Avoid the Top 5 Reasons for Pastoral Terminations, Part 1, Church Already in Conflict

Written by Bob Sheffield

In a series of five articles, I will give the top five causes of forced terminations (from the 2006 Forced Termination survey conducted by the Church Minister Relation's Directors network in cooperation with LifeWay Christian Resources) and offer several prevention strategies for each. While I cannot give you a guarantee that reading these articles and following the guidelines will prevent all forced terminations, I do believe these will help. We will begin with number five.

Cause # 5: The Church Was Already In Conflict When the Pastor Arrived

Equipping Deacons to Confront Conflict

Many pastors arrive at a new church to find a lot of unresolved and deeply emotional conflict beneath the surface. Here are three important but often overlooked facts about this type of destructive church conflict.

Fact # 1: These conflicts do not end when a pastor, leader, or group declares that the conflict is over.

Fact # 2: Church conflicts, which have resulted in strong emotional differences of opinions, are not resolved in a majority church vote.

In a majority vote situation, the majority voters may leave the meeting declaring, “We won!” The minority voters may leave with a feeling of, “we lost … but we will get them next time.” The next time may be a month, a year, or longer. As a result of this type of “win-lose” vote, I have observed church families with long standing distrust and built up resentment. When this happens, every vote, no matter how insignificant, becomes a “win-lose” vote.

A pastor who is unaware of this underlying and unresolved conflict may be unknowingly caught in the middle.

Fact # 3: Conflicts end when overwhelming majority of the people involved in the conflict permit them to end.
 
What does a pastor or staff member do to help prevent this type of forced termination from happening?

1. Take time to investigate and evaluate the church before you go. 

Research the church and ask probing questions of the search committee, other pastors in the community, as well as denominational leaders. Depending on your affiliation, these may include directors of missions, state convention leaders, or other denomination leaders.

• Ask about prior forced terminations and the reasons for them.
• Read the church’s constitution and note when the church made changes to the by-laws.

2. Evaluate yourself to see if you are prepared to help a church in conflict.

• Are you prepared spiritually, emotionally, and physically to come to the aid of a church which has unresolved conflict?
• Do you have training, spiritual gifts, skills, or experience in conflict management?
• Will you have access to someone who can mediate the conflict?
• Are you willing to commit to the length of time it will take to see this through to resolution?
• Do you have a strong base of support (family, mentors, and colleagues) to pray with you and to listen to you? You will need to vent and seek wisdom from time to time.

3. You need to seek and depend on the power of God’s Holy Spirit to give you wisdom and power beyond yourself.

Bob Sheffield served as a pastoral ministries specialist in the pastoral ministries area of LifeWay until 2007. In this role, he frequently consulted with churches on a number of staffing issues.

Prior to coming to LifeWay in 1985, Sheffield served as a pastor of churches in Mississippi and Texas for 25 years. He has also served as an interim pastor at numerous Nashville area churches.

Reader Comments:

These are really helpful articles and Bob Sheffield has done a very good job in clarifying the challenges related to pastoring the church that wants to dismiss its pastor. Two thoughts: First, the Transitional Pastor or the Intentional Interim programs help to prepare the person who will come into lead a troubled church to have the tools necessary to lead the church out of its conflict. Second, in a church in conflict, I have found that Romans 12:9-21 is a practical and effective passage to use for preaching and in a personal devotional time: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." The right pastor, with the right calling, support, training, experience, attitude, and heart, can be used of God to bring a church from conflict to effectiveness.

By: dlplife On: 5/19/2008 3:09:07 AM  

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I would add to the area of research on a potential church, talk to previous pastors. Sometimes pastor search committees will seem hesitant about the idea of you calling former pastors. If this is the case listen very carefully to what they are saying. You should then ask Director of Missions and other people who know the church to possibly explain what occurred at that church. Former pastors may have had a difficult experience at the church. Talking to several pastors could reveal a clear pattern of conflict within the church that is going to be directed at a pastor no matter who he is in personality and gifts. It will be of the greatest importance to you and your family's future to be very diligent in your research of a church. And do not be hesitant to turn down a call to a seemingly attractive situation if you discover a history of pastoral difficulties in this church. Remember that how a church has treated ministers in the past is generally a good indication of how they will treat ministers in the future.

By: Anonymous On: 5/12/2008 3:00:59 PM  

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I appreciate this article so much. I currently pastor a church that went through a terrible split before my arrival. During the interview I asked direct questions to provide an avenue of total honesty and detailed explanations of events surrounding church split. HESITANT? YES!!! I've been there now for six (6) years and just recently found a notebook with board of directors meeting minutes that was guarded with dear life. Some of the information I read was interesting, heart-breaking, and enlightening. With this information, I've changed my teaching tactic to be more strategic so that the church does not make the same mistakes it did in the past. Church hurt is the worst kind of hurt to overcome. But what seems impossible to us is not impossible to God. We still have our challenges and see some the same tactics now from some members of our leadeship that were made in time past. But I've been able to combat much of it with the Word of God before it happens. Thank you so much for this article, I needed it.

By: matthew28 On: 5/20/2008 8:25:35 AM  

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