Church Visited by Group of Thieves
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Thu, November 01, 2007
- Viewed 83
- (20) comments so far
It’s a little difficult to be very hard on them. That’s how we got her to come to our church nine years ago! Our pastoral search committee flew hundreds of miles to the church she was then pastoring in another state and infiltrated its Sunday morning worship service and conspired to persuade her to come to our church.
You might think I’m being a little hard on pastoral search committees. And, of course, I am—for the purpose of provoking thought about a tradition that needs re-consideration.
I don’t really believe pastoral search committees are “groups of thieves.” At least that’s not their intention. They’re simply following custom. And how else does a Baptist church find a pastor?
But to defend my opposition to this tried-and-true method, let me use an analogy. Suppose you found out that a neighboring Baptist church in your own association had formed a committee to “persuade” some of your members to move to their church? They were infiltrating the church and inviting well-established members to come to their homes and visit their church with the intention of “sheep-stealing,” as it is generally called. Wouldn’t you be incensed? I think every Baptist would be.
We consider sheep-stealing a serious offense, and any church that engages in it will probably be censured by the local association. Certainly other churches will turn their backs on it. But, then, why do we think it’s OK to steal another church’s pastor? We say, “But it was God’s will, or else he wouldn’t have accepted our church’s call.” But what if we said that about a family we “persuaded” to move from another church to ours? Who would take that seriously?
The plain fact of the matter is that the present method is wrong. It amounts to pastor-stealing. It’s no better than going out to steal members from sister churches. Why do we do it—besides it’s the custom? (Customs are often wrong.)
We do it out of ignorance of a better method of finding a good pastor, and we want to make sure we get the best there is. But isn’t that the sin of coveting? When we “invite” a pastor to leave his or her church and come to ours, aren’t we coveting that church’s pastor?
Fortunately, there is an alternative way of calling a new pastor. The Baptist General Convention of Texas sponsors a program called LeaderConnect that helps churches find a pastor who already wants to move. That way, the church isn’t stealing a pastor from another congregation. And Truett Seminary and the BGCT jointly sponsor a person located at the seminary who does much the same—Judy Battles.
I urge all churches to consider using these resources when seeking to fill their pulpits rather than invading a sister church to steal its pastor.
What do you think? Is this thievery or just the re-shuffling of the deck?
Roger Olson has a very interesting take on church search committees, especially when they hired his pastor away from his church. Roger writes, "Recently, our church was invaded by a group of thieves. Well, not exactly, but that’s how it felt to us. We only discovered the deed later when our beloved pastor announced her resignation. The group of thieves were a pastoral search committee from another state. They infiltrated our Sunday morning worship service and conspired to persuade our pastor to move to their church..."
Comments
if you want a Globally Recognized Avatar (the images next to your profile) get them here. Once you sign up, they will displayed on any website that supports them.
Gman on Thu, November 01, 2007
I think both sides are flawed though. Sometimes when a “pastor” wants to move it can be the church’s problem or rather the pastor’s. Usually churches want someone who is somewhat successful where they are and not looking always for the Greener pastures. Some pastors runaway from problems or are the problem and only change churches and place blame on the church when there are fingers pointing back at themselves.
There has to be a better way but fortunately or unfortunately there isn’t a one size that fits all in search committees and calling to a church - lots of prayer is needed!
Eric Partin on Thu, November 01, 2007
I was always taught by my senior pastor that the right thing to do whenever you wanted to hire someone from another church was to talk to their pastor and ask permission to talk to them. Now, how you apply that principal to senior pastors is another question, but there has got to be a way to apply it. In other words, letting someone else in that church know what is going on so that is doesn’t become back room negotiations. Maybe having the pastor inform his elders, etc. that he is talking to another church. If he won’t do it, it may mean the search committee actually having some standards and deciding that if he won’t do that now, he won’t do it with us when someone else contacts him, therefore not considering him or her.
It brings up another question - Ministry Ethics. Is this being taught at bible schools or seminary? If so, what is the standard. The church where I grew up had some “unwritten” ministry ethics like the one above and another one was you don’t leave to start a church within an hours drive without the pastor’s blessings.
Jan on Thu, November 01, 2007
And Eric I have seen that backfire big time.
One of my friends had someone do this, approach their pastor / boss about talking to them about leaving. And then he ended up not having a choice, because the pastor was so paranoid that he would leave, he drove him away.
Not sure how I feel about this topic.
I do know that when I got offers while on staff I told my pastor, who I trusted and was a friend. And he appreciated me more http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif
Brian on Thu, November 01, 2007
Does this mean that I need to secure an agent?
Or do I need to investigate every first time visitor?
Leonard Lee on Thu, November 01, 2007
It sort of puts a lot of pressure to make every first timer happy.
Brian on Thu, November 01, 2007
This is one of the blessings of being a part of a denomination, or at least THIS denomination (Wesleyan).
We cannot even begin a search without the approval of our District Superintendent, and then he has to approve any candidate before we can ask them to meet with us.
This works well for our District, because he is a hands-on guy who is familiar enough with each church to have a feel for who would be a good fit for a particular church.
It also works well, because if a church is just looking to get rid of a pastor, he steps in to find out what the problems are and to see if they can be resolved in a Biblical manner. If it can’t then they can move on.
On a personal level, I’ve been asked by a few churches (one in my town) to consider pastoring them - and they are all from different denominations than mine. But I made a commitment to never consider another church unless I first heard from my DS. He is God’s authority over me, and I can trust him to help me discern God’s will in a situation.
So when someone comes to “check me out” I simply tell them that I’m not looking to leave. God has not told me I’m done here, and I’ve not been approached by my DS.
“Won’t you at least pray about it?” I already have! This is what God has told me about leaving, and until I hear differently, then I won’t consider a move.
Brian L
Nora on Thu, November 01, 2007
You know a search team’s come to your church when you see a group of people holding up score cards as the pastor gives his sermon…............
Camey on Thu, November 01, 2007
There’s alot that i could say here but won’t…. yet.
One word of advice to pastor search teams: Please don’t sit together as a group.
bishopdave on Thu, November 01, 2007
Until someone comes up with a better plan, we’re kind of stuck with it. I know of cases where guys have been honest about seeking elsewhere and were given walking papers on the spot.
It may not be a “problem” that’s causing the move; it may be that for the church to follow God’s path for them they need this change. For the pastor to continue growing he needs the challenges of the new situation.
Randy Ehle on Thu, November 01, 2007
In the hallway of a 115-year-old church in Southern California hang the photos of all the church’s previous pastors - well over a dozen. It’s not hard to figure out that the average pastoral tenure at the church is less than 10 years (and few, if any, of the pastors died “in the pulpit”).
I think the question is not how to appropriately facilitate a pastor’s move from one church to another; but rather, how to keep pastors in place longer. Both pastors and churches need to get in the mindset that the call to pulpit ministry is not typically a short-term call.
Obviously there will always be a need to replace pastors, and as Roger Olson has written, careful thought needs to be given to the replacement/transition process - especially if it involves bringing in someone from outside the church. But we also need to think about an alternative: a home-grown replacement who knows and is known by the congregation. I can only speak theoretically here because there is not, in America, much history of home-grown replacements to long-tenured pastors. (And some of the examples that come to mind certainly raise some red flags.) But while the transition from one pastor to another is typically more difficult following a long tenure; that tenure should also allow a church to plan a transition over a longer period of time, train a “home-grown” replacement, and allow the incoming pastor and the congregation to adjust to each other.
Lori on Wed, November 07, 2007
Having been a Baptist, I have seen plenty of “search committees”. However, most of the time the Pastor has already interviewed with them, thus opening the door to his thinking of leaving his current church.
I guess I really have a problem when a search committee comes to “poach” a pastor. What I mean by this is, when they come uninvited and without the the knowledge of the pastor they are looking at and then if they like him, the sermon or his success at the church, they attempt to persuade him to lead their church. Unfortunately we are all human and sometimes a little ego building and the thought of a fresh start and new challenge even when things are going well in the current church, can be a big temptation.
To some extent, candidates and churches looking for a pastor are no different than in the rest of world. However, the consequences can be very devastating to the kingdom if taken lightly. I guess my bottom line is, if a pastor or staff member isn’t actively looking then don’t come looking for them.
Lori on Wed, November 07, 2007
Nora,
Your comment made me laugh. Here’s another:
You know a search team’s come when 6-9 unrelated, not married to each other people show up in a van together and don’t seem interested in connecting with the church members.
Nora on Wed, November 07, 2007
Good one, Lori! Of course, if the words “First Baptist” are printed on the side of the van, that’s a dead giveaway too! http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif
deaubry on Sat, November 17, 2007
we never had a problem like this one, i would think a pastor should stay until god told him/her to go. they should be led by the spirit,
Chet on Wed, December 12, 2007
Believe it or not, I was in a church when a committee looking at the Minister of Music showed up in the church van, with the name on the side.
People knew that he was looking for a full time position, so no one was shocked when committees started coming through, but the brazenness didn’t sit well with a lot of people.
The sad part about it was that when the Pastor of the other church was confronted about this, he seemed shocked that anyone would have a problem with this.
Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >
Post a Comment