Mark Dawes, Religion Editor
Managing directors get fired. Presidents get fired. Generals get fired. And believe it or not, pastors, too, get fired, though in an age of pervasive political correctness, it is not always called that.
The spring 2008 edition of Leadership Journal, a publication of Christianity Today International, cited the results of a 2006 survey conducted by the Southern Baptist Churches concerning the top 10 reasons pastors get fired.
The following is the top 10 ranking of reasons given by churches for the firing of pastors:
1) Control issues
2) Church's resistance to change
3) Poor people skills
4) Too strong leadership style
5) Conflict predating the pastor's arrival
6) Decline in attendance
7) Weak leadership style
8) Administrative incompetence
9) Sexual misconduct
10) Conflict with other staff.
The Southern Baptist Churches reported that since it began this survey in 1996, the latest survey reflected a 27 per cent decline in the number of pastors that were fired.
According to the Southern Baptist Convention's website (www.sbc.net), "Since its organisation in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has grown to over 16 million members who worship in more than 42,000 churches in the United States."
An article written by Ken Walker and published on www.baptistcourier.com on January 18 reported that "The Southern Baptist Church-Minister Relations Association found that 680 full-time and bi-vocational pastors, plus 265 staff members, were forced out of their positions in 2006.
actual number of terminations
"While the total of 945 is 27 per cent lower than the 1,302 reported for 2005, a former LifeWay Christian Resources staff member who conducted the survey pointed out that the report lacked input from four state conventions."
"Barney Self, a former pastoral counsellor with LifeWay, a discipleship organisation within the SBC, said the omissions mean the actual number of terminations may have been closer to 1,100."
Walker's article further explained that "The Southern Baptist Church-Minister Relations Association, encompassing state convention officials who work in the area of church-pastoral relations, compiles its annual survey with the help of nearly 1,100 SBC directors of missions from across the country".
Walker's article cited Self as saying no numbers were available on dismissed pastors' length of tenure, but that previous research showed an average of about three years. The article quoted James Draper, former president of LifeWay, who said it takes takes five years for a pastor to build enough relationships and trust to effectively lead a congregation.
The report has Self stating that "Sometimes, pastors unknowingly trigger these storms by trying to do too much too soon. Part of the time, it's a grace issue, and part of the time, it's a failure of pastors to understand how to lead".
Kenneth Keene, a high-ranking official with the SBC, the article said, is concerned over the continuing presence of sexual misconduct, which ranked in the top 10 for the first time in 2005 and maintained its ninth-place standing in 2006. Sexual misconduct encompasses inappropriate relationships with a member of the opposite sex, to accessing pornography sites on the Internet.
For pastors that do get fired, Keith Drury, adjunct professor in Christian education at Indiana Wesleyan University, offers in his blog (http://www.drurywriting.com/ keith/fired.leave.htm) guidelines about how they should handle the termination of their services.
These are:
1. Don't get even in your resignation letter
He said, "You'll be tempted to lob grenades in your resignation letter to settle some scores. It is an enticing thought - to get even with whoever hurt you or ripped you off. You'll be tempted to 'explain your side of it' or lace the resignation letter with hints so people 'find out what really happened'. Resist this temptation. A grand old wise man of my denomination once told a younger man who surprised people by resigning, 'Don't explain yourself - your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it'." He's right. Write a short resignation letter with as few details as possible and don't defend yourself in it. The cleaner the better.
2. Avoid dwelling on the 'way they did it'
Drury wrote, "You'll be tempted to switch your focus from your firing (which you'll eventually accept was their right to do) to focusing on how they fired you - how badly they did it. Churches and religious organisations hardly ever fire people well. The governance structure of religious 'organisms' often does not lend itself to firing people nicely. It is usually messy, more like expelling people from a family, which is why religious firings are more like a divorce than getting a pink-slip at the factory. Avoid dwelling on the sloppy (and even evil) way they fired you. Where will that get you? Spending too much time brooding on injustice won't hurt the people flubbing your firing; it will only make you bitter. Bite your lip, force a smile and leave the vengeance to God."
3. Don't try to karate chop the leaders on your way out the door
Resist the temptation to plant a few anti-personnel landmines to take these 'bad people' down after you're gone. Don't attempt to chop away at the support of the senior pastor or the church board as you head to the door. Resist the temptation to talk extensively about the parting. Instead, be diplomatic and economic about what one says about the factors leading to one's departure.
4. Get your soldiers to lay down their guns
If you really got a raw deal, by the time you leave, there will be a sizeable army of 'Christian soldiers' willing to turn your going into their own personal rallying cry to settle the score. Is your 'cause' so righteous that you are willing to destroy the institution or church in order to pull up the tares?
Send feedback to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com.
