Fired Staff?

[BLB]

For the past 20-25 years there has been an epidemic of churches terminating their pastors in the SBC when there has been no moral, legal, criminal, misconduct, or malfeasance on the part of the pastor. What can we do to stem the tide?

Some suggestions I've heard are: The pastor should fight the termination. 2. DOMs & State conventions should refuse to supply resumes to search committies of churchs that have fired two or more pastors. 3. DOMs should publish lists of churches in their Association that have a history of staff forced terminations.

I recently read of a pastor and associate pastor that were fired because they "no longer fit in."

We have the Intentional Interim program that is supposed to help churches correct the problems that cause undue forced terminations. But is it working?

Let's hear your opinions and thoughts brothers & sisters.

[saltcitybaptist]

Lets look at the other side. Maybe DOM's should not recommend a pastor to his association churches if the pastor has a history of a short ministry at several churches.

I would also take execption to the term "fired". This term relates to an employee. Pastors should not be considered an employee.

Before a pastor accepts a call to a church, maybe he should do his homework. He should sit down with the DOM and possibly the previous two pastors. Often, a church may take quite some time in selecting a pastor, but the pastor will jump at the position "just to have a job"

One other thought, if we inisist that the church not be so hasty in removing a pastor, than churches should insist that pastors not be so hasty in jumping from church to church, for whatever reason.

[BLB]

You're right. There are a great many pastors who jump from church to church. But why?

Whether you call it fired or forced termination, it's all the same. A rose by any other name is still a rose. Sadly many pastors are at their churches at the discretion of the church, or a power clique within the church.

It is often quite difficult, if not sometimes impossible to locate the past two pastors of a church. Many DOMs are reluctant to give out negative information about a church or pastor.

[Shiloh]

The average for a church member is 2.1 years so maybe we should not accept members if they appear to be jumping from church to church. Every church I have served in I planned to stay until death, but for many reasons it has not worked that way. I have been at this one for nearly three years and before that it was 5 and 5, but as I look back on all the churches and average the times it comes out to 2.1, which is just short of the pastor average of 3 years.

Most churches do not call pastors based on biblical qualifications or spiritual reasons so why do we expect them to terminate them for those reasons? Terminate is a good word because most churches do consider the pastor an employee with the deacons as his supervisors. If the deacons get tired of him then he goes.

If a church grows then how can the preacher no longer fit in? If it is not growing it is not automatucally his fault but he willl be the fall guy.

Face it, gentlemen, there are many churches out there that are dead but too dumb or stubborn to fall over. The best church growth movement would be for many of them to close their doors and we start new ones in our homes. Otherwise you will be forced into the Church hop scotch game that we see today.

My pastor has told people that if he dies in the pulpit that I would come up and finish the service and then carry on from there. I asked him not to do that because I don't want to be in that situation. I believe I would be called as the pastor should anything happen to him, but most churches would use me as an interim and when the new pastor came in I would be fired and he would bring in a whole new staff. So, moves are the fault of pastors as well as congregations so you cannot just see short tours of duty as a problem resume.

Intentional Interim is not working for many of the Intentionals do actually take the church they are being the interim for and thus thwart the concept. My own friend just took a church where he was being the Interim.

[enoch]

The first serveral pastorates I served in were intentional interims. I did not choose to become an intentional interim, the first church I served had just lost their Pastor, for ethical reasons. I was thrust into the position.
Properly done, an intentional interim should have carte blanche to correct problems in the church. I signed a contract with the Trustees Board to help them search for a new Pastor, and agreed to step down after a period of 90 days. In return the Church couldn't fire me until the end of the 3 months.
Many times the Church needed a punching bag to vent their anger, frustration and hostility upon. I stomped on their toes so I could become their target. In other cases the Church needed someone to comfort and encourage them. I extolled and worked to edify them and keep the doors open. When the new Pastor came in, he entered the church without the previous Pastor's emotional baggage.
Ideally, this is how an intentional Interim should be allowed to serve. It worked for me. But that is not how the churches are working. They hamstring the Intentional Interims, and the Deacons all too often end up calling the shots and dictating to the Intentional Interim, what he can and cannot do.

[saltcitybaptist]

Well, do we still see this as a problem?