About four years ago at our church, there was a pastor that managed to offend about half of the congregation in some manner. I don't know exactly how, since I wasn't in that half, but it was bad enough where he was asked by the congregation to resign his call. He held on for about a year before doing so, and by the time he did finally resign his call, a lot of damage had been done.
The second pastor we had at the time then took over as the sole pastor of the congregation, though she really was not qualified as an "administrative" pastor and was called as a "program" pastor. She also was not qualified to work with such a broken congregation. The congregation has brought on several interim pastors to work with her, but none have stayed long for various reasons (one died of cancer, a couple were short term to begin with, one had some issues with alcohol and no driver's license any more). Thus, problems have been simmering for the last four years.
Finally, we had to take them to the synod office. Last night, we had a meeting with the bishop and the task force he assembled. There are several recommendations that are sort of an all or nothing kind of deal. One of those is that the current pastor resign effective this Sunday. Obviously, this makes me sad as I really like Pastor K. However, I also understand why this has to happen, as she is not the right person to be leading a congregation that is in the current condition that ours is in. I just prey that she actually follows the recommendation. I can say from past experience that if she is stubborn and refuses to resign, it will cause far more pain than good.
OK, thanks for listening to my whining, but I had to get that off my chest.
3 comments:
Church problems are always difficult. I hope that you are able to find a new pastor who can help you guys heal.
Dito LMC; church problems; ugh. It's unfortunate that we're all human and can't live up to the standards God sets for us. Best of luck.
Thanks for the kind wishes.
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