A partnership of righteousness in ministry

Some people just love stories of “ministerial misconduct.” Sure, when someone like former pastor Terry Hornbuckle of Arlington is convicted of three rapes, it’s news. I understand that. More common are stories about a quarrel between church members–rancorous, probably tragic, but hardly of general interest. Fair or not, the pastor (authority, power, maleness) usually fares badly in the public judgment of these squabbles.

In any case, all of us and our churches take a hit when a pastor and church fall out with one another. When the charges against a pastor are criminal, it’s even worse.

Danny Akin’s Baptist Press column, “Cultivate integrity in ministry,” is a good treatment of what we should be as church or ministry leaders. He said it better than I could so I’ll let you read that for yourself. It’s definitely something we should say to ourselves in front of our congregations. It’s also something our congregations should hold us to.

I’d like to approach the matter of ministry train wrecks from the other direction. What is the responsibility of churches in examining, calling, and working with a pastor?

If the pastor has a heavy stewardship for the ministry of a church, and he does, it doesn’t mean that other church members are without responsibility for successes and failures in ministry.

In Baptist churches, calling a pastor is a matter of both candidate and congregation discerning the will of God. Both parties talk to God and both parties should agree before a man becomes pastor. In addition to the theological and methodological questions we normally ask, we should look into a couple of more mundane things when considering a candidate.

>A credit check: You’re unlikely to call a pastor who’s in it for the money. In fact, it is very common for ministry families to be living on the edge of not enough. The point of a credit check is to determine if he has serious financial problems that will become part of his ministry in your church. Also, a man who has a pattern of unpaid debts is either a poor manager of his own affairs or has an integrity problem. It’s worth asking and worth discussing with him if you see something that raises questions.

>A criminal background check: You’ll do it for your nursery workers (you should at least), so why not for your pastor? Ministry in most churches involves a lot of time and work done in solitude. This requires trust. The church takes on some liability for the actions of its pastor. It is certain that your pastor is an important keeper of your church’s reputation. Check it out. Very few men will mind.

Consider also that most pastors are checking your church out. Your growth pattern, former pastors, neighborhood, and giving are going to interest him as he considers what he might expect of ministry there. Asking some basic questions of him is not an insult. It is due diligence. I can think of some cases where these steps might have headed off tragic events in the life of a church.

Once your pastor is in place, consider the unnecessary burdens and risks you might be putting on him. Dr. Akin is right in saying that pastors should stay away from the church’s money, for example. For their part, churches should neither expect him to take on accounting or check-writing duties for the church nor allow him to do it if he volunteers. Both parties have to say “yes” before this problem becomes even potential.

Churches should also make some kind of allowance for the pastor’s need to minister to the women in the congregation. Other church leaders can provide cover and accountability for the pastor so as to safeguard his reputation and that of those he visits, counsels, or works alongside.

Don’t put your pastor in a situation of working alone at church with a female secretary or visiting/counseling alone with female church members. Provide people to accompany him or be on site when this will accommodate ministry above suspicion or reproach.

Pastors in small, single staff churches and in very large churches find it easy to become isolated in ministry. Some notorious situations, as well as some little-known ministry meltdowns were aggravated, even enabled, by isolation that became secret sin. Churches either know or should know when this becomes possible.

No pastor sets out to fail. Churches can help him avoid the temptations of ministry. Integrity is a partnership between all members of the body of Christ. Your sister churches and your brothers and sisters in Christ depend on your ministry maintaining a high level of wisdom and innocence.