November 28, 2006
Picking up the Pieces
After a pastor’s fall those remaining must lead themselves and not merely the church.
In the old nursery rhyme "all the king's horses and all the king's men" tried to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Likewise, when a pastor falls, a great amount of energy can be poured into the leader's restoration. But what about the fallen leader's church? In the wake of the Ted Haggard story we've invited Dave Terpstra, pastor at The Next Level Church in Denver, to share his reflections on leading a church after the fall of a gifted pastor.
What should a church do after the fallout of a disgraced leader's resignation? That was the question our team faced almost 6 years ago when our senior pastor resigned after the revelation of a disqualifying pattern of sin in his life. After the shock began to fade and reality began to set in, we sat around and asked ourselves, "What next?"
After the fall of a primary senior leader, it is the junior leaders of the church who are left holding the bag. Sometimes, in churches with a smaller staff, it is lay people who are left to lead the church. The fall of a primary leader requires the best leadership that a church can muster, and for most churches that sort of leadership usually came from the person who fell.
Thankfully, when we found ourselves in this situation a group of mature and experienced church leaders offered their support and advice to those of us left. It was their words of encouragement that allowed me to discover the one thing I believe every church needs after its leader has fallen - a team of leaders who focus on themselves before they focus on the church.
At the time our senior pastor resigned, I was 25 years old and still a full-time student at Denver Seminary. I had just bought a house and was getting ready to settle into a comfortable junior position at the church. I had no experience in the senior levels of church leadership. But in spite of my youth and inexperience I was invited to replace our senior pastor as the primary teacher on our new leadership team.
I have no intention of trying to argue that under our team's new leadership our church has been "successful". But I believe that two things are true. Our church has survived the fall of our charismatic founding pastor and I believe we have been faithful along the way. And I attribute that to God's faithfulness to us, and the primacy we as a leadership team placed on our own self leadership.
When thrust into this situation, a leader faces enormous challenges. The church's phone rings off the hook, the mailbox is full, perhaps the media calls, and everyone's email inbox is full of forwarded emails. People want to know what really happened. Rumors fly. And I can attest that all of these things are 100 times worse if the senior pastor does not publicly confess and own up to what they did.
So in the midst of this madness the leadership team must lead themselves first, before they can even try to lead others. Let me be specific with what areas they need to begin with:
1. As a team and as individuals leaders need to honestly wrestle with doubts and together slowly rebuild trust in God. At the same time leaders must grapple with belief in the church and in the role of pastor/elder in that church. This experience at the very least rocks our faith, but in some cases will shatter it all together.
2. As a team leaders must pledge to each other your total dependence on the plurality of your church's leadership. Since this event will cause an overwhelming lack of trust among the church in any one leader, it is essential that you commit to each other as a team.
3. Each leader must personally commit themselves to a level of vulnerability and honesty that makes them uncomfortable. It doesn't do the church any good to begin a leadership-wide witch hunt. However, in an environment where vulnerability and honesty was clearly not part of the ethos, each leader must themselves initiate a new level of candor in their conversations with those they trust.
4. As a team each member must commit to checking their ego at the door. The reality is that each of us who are left holding the bag will have the same temptations experienced by the person who handed it to us. "After all," we tell ourselves, "if they were hiding this major sin and God used them to build a huge church, how much more could God use me, someone who isn't hiding a major pattern of sin?" It seems silly now as I write it, but it didn't seem as silly when I first thought it 6 years ago.
If the leadership gurus of the world tell us that it is the job of a leader to define reality, then after the fall of a senior leader, the most important reality that must be defined is our own. What do we believe about God, the church, each other, honesty and ourselves?
I do not envy anyone who has to walk this road. But if this is the place you find yourself, walk faithfully. Lead yourself before you try and lead others. And remember the words of the Lord to Paul: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Posted by UrL Scaramanga on November 28, 2006
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Comments
As a member of New Life Church I am very blessed that Ted left with his integrity intact. He did not fight, he did not obfuscate and make it worse...this has allowed our church this last week to turn our full attention to beginning to find a new leader.
I am curious why you did not ask a New Life Pastor what now? I think the answers would be quite different than what was shared here. I do not think New Life has any lack of trust among the ranks. We instead have a well informed polity and a oversight board that makes sure we are kept informed, all 14,000 members, as to what the next step is.
Posted by: Carl Holmes at November 27, 2006
I agree that when a senior pastor steps down, the responsibility does fall on the elders or members, which can get messy but should be done for the health of the body. I am curious about the recent scandal at Calvary Chapel Ankorage. The senior pastor faced some charges, and immediately the church was shut down. Why didn't the elders take over? Why didn't the church body pick up the slack? Why didn't the church that oversees CC Ankorage ensure that the remaining congregation would be taken care of? It seems sketchy to me that an entire church would be abandoned or left to wander at a time when they need all the support they can get. I pray that God would lead them all to find support and brotherhood among loving Christians.
Posted by: Almond at November 28, 2006
I first began attending TNL, just after the change in leadership that Dave wrote about took place. I had just recently given my life to the Lord, and TNL was my first real church home--a home I loved for about two and a half years, until God led me in a new direction. Dave, I'd like to thank you and the rest of the TNL pastors and elders for the job you all did in guiding the church in that difficult time. TNL continues to be a place that I love; may it always be a place that God loves.
Thanks for sharing your story and your wisdom.
Posted by: B-Dub at November 28, 2006
Dave Terpstra writes, "I can attest that all of these things are 100 times worse if the senior pastor does not publicly confess and own up to what they did."
Most pastor resignations aren't so dramatic. They are straws that break the camel. Accumulations of little moments of bitterness and little decisions that bother people.
My wife and I joined a church just months before the pastor resigned under questionable circumstances--mainly related to pride. I still don't know the details. In our church, we didn't talk about the details much. Our entire leadership collapsed until only one minister remained. It sounds trite, but we just trusted God. He could be our shepherd even without a salaried leadership team. At least for awhile, I told myself weakly.
It wasn't an easy time. But everyone worked together--and God brought us through faithfully. A year later, we are a stronger body because of it.
Posted by: Mark Goodyear at November 28, 2006
Yes, there is a need to ask about what the Church should do to pick up the pieces, but let us not forget the most important thing - how each person will pick up the pieces in their lives. After all each individual will stand before God to give an account of his/her life, the whole Church will not stand together.
Issues like this would be less troubling if each person learned to have a relationship with God that is beyond the superficial and not wait for 'hand me downs'.
Don't get me wrong, I believe in the position of a pastor or church leader but I won't put my hand in fire if he tells me to because I know that it burns. Why don’t we apply this basic principle to our walk with God, Church and leaders?
Posted by: Moremi at November 28, 2006
We could do something radical, like practicing what we preach and forgive a “sinful” leader – (as if there were any other kind) and go on about our business.
Then at least we wouldn’t be the hypocrites the larger world community thinks we are, and it could be changed from an experience that sets us back and requires healing, to one that moves us forward and causes us to grow.
Maybe we could realize that it is not our job to punish or to judge, and realize that pastors are sinful human beings too, and get over it and finally just get on with our lives. Crazy talk, I know.
Posted by: steven Andersen at November 28, 2006
"Maybe we could realize that it is not our job to punish or to judge, and realize that pastors are sinful human beings too, and get over it and finally just get on with our lives."
It's a little bit less complicated than that which one of is that no one is judging anyone, but the bible is especially clear that person who has fallen should be "restored."
There are "restoration" periods where the person works through their sin, the consquences of that sin, and when he or she feels ready, approaches the elders to let them know that they are ready to resume the mantle of leadership.
Christian maturity dictates a primacy of Spiritual manifestations such as mercy, forgiveness, etc. But also, is indicated by reflectiveness, desires to right the wrongs, maturity in realizing that there are weaknesses that are not conducible to leadership and need to be worked through. All this requires a humble heart and one prone to a teachable spirit.
Granted there are some churchs that will level the boom of judgement on a wayward leader, and declare them persona non grata (only heard of this happening once). I will not deny that, but that is not how the church is told to handle the fallen brother or sister in the scriptures.
Posted by: Sheerahkahn at November 28, 2006
Some decent advice from someone who has been down a painful road. I've actually been through 2 'fallen leader' situations in a campus ministry and a church. It is actually a good thing that Ted didn't fight the allegations and drag the church through his odyssey.
The trust of the team is so true. The new leaders need to be honest and as specific as they can with the church within legal limits about why the removal took place. Ted made things easy on the new leadership by accepting responsibility for the situation.
One of the situations I had been involved in went really bad because no one wanted to talk specifics. The respect for the individual (e.g. not wanting to talk to save embarrassment) was perceived as hiding the issue. The perception of 'smoke and mirrors' severed the existing leadership bonds and the organization crumbled. Most were never able to understand the need for repentance and restoration.
As I look back on that, I would have pressed our leadership to be clearer on the situation. When a leader falls, the 'sin' is public and needs to be addressed in public. Restoration is thwarted because no offence is reported. This process doesn't mean that we no longer care for our leaders and think they aren't Christian... just that leaders should be examples.
Posted by: Nate at November 29, 2006
I found myself in a similar situation being an associate pastor in a church when my senior pastor and good friend committed suicide. Compounding the difficulty of having to now lead a congregation without experience was personal grief and the grief of entire congregation. Facing such a situation the one thing that I learned is that no matter the odds facing the leadership of a church, when you submit fully to God and desperately seek his hand, he always provides. The key for our congregation was total honesty about the situation and what happened. The truth couldn't make it worse because we talked about the truth. The truth unified us and allowed us to seek God together. When we face these situations of unexpected failure and change of leadership we must rally around our unity in Christ and absolutely check our egos at the door. If we have an agenda beside God's we will fail.
Posted by: Greg at November 29, 2006
Pastor Ted has fallen. Jimmy swaggart fell. Jim Bakker fell. And a host of others both in the Bible and in the world in which we live have fallen. This includes the greatest earthly king of all time, King David.
I fell way back in the 80's. The problem is not in the falling. The problem seems to be in the restoration of the fallen after the fall. Do we not understand that it is the grace of God that keeps us. Those who would condemn the fallen need to take heed to themselves, lest they fall also.
Yes, there needs to be a time of restoration and healing for both the broken church and also the broken leader and his precious family. I know what it is like but I also know what it is like to be restored and have the Lord use me in ministry again.
May we learn to forgive as God forgives and move on to continue the salvation of lost souls for the Kingdom of God.
Posted by: Dr. Jenkins at November 30, 2006
I think that in this last times it is reality in most churches. We have to seek our Lord like never before.
God blessings and greetings from Croatia!
Posted by: Nenad at December 1, 2006