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1300+ Fired From Southern Baptist Churches Last Year!
Orginally published on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 6:02 AM
by Todd Rhoades
Relational issues top the list for the 10th consecutive year, according to Bob Sheffield, a pastoral ministries specialist. The top five are: control issues (who’s going to run the church), poor people skills, churches’ resistance to change, pastor’s leadership style being too strong, and churches already in conflict when the pastor arrived.
“The interesting thing since we began doing this study in 1996 is that the top five have been the top five every year,” Sheffield said. “The only difference is in their order from year to year. We consistently see the inability to develop and maintain healthy relationships within the church as the reason for dismissals.”
The study is compiled in cooperation with Baptist state convention church ministry relations teams and directors of missions, and Sheffield tabulates the data. Twenty-nine conventions participated this year, marking the highest total in the study’s 10-year history.
At least 1,302 staff members were dismissed in 2005: 314 bivocational, 655 full-time pastors and 333 full-time staff, the study found. The totals for full-time pastors and staff represent the highest totals during the 10 years, but Sheffield said the numbers could be slightly skewed because the highest number of conventions reporting in any one year in the past was 26 (1998, 1999 and 2003).
“The other thing to consider is that this just represents the best data we can gather on forced terminations,” he said. “It doesn’t include those who were pressured out.”
OTHER REASONS FOR DISMISSALS
Sheffield said that a pastor’s administrative incompetence (No. 8) and sexual misconduct (No. 9) cracked the top 10 for the first time and ethical misconduct (mismanaged monies, dishonesty, etc.) made it into the top 20 for the first time at No. 11.
“Most people would probably think that ethical issues or sexual misconduct would have been one of the leading reasons for dismissals,” Sheffield said. “Although I am glad they are not, I am disappointed to see sexual misconduct creeping higher on the list, and ethical issues making the top 20. Let’s face it, this is not an uplifting list to begin with, but I’d love to see those numbers decline.”
Another first in the top 20 is disagreement over doctrine (No. 12).
“It is difficult to know exactly what that means from the way the question is asked on the survey,” Sheffield said, “so I won’t begin to speculate about what that means, but it has never been this big of an issue before.”
ADVICE FOR AVOIDING DISMISSALS
Sheffield said much of the conflict that results in dismissals could be avoided if pulpit committees and pastors would interact better during the interview process, and he offered some tips.
“Pastors ought to ask hard questions,” he said. “They should ask to see the minutes from the last several business meetings. They ought to check the [church’s] constitution and bylaws and the annual reports to the association and state. They should talk to area pastors about the perception of the church. They should ask if there have been previous terminations, the tenure of the previous three or four pastors and why they left.
“Pastors should do their due diligence and as with the pulpit committee, both should be looking for the right match,” Sheffield added. “Bottom line, however, is that if God is calling a pastor to a particularly difficult situation and he knows that going in, he should go into it with his eyes open understanding it might be difficult. Obedience to God should always be the overriding factor.”
Pulpit committees ought to represent the full church, Sheffield said, but that’s not always the case.
“They often represent the more progressive segment of the church and what it wants to see happen, and not necessarily what the whole church wants to see happen,” Sheffield said. “Some people will say a pastor search committee was dishonest. That is sometimes the case, but I believe more often the people on the committee are communicating what they’d like to see happen and not necessarily what is happening in a church.”
Sheffield said pulpit committees should check a pastor’s references beyond what is given and can even ask other pastors in the community where the pastor is located for references. Sheffield also recommended two resources available through the pastoral ministries department to guide search committees: information at http://www.lifeway.com/pastors and the “Pastor Search Committee Handbook,” available at LifeWay Christian Stores.
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Posted by eric
Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 8:33 AM
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 1:11 PM
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006 at 1:18 PM
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Monday, December 18, 2006 at 12:32 AM
Post Your Comments:I was planting a church in a town a few years ago, and the local Baptist church split once right before I moved there, and twice while I was there. It has since split again in the 5 months since I moved away.
It was sad, and they were constantly in our church’s prayers.
This is an interestting topic. What about the problem that faces most churches today? The problem I’m referring to, is scared pastors. Pastors today has become scared to minister to the comunity in which they pastorate. But the church leadership is too blind or weak to address this issue. There are many pastors in the city of Newark, NJ who are past the age of 70 and are not physically capable of doing ministry. But they won’t never step aside or train young preachers to for leadership because of greed of money and power. Don’t get me worn, I have great respect for the senior pastors who paved the way.
According to the Bible, when Moses knew his time was expiring, God told him to annoint another leader to continue his tasks. That’s when Moses annointed Joshua as his successor. There are many churches in our cities that are being left shepherd less because of selfish pastors.
This is a crime that’s been gone unoticed in our Baptist Churches.
This is an interesting topic. What about the problem that faces most churches today? The problem I’m referring to is scared pastors. Pastors today has become scared to minister to the community in which they pastorate. But the church leadership is too blind or weak to address this issue. There are many pastors in the city of Newark, NJ who are past the age of 70 and are not physically capable of doing ministry. But they won’t never step aside or train young preachers to for leadership because of greed of money and power. Don’t get me wrong, I have great respect for the senior pastors who paved the way.
According to the Bible, when Moses knew his time was expiring, God told him to anoint another leader to continue his tasks. That’s when Moses anointed Joshua as his successor. There are many churches in our cities that are being left shepherd less because of selfish pastors.
This is a crime that’s been gone unnoticed in our Baptist Churches.
Okay, I love all of your comments. I have been doing this for a very long time and I have to say that I have come to the conclusion that congregationally run churches are basically doomed from the get go barring a soveriend act of God. Here are the reasons why:
1. Maybe 25% of the congregation is actually saved and loves the Lord genuinely (on a good day). That leaves 75% percent still getting over hangovers and foul mouthed Saturday nights. If majority rules...what do you get?
2. There is no biblical basis to democracy in a church. Paul certainly gave instructions to the elders and or the pastor, i.e., Timothy. I think that’s called a “theocracy”.
3. In the present standard church setting (Baptist) if you have 50 members, it only takes 51 pagans to come in, confess they are born again and join the church...My friend, you just lost your church to the devil. We ARE living in that kind of world today. With Pastoral leadership (Elder rule) that could never happen.
4. You cannot expect sheep to understand the shepherd or his role. It is not possible. We have shot ourselves in the foot by trying to take sheep who have no pastorall annointing or as we say “calling” and we try to morph them into shepherds. What’s wrong with that picture. You can’t make a duck a bird and you can’t make a cat a dog. You can’t make sheep shepherds but we expect them to run the church in a “spiritual” way. That may somehow be possible in large churches but I am here to tell you that the blood stains line the churches all over the Country with the body parts of pastors who have heard from God but the people refuse to budge.
You want to know why pastors are quittting? It’s simply because they want what God has to offer but the people refuse to recognize them as God annointed leaders. God told Moses to come out from among the people and take the lead. No matter what people say, there is no way the church will advance until we get the proper order and begin to recognize the shepherd as God’s man. Notice I didn’t use the word ‘undershepherd” (man made term). God calls us shepherds and so we are. By virtue of tradition, we leave the leadership of the church to spiritual invalds and carnal thinkers and we wonder why our churches are dying??? Hello? I am not angry...just honest. It’s the facts. How many churches can you name that have never had any bloodshed? After 32 years of pastoring, sadly I can’t think of one. We have wrongly let infants rule. Even a corporation (a worldly entity) knows better than that. When will we ever learn that we need God called leadership to actually LEAD, not people who can merely quote 3 scriptures and knows not the first thing of sacrifice and spiritual aptitude. Carnal- Carnal - Carnal!. Hmmm, I know, perhaps the Congress will start operating like the church and turn their duties over to their Aids or secretaries. If there is a deacon out there that is not like what I just described, great then, you probably are really called to the pastorate. However, don’t expect to be a pastor if you can’t serve and submit to the one you have now. Come on now, you know that’s biblically sound wisdom. As for the others, Lord bless them as they serve in the meanial but meaningful tasks of physical service. Timothy was who Paul addressed directly. He didn’t address the deacon board. (Got a love ‘em). When will we learn? If our precious congregations would just start letting us do what we are called to do, we would see God’s favor return to the church. How can He bless us when our churches are in rebellion under a system designed for spiritual failure? He can’t and He won’t. People cannot do harm to God’s servant and then expect God to reward them...It just won’t happen. We must change our structure, get on our faces before God and begin building the Kingdom instead of building the church. Above all, we all need to repent and get back to the Lord.
Please accept this in love as I desperately want us all to see God working in our little (the majority) churches.
Blessings to all!
Dr. Devon
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