“Church leadership acting as CEO’s of nonprofit organizations complete with ‘hiring and firing’ abilities, is a relatively novel development in the history of Christianity and is way outside of the Biblical framework.”
Last I checked, no one likes the people who do what God tells them to do. Jesus Himself was abandoned, brutally tortured and crucified. Most of the Old Testament prophets went about alone and destitute. John the Baptist was beheaded. All but one of the apostles were martyred. Yet for some crazy reason church governments are set up in such a way that a man of God can be ‘fired’ if a few people don’t like him. Odd… and unbiblical.
This problem stems from the way that pastors and elders are placed into leadership. In the New Testament leaders were recognized and then appointed (usually from within). They didn’t go through a “hiring process,” instead they went through a “discipleship process” by which leaders were developed, not recruited. So in honesty, the entire approach of the institutional church to professional clergy is jacked up.
So instead of going on that tirade again, let me propose three potential solutions. I’ve promised to stop critiquing if I don’t offer suggestions for improvement, so here are my ideas. The first two are suggestions for institutional models, and the final two are for organic models:
(Institutional) Allow a group of outside church leaders to appoint pastors to your congregation, who can only be removed under strict circumstances (such as sexual misconduct or dereliction of duty). Simply not liking the pastor or having personal conflicts would not be sufficient grounds to remove him. The pastor is to continually pray to God, reevaluating his call through prayer – not by a congregation’s consensus. Those congregants who dislike the pastor are free to leave. The pastor is free to resign at any time if God has lead him to do so in his prayer life. (Institutional) Pastors must be ordained in order to serve in the pastoral office. The ordained pastor is then “called” by a congregation, and the pastor can either accept or reject that call. Once a pastor accepts a “call,” he is installed as that congregation’s pastor. The pastor is free to resign or to accept a call from another congregation, but he cannot be fired by the congregation. If a pastor commits a serious offense which violates scripture, outside impartial leadership (a district superintendent or bishop, for instance) can step in and revoke the pastor’s ordination. If the pastor is not ordained, he is no longer able to serve in the pastoral office. His call is never retracted, the pastor simply loses his ordination and is no longer eligible to fulfill the call. Only outside leadership would be able to publicly announce that a pastor has lost his ordination. (Organic) Leaders are organically grown from within, recognized by the local gathered believers, and appointed to positions of leadership within the local assembly. If that leader violates scripture he can be exhorted, and if things don’t get better he can be publicly “demoted.” The local believers only have the authority to challenge the leaders on the basis of scripture, not on personal claims, preferences, or differences in ministry philosophy. (Organic) Leaders are organically grown from within and then recognized by the local gathered believers. Christ is the Head of the Body, not any man, so all men submit solely to Christ’s leadership and seek Him earnestly in prayer. No one holds authority over another, some are simply shown respect because their leadership ability and wisdom is self-evident. All are free to mutually encourage and exhort one another from the Word of God, and all respectfully consider others’ viewpoints and respond in truth and love. EVERYONE is functioning as a called, full-time minister, so no one is looking to anyone as a “professional” leader.
Perhaps you have a better suggestion? Let me know! Thoughts on any of these?
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Great article. I may reference it.
Thanks. Feel free to reference all you’d like, all I ask is a link-back.
I pray the people who NEED to see this will and that God will convict their hearts and publicly apologize for what they have done to hurt so many families.
Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?
Hey Polprav, feel free to quote me anytime with a linkback! Sorry for not responding sooner, for some reason your comment got sent to the spam bucket.