This post is a continuation of the previous conversation about the “Evangelical Environment” by Scot McKnight and the great comments made by readers here about the Ted Haggard situation.
Here are a few observations about this situation. I look forward to hearing from all of you.
1. Do we subtly want our leaders to be inhuman?
As much as we in the emerging church conversation desire to move away from hieracheal leadership structures, there is still the concept likely to exist in our minds of the pastor as conselour, therapist, CEO, or otherwise “professional” leader. We don’t want to go and see a doctor only to have him complain about some pain he is having. We don’t want to see a stockbroker and hear her whine about her financial difficulties. We don’t want to see a mental health professional only to hear them speak of their nuerosis. Similarly, do we want to be able to “see” a pastor without having to deal with his or her sin?
2. Should the pastor confess sins to others in the local faith community?
I struggle as every person does, with various sin issues. Honestly though, I tend not to share these struggles often with members of the faith community that I lead. I am starting to question this dynamic. I have been heartily encouraged by fellow leaders (pastors) never to do so at the risk of undermining my authority, credibility and respect. Yet, I realize that I am a disciple first, before I am a leader. Therefore, James 5:16 applies to me.
“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.”
If I am not regularly confessing sin, how am I to partake of this wonderful power that is spoken of in this text? Is the power to create new levels of freedom being missed by those in Christian leadership because of our tremendous western idolotry toward “Leadership?”
3. The myth of “up the ladder” confession.
Many pastors regularly talk about being “accountable” and or of the confession of sin to someone “up the ladder” in the authority structure. (ie. denominational representative, bishop, overseer etc.) But pretty much, I think that this never actually happens. The business arrangement suggested by these kinds of relationships is almost never conducive to the actual sharing of real life beyond the professional aspects.
4. Pastors without peers.
All of these dynamics (and others) contribute to a unique type of seperation for the “leader” from dynamic of honest christian community. Additionally, I think we expect pastors to be absolutely immersed in the present set of relationships at their current assignment, and in some cases, actually ask them to end friendships with people that have become close to them in a previous assignment. In Foursquare, we actually have a bylaw thats states: “Upon termination of a pastoral assignment, [the leader must] break off contact with the members of the church except with the approval of the new pastor.” This whole idea communicates a utilitarianism that sees the church as an orginizational entity before it is a relational one. I understand that the intent is to empower the new leader in a church context to chart a new course without the undue influence of the previous leader. However, its almost as though we have created a dynamic that insures our pastors will never have any true friends.
A blog about present and future church, contemporary culture, intercultural dynamics, and the implications of Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom in today's context. Billy Calderwood is the lead pastor of Aqueous, a missional faith community doing life together in Santa Barbara, California.
billy, i feel for ya. i often wonder how pastors deal w/ the pressure of being held to such high standards. i mean, everyone goes to the pastor when they have a problem w/ their marriage, finances, drinking, porn or whatever…what does a pastor do when he or she has problems too?
during my dad’s last few years alive, he was a pastor of a vineyard church. within the vineyard, i know that they highly value accountability and have setup networks so that all the pastors and people in leadership have a place to go for counsel and prayer. as far as i can tell, this works well for the vineyard pastors i know personally. of course, in the vineyard that i grew up in, being vulnerable and open about your struggles and weaknesses was highly valued, esp. within the smallgroup setting, so i think the pastors themselves don’t have much of a problem opening up about what’s really going on in their lives. at least that’s the way it seemed to me (i’ve never seen so many grown men weeping in my life…not that that’s a bad thing…).
i think pastors have to make their own friends, just like everybody else. it helps when you like the people you pastor and can respect them as your peers so that you can actually find friends in your own congregation whom you can trust and confide in and who will have the maturity to not go gossiping to the rest of the church. otherwise, i suppose you’d have to go looking elsewhere, like networking w/ other pastors or something.
anyhoo, i don’t envy you your position, billy.
I don’t envy your position either, PB, but know I love you and care about you and your family so much!! I know that so many within our community do as well and would support you, love you, and pour out God’s grace upon you, no matter what.
Secondly, I saved my long-winded response for my blog, instead of taking up a ton of space here again
Lastly, I will include part of it here:
On a personal note, my prayer for you and other leaders is that you’d find true fellowship and friendship and that would pave the way in creating real relationships and fostering honesty and that God would pour out grace upon you in this area. I think you have paved the way already…certainly much more than I’ve ever seen in any other leader that I’ve known.
I think the first steps in that are to encourage that within the community you lead, and because Aqueous is so community-based, I think that there is much more of a “friendly†environment in terms of confessing and receiving grace, no matter if you’re a leader or not.
~Marieke
Billy: I think a good inspiration for this would be the judges of old, transitioning to the kings. Judges were local, and had their own faults, and I believe there are verses about how they are to be held accountable. However, it might be more in line with how a king was held accountable.
In either case, I think Pastors are socially allowed to confess their “sins” as long as they are “cute sins”, like envy of a neighbor’s new ________, or some very very very small refinement, like coming to a realization of trying to do things on your own, and needing to rely on God’s grace (I know, lame example, but hey).
For a Pastor to say, “I’m having problems lusting after my secretary” on Sunday morning would cause wide-spread concern in a modern church.
I think this could be the problem when the church was moved from house-churches to a formalized church, kind of like the movement from judges to a king.
Could that be what the elders are for? Servant Council? Just a thought…
1. Do we subtly want our leaders to be inhuman?
Absolutely! And I think that the desire is more explicit than implicit. The deisre to have an uberman runs deep in the human psyche. Plus it is easier to have someone in that position who is beyond us becuase it gives us an excuse to not be perfect ourselves. We love superman because he takes away our responsibility to take care of things ourselves.
“I have been heartily encouraged by fellow leaders (pastors) never to do so at the risk of undermining my authority, credibility and respect. Yet, I realize that I am a disciple first, before I am a leader. Therefore, James 5:16 applies to me.”
This is the definition of hypocrisy: to say something is wrong for everyone else but not wrong when I do it! I think that any believer needs to practice confession with some wisdom. It is important to do this with “spirit”, i.e. mature, people (ala Galatians 6). But at the same time I think it is important that we pastors readily confess that we are fallible, faulty, and in the process of being fully redeemed. Yes, we should be able to say “follow me as I follow Christ” and part of that type of leading is to readily admit that we have faults and still sin, but to confess specifics about sin without restraint can be damaging to the immature.
“3. The myth of “up the ladder†confession.”
Amen to this. We do not need accountability groups. What we need is to forge true friendships and live open lives with each other.
“4. Pastors without peers.”
The problem with bylaws is that they tend to be formed in response to actual events and then once codified take on a new meaning. My understanding as I read Foursquare history is that many “terminated” pastors in the past simply took their congregations with them and formed new churches. The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the congregation form a run away pastor by making sure he/she can’t do any further harm.
Billy,
Thanks for this thread. It is has been very stimulating.
Came to a realization at the veteran’s day celebration here:
The struggle…the fight is what Christians should prize. Pastors who seem to have it together should be probed (not in THAT way you pervert), and found out what they are truly struggling with.
Unless you have a Calvanist on your hands, there is some dark side that you will find. Unless it is found out, it will remain hidden. I think it is the role of the elders or servant’s council to make sure that the life of the pastor is transparent. Every fight, every struggle, every concern.
Pastors are not Kings. They are Servant Kings. They should avail themselves as such. (I’m not pointing fingers at you Billy, just talking in general)
I know all christians have something they keep hidden from the rest of the world.
Here’s the kicker: when you read the previous sentence, I’ll bet the first thing that went through your head is “Hmmm, I wonder what Joe has to hide?”
The question is “What are you hiding?” What sin has you bound and you won’t let out? That’s the question you need ask yourself.
Ok, I gotta get back to work. The slaveship goes in circles if I’m not rowing…
I wandered here on accident & started reading. I can’t help but ask - have you been to one of Jack Hayford’s SPN’s? he is constantly & consistantly exhorting pastors to be honest and upfront with their challenges & struggles. He is a man that holds to that - and shares his struggles, even to the congregation when he was leading TCOTW. He gets a lot of grief for it, from fellow pastors who think they shouldn’t share with others, however, I think it’s part of what has helped him in his process of “finishing well”. Also - just an FYI - there is an amazing ministry that does a lot of work in Long Beach and Orange County - and around the world called the Association of Christian Character Development (www.accd.org) - that as part of their 4 day Breakthrough Training - deals with confession like nothing I have ever seen in “church”. It brings total life transformation & freedom…also, obviously deals with more than that (4 days is a long time!), however it is an amazing process that the church needs to participate in. Sorry - I just couldn’t help myself from commenting - even though you have no idea who I am,a nd I don’t know you either!
Sarah, Thanks for sharing your Dad’s story. I was a youth pastor and worship leader in a Vineyard church for a number of years myself. Good people. I agree that there is wisdom in building network of friends with maturity in the community. Thanks for your comment as always…
Marieke, I agree with you about that the environment at the @ has the potential to break some of the cycles that have been prevelant in the history of evangelicism. Thanks for the prayers!
Joe, I agree with you about the role of elders relationally. I wonder thought if much of the western church though views the elder similar to the board member of a large corporation. Its a business relationship, rather than a personally invested relationship in many churches which oft contributes to the isolation of leaders I imagine.
Pete, I agree about the bylaw issue and why it came into being. I think it is often applied differently as you pointed out. Much of this post comes back to our conversations in Pismo about hiearchy and a changing understanding of the role, or at least the shape, of church leadership. (Flatter, more relational, more shared, less uberpastoring…)
Kelly, thanks for jumping into the comment fray! You are more than welcome anytime. Thanks for the links and the snapshot from Pastor Jacks SPN. (I haven’t been but know many who have).
All, next post will be about working to change the Evangelical Environment at the local level