Pastors and forced terminations

By David B. Cox, co-founder,
The Other 6 Days, a discipleship ministry

The vast majority of Southern Baptist churches and pastors are shining lights in a very dark world, lifting high the mighty name of Jesus. One of the strong points of community testimony for many Southern Baptist churches is the witness of a people and a pastor who are linked at the heart for Kingdom purposes. What is a pastor to do, however, when he finds himself being forced out by a church or terminated as a result of church controversy?

If a man is guilty of some moral failure, he has no business leading a flock, at least in that season of time and in the context where the failure occurred. Few controversies are totally one-sided, and everyone can look back and identify situations, decisions or occasions that, if given a second opportunity to do them the first time, could be done at least somewhat differently.

Tragically, however, an epidemic of forced pastoral terminations has developed in our denomination. Many are not the result of moral or even theological issues, but differences in perspectives, styles, values and traditions. The church’s mission becomes secondary or tertiary, giving way to church politics and stifling opinions.

As a result, thousands of Southern Baptist pastors and ministers have found themselves on the raw end of a church controversy or political scenario that has left many of them and their families just one step short of the “streets” and scrambling to piece together their lives. Furthermore, the damage it can create to children, spouses and esteem for all can be nothing short of devastating. Many are left to simply survive and make it through the next season of life financially, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. Some are left thinking God has abandoned them. The scars can run especially deep with the children of these pastors. Some of them fall away from the church, “if that’s the way the church really is.” The stress, both economically and emotionally, often precipitates the collapse of a marriage. Embarrassment and humiliation are, at times, mountains that are never overcome. Questions that surround a pastor’s integrity can swirl as a sandstorm then linger like dark clouds as a result of church grapevines.

Nationwide, about one-third (34 percent) of all pastors surveyed serve a congregation who terminated their previous pastor or who were themselves forced from their last pastoral ministry. In the Southern Baptist Convention alone, according to LifeWay Christian Resources research, about 1,000 pastors will be force-terminated this year. This is a trend that has continued for nearly two and one-half decades. That’s a staggering 25,000 forced pastoral terminations since the early 1980s.

So where have all those pastors gone? Many have walked away from the church for good. According to LifeWay, 45 percent have not returned to the pulpit. Rather, they have chosen a different vocation altogether.

I offer a word of encouragement to those whose lives have been devastated by these scorching trials. First, God is faithful. His name is faithful (Rev. 19:11). His character is the same. His person is in no way modified nor His character changed by the sinful nature of man, nor is He any less compassionate toward His children just because some of them inflict pain and hardship on others. He is still God, period. He still loves you and has not abandoned you. He never leaves or forsakes His children, even when He allows them to endure pain, suffering or persecution for His name’s sake.

You can lose your head even when attempting to be completely faithful and obedient. John the Baptist had his head served on a platter to a wicked king because he preached the Word of God without compromise. His faithfulness and obedience is well-documented in the Scriptures by Jesus Himself: “...Among those born of women there is no one greater than John…” (Luke 7:28). Need another example? How about Joseph, or Job or Stephen. Consider Jesus. The biblical record is clear: obedience to God does not carry with it an exemption card that turns back wickedness or trial. In fact, it often invites such. Those who try to walk with integrity and who are led by the Spirit are sure to face intense opposition in the journey to uphold the mandates and precepts of God.

In a similar vein, the results of obedience don’t always make sense. When you have sacrificed your all on the altar of ministry for Christ just to have the ecclesiastical rug abruptly pulled from under you feet, “consider it not strange.” Servants have never understood all that their masters know. And God our Father and Master has already told us that His purposes and ways are not the same as ours, nor are His thoughts. “…My ways [are] higher than your ways and My thoughts are higher than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). Chalk it up to a limited earthly perspective and lean hard on your Heavenly Father. You don’t have to know where the car is going as long as you are fully trusting of the one who is driving. Moreover, a servant is not greater than his master (John 13:16). Consider the road our Master endured. Should it be that we would follow some other course?

Next, be reminded that good does not always triumph over evil – in your church, your situation or even in your lifetime. It does eventually, but you may or may not see it with your own eyes. Rest in God’s sovereignty. Even if the headlines or church chronicles make you out to be something you are not, God knows the score. Let Him keep up with it. Refuse to retaliate. “Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord” (Deut. 32:35). Good always triumphs over evil, ultimately. Jesus saw to this on the cross. Rest in the promises God your Father has given.
Make an intentional effort to refute the notion that you are a loser. It is tempting to equate job-performance or results with publicly perceived success or failure. You are who you are in Christ not because your church was the fastest-growing in the association or because you baptized a certain number every year. Such faulty thinking is at least arrogant in the best of times and in the worst of times sets you up to automatically classify yourself a loser. Your esteem must be rooted in your personal relationship with Christ at all times in life, whether in the deep valley or on the tip of the mountain. His ultra-high valuation of you is your reason to rejoice. The value of your life is not something “up for grabs” every time someone disagrees with your leadership style or criticizes your last sermon.

If you have been ousted from a pastoral post, you are just as valuable to Him now as you were at the peak of your ministerial career. He doesn’t love you because of your pastoral role. He loves and values you because you are His.

Additionally, it is meritorious to remember that everyone is human and the church, in spite of all frailties and difficulties, is still the Body of Christ. Because we are people, we often fall short of God’s glory. We also fall short in our relationships with each other within the church context. Expectations and standards are different for all. Traditions vary. Vision and leadership styles and priorities are not the same for all. Satan often works overtime to exploit these differences.

At the end of the day, a forced termination forces a (human) pastor to make a gut-wrenching examination of his own heart to see if spiritual adjustments might be in order. Because they, too, are human, lay church leaders do well to do likewise when they have forced such a termination. It is also noteworthy that in most (71 percent) forced terminations, it is only a small faction –10 people or less – who actively force the termination. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “everyone” in your former church is against you. That church still represents the Body of Christ, and the overwhelming majority of the people there most likely love you because they love the Lord and really do want to honor and glorify His Name. Moreover, be careful not to shrug off the vital importance of the church due to a rough (even devastating) tenure at your last post.

Finally, what about your future? Who’s to say that the peak of your ministerial career is in the rear view mirror? For many, your best for Christ is yet in front of you. Your ministry vision may be blinded by pain so you can’t see it now, but it’s true. The problem, however, is that if you quit, you will never realize what God was going to do next. Do not throw away the future. Do not give away the authority of your call from God to anyone. If the Lord called you, then your call is divinely ordained and just as valid today whether you “have a church” or not. You were a child of the King before you were called. You were called by God before you became the pastor of that church. So look ahead; refuse to quit. Take time off for healing.
Be honest about the reality of the need for time regarding family reconstruction. Consult godly counselors and prayer partners. Then reinvest yourself in Christian ministry. Don’t abandon your call. This was Satan’s hope and goal all along (John 10:10). Send him packing with a persevering spirit that steadfastly continues to trust the Lord with the details of your future.

“Oh Lord, how long will you forget me, forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psa. 14:1). David penned those words in a season of despair and perhaps emotional exhaustion as he ran from Saul in self-preservation over a 15-year stretch. But he concludes that same thought with great hope: “But I have trusted in Your loving-kindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me” (14:5-6).

Lift up your head, brother. Sing to the Lord. In the face of it all, Christ has yet dealt bountifully with you! And He is calling you back today.

"Let him that thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall." If I'm not mistaken, David committed moral failure, yet God restored him. Peter denied our Lord, but our Lord restored him. I agree with the previous posting in that pastors are called to a godly standard, but I cringe at the thought of the suggestion we throw someone aside who has failed. The church is designed to minister to the sick - sometimes that includes those in ministry. Thank you, David, for this wonderful article. Even though I've never expeienced the agony of termination, I was encouraged nonetheless. I can only imagine what your article did to refresh hearts that were hurting.

what i want to know os what if a pastor accidentally snubbed a deacon,and said deacon is making things rough on the pastor.the pastor in question tried to apologize and try to work things out to no avail. HELP!!!