|
The pastor was young, enthusiastic, and inexperienced. In his first call as youth minister to a badly divided congregation, he was determined to lead the youth program in the directions he knew were right for the young people of the parish. Despite opposition from lay youth advisors, who had their own notions of what directions they wished to take, he persevered in pushing his ideas and programs, confident in his knowledge that a minister should lead rather than be led in the areas of his responsibilities and training. Before too long, sufficient resistance to the young clergyman’s leadership was aroused, leading even the senior pastor, himself struggling with contending forces in the congregation, to side with the lay youth volunteers against his own assistant. Despite the resignation of certain of the most important youth advisors, the young minister seemed unable to rein in his strongly held convictions. Involuntary termination was inevitable and followed in short order. This is a sad story of youthful exuberance and hubris leading to an unhappy ending.
Even sadder is the story of the middle-aged and experienced pastor whose ministry had consisted of a series of small, semi-rural parishes, poorly paying and often demanding and ungrateful. This time he faced an aging and depleted congregation, burying many more members than he baptized. He experienced neglect and disdain from leading families in his church who refused to fund even the most necessary repairs and programs. The pastor supplied much of the needed money from his own pocket. He was even criticized by a student intern who shared in the disdain of the elderly parish for its self-sacrificing pastor. Adding insult to his many injuries, he was asked to resign for his failure to rescue the parish from its slow descent into oblivion.
Nothing can prepare a pastor for the experience of being fired. The feelings of loss and rejection are overwhelming. The sense of failure, the shame of public humiliation, the anxiety about the future, and the uncertainty and doubt about one’s ministry take over one’s consciousness. In the flux of conflicting emotions the capacity for reasonable thinking and sound decision-making are diminished. The pastor is in a state of shock, traumatized by the end of the struggle that had caught him or her up in its grasp. Involuntary termination does not usually come out of the blue. The pastor has known for a while, often months, that his or her ministry was in trouble and has likely been fighting against the very outcome that has occurred. What can be done now?
There is no limit to the advice given to the troubled clergyperson who will listen?advice that often comes from the parties that are responsible for the present predicament. Though it is probably well intended, such advice is also biased by that party’s personal interests and thus is often self-serving and frequently unhelpful. As in the case of divorce, a disinterested advocate is necessary to protect the immediate interests of those directly involved. Even more important is the protection of long-term interests that might not be quite so evident in the welter of confused feelings that are typical in such a crisis. In the case of divorce the advocate is often an attorney. Who, then, can the pastor turn to in the pastor’s time of need? Who can think clearly, marshal resources, and provide useful and unbiased counsel? We would submit that an agency does exist to serve the discharged minister as an advocate and counselor to help with both short-term and long-term issues. That agency is the career development and guidance center, a number of which are located around the country.
The agency at which we serve, the Center for Career Development and Ministry (the CCDM), is located in Dedham, MA. The CCDM’s mission is to provide career assessment and counseling services designed to promote greater understanding, effectiveness, and satisfaction in the vocational, personal, and spiritual lives of its clients. Our CCDM career counselors are both ordained clergy and vocational counselors; clergy and clergy candidates comprise 90% of the CCDM’s clients. The Center was founded in 1968 as a service provided by MMBB and was one of three such ABCUSA-related centers located regionally across the United States. (The others are in Chicago, IL, and Oakland, CA.) The CCDM is now independently incorporated, serving all the major denominations as well as the laity.
The CCDM model integrates developmental spiritual formation with psychological assessment in its approach to career and vocational assessment. In brief, a standard program at CCDM consists of completing a substantial number of pre-program tests and questionnaires, two or more days at the Center in face-to-face discussion with a career counselor, a psychological interview with a licensed clinical psychologist, and conversational reflection upon the test outcomes. The program process concludes with a sharing of results and the mutual development of an action plan.
The Center offers third-party, professionally-derived sources of information and opinion as an aid to better decision-making. Such findings may carry great weight in the life of a client. The Center’s primary concern lies with the client, who retains absolute control over all of the information that is generated in the program. Confidentiality is assured for the client through the client’s right to refuse the release of information related to the client’s program. This safeguard also permits the Center staff to retain an objective and unbiased role. Importantly also, as a third party, the Center is located some distance away from the pressures and personalities whose clashes often result in involuntary termination.
What have we learned as a result of our role in these situations? First, there are no typical instances. Every situation of involuntary termination involves a set of unique circumstances that contribute to a forced separation of pastor and congregation. These factors include:
the history of the particular church
the personalities of the lay leaders
current congregational and community issues
the role of denominational executives and their special interests
the role of outside consultants and their findings
the pastor’s actions, personality, and family circumstance
It is often apparent that, except for certain particulars, the relationship between pastor and congregation would not have reached the point of irreconcilable differences.
One commonality, however, is that at the point of breakup the first tendency of all parties is to play the “blame game.” Situations of relational distress always seem to require that someone be held responsible, to be the guilty party, and, therefore, to carry the onus of blame for the discomfort of all concerned. Besides, the pastor is one, while the congregation and denomination are many. Although everyone, including the pastor, has likely contributed to the outcome, the pastor is an easy and convenient target for blame.
There is also a tendency to try and reach a quick and non-disruptive solution, in order to limit the discomfort and inconvenience of the rupture in the life of the church. This tendency favors a “Band-Aid” solution to often chronic problems and difficult, long-standing, systemic situations to which a blind eye has often been turned.
While we understand that an involuntary termination is often a symptom of significant difficulties, we also see it as an opportunity to resolve long-standing issues of both a systemic and personal nature. We refer here to such issues as:
the failure of a congregation to adapt to a region’s changing demographics
the surrender of church leadership to dominating congregational families
faulty denominational administrative practices
significant personal and emotional upsets in one or more individuals
These circumstances require careful and extended evaluation, intervention, and resources in order to attend to the legitimate interests of all concerned parties rather than the quick exchange of one pastor for another. Too often another involuntary termination will soon follow such expedient actions, thus reducing the resiliency and resources of all concerned.
What happened in the two cases mentioned above? Although the Center was not involved with the respective congregations, clergy participation in a standard program proved helpful. The long-suffering and self-doubting pastor was aided in seeing that he had more to offer than either he or his congregation had acknowledged. With a renewed sense of self-confidence, he sought a more hopeful and promising call with the support of his Area Minister, who was pleased to learn that concerns about this pastor were unfounded and that he could be recommended to a congregation with confidence. Certain early experiences that had sapped the enthusiasm and self-assertion of the pastor were placed in a new and more accurate (i.e., less self-blaming) perspective that enabled him to raise his level of expectation and aspiration for his ministry. He was able to grasp pertinent issues related to his concepts about pastoral role, function, and identity that had prevented him from establishing appropriate boundaries in his pastoral role. His hopes were restored.
What about the eager but heedless youth minister? He was confronted with the fact that he had turned a deaf ear to the desires of the lay youth advisors in his church. His anxiety and his fear of failure had combined to rigidify the way he had responded to their concerns. We helped him see that his professional training had provided him with many more options for dealing with such situations then he had been able to use. We recommended that he supplement his training with a quarter of Clinical Pastoral Education in order to develop flexibility and understand the way other people face their world and its issues. We affirmed that this young minister could learn and adjust and communicated that he was a valuable pastoral resource.
In both instances interpreting to denominational administrators each pastor’s way of facing conflict played a significant role in working out equitable solutions for the pastors involved, as well as highlighting important findings about their congregations and their long-standing problems.
In sum, the CCDM is a resource clergy can use when experiencing involuntary termination. Financial support is often available. We believe an unbiased, evaluative approach can lead to effective and fair resolutions in such crises. Strategic options for the clergy are suggested. The CCDM offers just such an approach in its spiritually-grounded and psychologically-based service to church leaders. Additionally, the CCDM is a resource for those clergy who would like to develop learning goals for ongoing professional and spiritual development. We believe such a program has the potential to circumvent involuntary terminations.
_____________________________
The Rev. G. Jean Wright, D.Min., and David W. Haughey, Ph.D., are on staff at the Center for Career Development and Ministry in Dedham, MA. Their mailing address is 30 Milton Street, Dedham, MA 02026. The Center’s e-mail address is ccdmin@aol.com. Dr. Wright’s e-mail address is drgjwccdm@aol.com.
