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The problems begin with the hiring. The search team puts together a list of attributes the new pastor, associate, choir conductor or custodian should have. This broad list of tasks, characteristics, objectives and commands is flawed and unfocussed and undoable but that's OK because the new person will have hundreds of bosses and will need to be all things to all people anyway.
The team works, prays, whittles the list of candidates down to a likely successor and presents that person to the congregation as "God's man for the job". The congregation votes while the candidate waits in a back room. The candidate is approved by an overwhelming margin (after all, we paid to fly him and his wife all that way), and the offer is made.
Why are not a number of candidates presented to the congregation to select from? Why don't we listen to the candidate when he (or she) says that he has a certain set of abilities and wants to focus on his strengths? Neither the well-meaning congregation which has a set of unrealistic expectations and wants to make a quick decision, nor the well-meaning candidate, who has to decide if he wants the job, really have a clue as to what is going on.
A year or so later, its time for appraisal. For some, this provides the perfect opportunity to trot out every little flaw noticed over the past year. Those who do the appraising have little idea of how to do the task. They appraise in the way that they are appraised at work all "Good job!" or "You failed to meet objectives." Of course, the employee couldn't meet all the objectives because the job description was unrealistic. Some of the appraisals point out flaws that most people didn't know existed. The seeds of discontent are sown.
Why aren't appraisals done on a more regular basis by a team of people who really know what is going on? Why do we allow our church employees to twist slowly in the wind as we fire slings and arrows at them? In the church, one can get away with using management techniques that, in the "real work world", would result in instant litigation.
It is funny how "God's man for the job" so quickly falls from grace. The firing begins with visits from well-meaning people who want to provide some "direction" for the employee. The employee is soon visited by hundreds of people, all providing different "direction". The job becomes impossible. So the employee leaves broken, disillusioned, angry, disheartened and the search committee meets again.
The old pastor? He's selling furniture. The old associate? He's at a new church and doing well, but next month he is getting his first appraisal. The old choir director? She had a nervous breakdown. The custodian? He's working at the old folks home on the night shift, where he doesn't have to talk to anybody.
As members of the Body, we should all be ashamed of ourselves.
Shaun Browne, (E)
Kitchener, Ontario
We entered the pastorate late. It was a monumental decision. It meant giving up a secure job with a good retirement plan to go where there is no job guarantee and you can be gone as quickly as a coach of a hockey team (but your pay is not as high).
After several years of ministry, we were suddenly left with no option but to resign. I wish lay people could feel the heartbreak of:
* not knowing where to worship.
* trying to tactfully explain that you are no longer pastoring and that, "No, at present we are not seeking further ministry.".
* questioning if you heard God's call.
* asking yourself if you could have done more.
* being reassured by former church members that you are inadequate.
* being so physically, emotionally and spiritually wounded that you are not ready to even begin to look for another pastorate.
* feeling anger, worthlessness, hopelessness.
* feeling abandonment because there is nowhere to get help. The church where you've pastored is finished with you, and the conference has little to offer.
What am I asking for?
1. To have a place where a church in conflict can find help to resolve the situation, whether inside or outside the denomination.
2. To have available those skilled to come alongside a Christian worker who has been wounded by other Christians, including adequate counselling.
3. To have a place of safety for those who have been seriously wounded, where healing can begin.
Secular workplaces have incorporated counselling services and safe places where those in need can find adequate support. Why, as a "brotherhood of believers", are we so slow to put something in place for Christian workers who are on the front lines?
Name withheld
A year ago, I began serving in church ministry. I had followed a clear call to move to Kelowna and serve in a church plant as an intern. The first few months were full of unsettledness and were poorly focussed on my part. I'm young, had never ministered in a church setting before and felt out on a limb but as pastor says, "When you go out on a limb, that's where the fruit is."
Within six months, it was time for my first evaluation. I completed the self-assessment I was given and I met the others at a coffee shop. I was evaluated by one lay leader from each of my ministry areas and my senior pastor. It was clear right from the beginning that this process was to build me up and to give me genuine support in fulfilling the call of God. But the end of the hour, I realized that I had assessed myself much lower than they did, and that the majority of the areas in which I felt I needed to grow, they did too.
In the end, I had no surprises, and it was a milestone for me. From that point on, I had full confidence that I would have honest evaluation and that the process and dialogue were in place so that I would be protected and loved. For those churches that don't have such a process, I can say that I feel sorry for a new pastor such as myself, because it is this assurance and support that keep me following the call of God on my life. I wouldn't be serving in my church if it wasn't for this loving way of helping me through my growth areas as well as rejoicing together in my strengths.
Corey Hiebert,
Kelowna, B.C.
Dale Taylor, (E)
Associate Executive Director
MCC Canada
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