I, for one can, testify that the pattern outlined in this article addresses is true. I have experienced it precisely as described in the article. I now know many other faithful Presbyterian ministers who have been through the same ordeal.
To summarize the pattern, the “whisper campaign” is instigated by a group of angry church members with unreasonable expectations soon after a pastor arrives. The congregation as a whole wants to be “nice” and listens to these unreasonable concerns, but is unwilling to tell this angry group that they are spiritually off-base. The pastor spends much energy trying to placate the group, to no avail. Ministry never gets off the ground. The intensity of the campaign picks up and spreads to other members who previously had no problem with the pastor. The morale of the congregation begins to decline. The congregation soon decides the new pastor must go, rather than confront or lose the unhealthy portion of the membership. The church must pay a severance it cannot afford. The pastor must go into recovery before he or she can ever consider stepping into a pulpit again. The presbytery usually concurs with this pattern because it would rather have intact congregations with a steady financial stream than spiritually healthy ones.
Personally, the thought of stepping into a pulpit right now and proclaiming the Word of God is not an attractive option. I am not burned out, but I definitely feel “burned.” Why put up with the hassle if this is the response you get from supposedly Christian people? Why fight the fight if the presbytery is more interested in placating groups or protecting finances than building communities of faith with spiritual integrity? After all, mine was not an unfruitful ministry. In two years over one hundred new members joined with others ready to follow, the nursery filled with new children, and many new programs were started or approved for development.
What went wrong here and in cases like this? The church fails to be the body of Christ that is focused on outreach and mission, and becomes a club dedicated to the comfort of its members. The sheep run the flock rather than the Good Shepherd who is more concerned about the one who strays than the ninety-nine who remain behind. Woe be to the pastor who tries to follow Jesus into the mission field when the church has no intention of going there.
This article is not written to complain but to suggest a course of action to prevent this from happening again. There are steps that sessions and presbyteries can take to make sure that ministers who are leading with integrity are protected and preserved within the denominational system.
Recommendations for Sessions
The key advice for sessions is to learn to exercise corrective discipline. Behavior among members must be evaluated on the basis of Christ-like character, not seniority or friendships. Long-time members and even spiritual leaders can go astray, and can fall into destructive patterns and attitudes. These people need to be steered back towards biblical health. Worse yet, and this is hard for church leaders to admit, some members may even be evil. In fact that may be why some are in positions of power and leadership in the congregation. They are more interested in control and comfort than obedience to Christ. (If you have trouble with this possible diagnosis, please read G. Lloyd Rediger’s Clergy Killers or Bill Easum’s Sacred Cows Make Gourmet Hamburgers). If that is the case they are a cancer that must be removed before it metastasizes. Again churches think that they are called to be “nice,” and have a hard time with this. But being “nice” is really a term for enabling destructive behavior and allowing it to flourish and rip at the fabric of congregational life.
Sessions and congregations likewise need to remember that no minister is perfect. Similarly, it takes a new minister roughly three years to really become a “pastor” to a congregation who knows its real hurts and needs and can minister to the full level of their skill. Until that point is reached, however, there will bumps and miscues that will have to be worked through. Every church has unwritten expectations that a pastor has no clue about until she or he inadvertently violates them. Be kind and laugh when those occur, not vindictive.
Recommendations for Presbyteries
The main thing Presbyteries need to do is thoroughly evaluate the work of the minister in question and stand behind those who are doing the right thing or can learn to do the right thing. Good spiritual leadership is a precious commodity that our denomination desperately needs. Presbyteries create and enable sick congregations when they fire the physician God sends in rather than the hold the congregations accountable for truly sub-Christian or even diabolical behavior.
In my case, one of the good things the presbytery did was send me off for a full career analysis at an established career counseling center in the capital of the state. I came through in good fashion. In fact the counselor I worked with even volunteered to come down and speak to my detractors in the congregation. This was good, objective data that affirmed I had more than adequate skills for ministry and that I definitely had a call from God to be in ordained leadership. Unfortunately, this report was largely shelved when the complainers kept up their campaign.
The crucial thing that the presbytery should have done, and which I longed for them to do, was an on-sight evaluation of my work and ministry. If there are complaints about sermons, listen to some of them on tape and see whether or not they are competent explications of the gospel. If there are concerns about leadership style, interview the minister and see how she or he handles various circumstances in the life of the church. If there are worries over the manner of pastoral care (and what minister hasn’t had complaints that he or she isn’t giving some group or person their due), go with them on some visits or do some role plays or some other form of evaluation. Only in this way will a presbytery be able to determine if it really has a problem on its hands or an answer to its prayers.
If the minister does prove to be reasonably competent, then unleash them to do what God has called them to do. Give them the full support of the presbytery and tell the murmurers and complainers to shut up and get with the program or face dire spiritual consequences for opposing the work of God. Invite them to move on if they cannot tolerate what God is doing in their midst. This is not their church. It is Christ’s church and he is the head, and if that does not suit their taste, then the only thing they can do to help it flourish is leave.
Recommendations for Ministers Under Fire
Finally, let me offer a word of support for those of you who are under spiritual assault from those who should be on your side. You are not alone. Moses, the prophets, Jesus, Paul, and other biblical figures met all kinds of opposition from those who claimed to be their friends or have a deeper knowledge of God’s will. Many great church leaders face the same harassment today. Hang in there. God needs you, and the church needs you. At the same time, don’t lash out and give your opponents any ammunition for questioning your abilities. You have to play by the rules, even if they choose not to. Love conquers all. Read Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 5 over and over again.
In the same vein, take time to heal when the battle is over. Don’t jump into another position if you can find a way to take some time between calls. Carrying frustration from an old situation to the next is not productive. At this point I am pursuing alternate means of financial support until God says get back in the game, if He says to do that at all.
Unfortunately we live in tough times for ministers who desire to love and serve the Lord will all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. For instance a new minister neighbor in our presbytery recently went through a similar experience in a church he built to many thousands of members in Florida. In the midst of his crisis he consulted with Lyle Schaller to evaluate things, and Schaller told him, “Sadly, today all it takes to move a pastor, in any church of any size, is ten families.” This is not as it should be. I pray that the larger church will fight this cancer in its midst, and stand with and for ministers who are able to lead their congregations with biblical integrity and “energy, intelligence, imagination and love.”
Michael W. Armistead of Bluffton, S.C., is a minister-at-large in Charleston-Atlantic Presbytery.
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