Another One Bites The Dust

One of Queen's songs says "Another One Bites The Dust". Today, that song title applies to one of our friends. The church leaders met in a secret session and then told the senior pastor that he is terminated. This is immediate and he is not allowed in the pulpit again. He only has a few weeks to vacate the parsonage and will get three months severance. When he asked why he was told the church constitution states they do not have to give him any reason. The congregation was told Wednesday Evening that he resigned and they guess he just didn't want to come back.

This would be different if there was a moral issue or he was preaching heresy but neither of those applies. It is getting hard for me to understand why my friends keep getting hurt by churches. This story could be told of many churches in our country. It happens all the time. This time, it happened to a friend. That is why this one makes me mad. God's people should be better than that.

First we need to understand that God considers that His preachers are special people. Romans 10:14-16 says "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? Even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things!"

I know that my feet are not physically beautiful. I also know that God has called me and therefore He will take care of me. I believe that churches that abuse pastors and then spew them out will be held accountable to God. The emotional and spiritual damage done to pastor's families is unconscionable and is a terrible indictment against the church in general.

The above scenario occurs when expectations for churches and pastors differ. Too often the search committee and church in general will not give an accurate description of what kind of pastor that are looking for. When they say "we want a pastor to lead us", ask probing questions. Does that mean the church is willing to follow when it is in a direction that is different from the past? Does that mean they will follow even when it is out of their comfort zone? Will they follow if it means new people will be involved and the old guard will no longer be in charge? These are healthy questions to ask before accepting the call. Too often we have a false impression of leadership styles and desires. Because of this false impression, things come crashing down after the honeymoon period ends.

Most often I try to acknowledge that church issues involve both pastor and church. I will leave that for another discussion because today I have a friend and his family who are hurt. We have to stop this trend. Too many pastors are leaving the ministry and some go to extremes and take their life. How does God get glory in that?

At http://www.ministrytogether.com we attempt to ask those probing questions. Our 54 point matching system helps determine the type of leadership the church wants and matches it with the same leadership style of the prospective pastor. Perhaps we need to revise our questions to include "Why did your last pastor leave? Was he forced out or did he resign? Will you be willing to give contact information so the prospective pastor can talk with him about his ministry there." That might help stop some of these hurts.....Now that I have vented I have to go. I have to determine what Joy and I can do to help this family pick up the pieces from this tragedy......Preacherman