accept that the church of Jesus Christ handles these situations horribly … so you aren’t alone.
*accept what happened to you as being part of God’s overall plan.
*accept that you will never fully reconcile with those who caused you harm.
*accept that you can and should forgive each person who hurt you unilaterally.
*accept that God still loves you and wants the best for you.
So will those who terminated you ever repent for what they did to you?
It’s highly unlikely.
After Judas betrayed Jesus, our Savior let him go.
We need to follow His example.
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