Editorial note: During the past year, several articles and editorials have appeared in Ministry dealing with sexual wrongdoing by Christian ministers. Another of these, titled "Corporately Facing Up to Sexual Infidelity," appears in this issue and is written by Miroslav Kis. This article may be seen as both complementary and alternative to some of what Ministry has recently published. Neither Dr. Birch nor Dr. Kis have been privy to one another's work when it comes to the articles by them that appear in this issue of Ministry.
Within three months of my first assignment as a conference president, the phone rang and I received news that every church leader dreads. A church elder informed me that a young woman claimed that she had become sexually involved with her pastor and needed help.
I was devastated. The pastor and I had been college mates, members of the same graduating class, colleagues in ministry. When I con fronted him, he admitted his wrongdoing and resigned from ministry. Within days, his marriage disintegrated. His wife felt betrayed and his children were bewildered. The church family was in a state of mourning and confusion, not to mention the struggles through which the young woman was passing.
I was inexperienced, deeply pained, and broken. This man and his family were my friends. I shall never forget the hurt of that experience.
How does a church leader relate responsibly and graciously to all affected by a catastrophe of this magnitude?
Church policy
The Working Policy of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists defines the administrative process that applies once a minister experiences a moral fall.1 The Church Manual defines the disciplinary process that applies to dealing with all members who are guilty of this kind of wrongful behavior.2 The preponderance of material and the tone in these statements would appear to safeguard the reputation and credibility of the church.
Certainly, the church must protect her image. Yet, while the church takes steps to protect her reputation by disassociating her self from the sin of her wayward children, should she not also take commensurate steps to sincerely demonstrate her compassionate motherly image in behalf of the wrongdoers at the same time?
One notable statement in the Church Manual points us in the direction of where this article is heading: "If a member falls into sin, sincere efforts must be made for reclamation. 'If the erring one repents and submits to Christ's discipline, he is to be given another trial. And even if he does not repent, even if he stands outside the church, God's servants still have a work to do for him. They are to seek earnestly to win him to repentance. And, however aggravated may have been his offense, if he yields to the striving of the Holy Spirit and, by confessing and forsaking his sin, gives evidence of repentance, he is to be forgiven and welcomed to the fold again. His brethren are to encourage him in the right way, treating him as they would wish to be treated were they in his place, considering themselves lest they also be tempted.' "3
A recovery process
What is the typical climate associated with the conversation that a conference president or church leader has with a pastor who experiences a moral fall? Obviously, it's always awkward and quite tense. Every pastor who finds himself (or herself) in this situation will be acquainted with the church's position on moral failures. The discussion typically centers around a review of administrative matters, resignation implications, ordination credentials, family issues, remuneration, and so forth.
Yet the wrongdoer's emotions, judgment, guilt, losses, are also frantically at play at this moment. He's most likely rationalized by now that in God's sight he's forgiven. He believes, hopes, maybe expects that the church will take the same position and reinstate him. The wise church leader will very sensitively journey with the wrongdoer through this emotionally charged terrain.
Here, I suggest, is where the presi dent or church leader needs to inject into the conversation the tone and intent of the church manual's appeal as stated earlier. The suggested tenor for such a conversation may go some thing like this:
"Joe, let me now share with you what I, and the church, would like to do with and for you: We'd like to help you find your feet again as soon as possible. I want to ask you to please work with us to let the Holy Spirit put wind back in your sails again. I'm talking about how the church can support you and your family through this crisis. Joe, I want to appeal to you to submit yourself to the authority of the Holy Spirit and the church as we make a spiritual journey together at the end of which we may all be winners..."
The president or church leader then proceeds to outline an intention ally participative process involving the fallen brother and the church. Each has an important part to play. The end goal shall be to achieve the spiritual recovery of the wrongdoer. The process will be positive and cooperative, aim at achieving forgiveness, and lead to the wrongdoer's rehabilitation in the community. The road map outlining this process will take time to traverse, and include the following, which are not necessarily listed in order:
- A mutually agreed upon state ment to the church about the pastor's resignation. The statement will include some reference to an ongoing participative process that has been agreed upon by the conference lead ers, the local church, and the fallen minister aimed at his and the family's rehabilitation in the community
- The establishment of a mutually agreed upon accountability team who will immediately start working with the fallen pastor, and their times of meeting
- A willingness to submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit and the church, including voluntary censure while the process is taking place
- Commitment to truth-telling and non-deception
- The identification and removal of attitudinal barriers (facing people; non-withdrawal from the church)
- Pastoral care meetings with the spouse and family to work through their mutual pain
- Formal counseling that is made available for a period of time
- Prayerful care and coaching about the need and benefits of repentance, confession to the involved and injured parties, receiving God's forgiveness, the church's forgiveness, and self-forgiveness
- Relating to the church family withdrawal from leadership roles; facing criticism, innuendos
- Consideration about relocating to another area, if desirable
- Retooling or training for different employment
- Rehabilitation in the family and the church
The fallen brother will almost certainly struggle upon first hearing about the process. Of course, it may not be necessary or helpful to outline the entire process initially, but only the broad strokes. He will need time to reflect on the invitation to under take the journey, and may be given a specified time to think about it. An early time should be set when to meet again.
At the time of this meeting, the invitation to take the prescribed journey needs to be presented again and the benefits of entering into the pro posed process. At this time the pastor needs to be assured that he is valued, notwithstanding the seriousness of his mistake. He needs to feel drawn into the arms of both the corporate and the local congregation. He must not be allowed to escape. This is a critical moment!
What if he stiffens, as is often the case, against your embrace? The conference's refusal to reinstate him in ministry despite his apology may be interpreted as harshness and indiffer ence. His rationalizations and self-justification may inhibit the relation ship you're trying to maintain with him. He may try to make it impossible for anyone to connect with him, even cutting off all means of communication via conversation, telephone, or email.
Such actions call for persistent and ongoing attempts to communicate with the offender. Our Lord insists that we cannot cast him aside.
It behooves every Christian leader, even in this kind of setting, to follow the counsel of Jesus, which clearly calls for persistence when dealing with someone who has sinned: "Go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along ... If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector" (Matt. 18:15- 17, NIV). Had Jesus been heeded more in the church, how many fallen brothers might still have shared our community life?
The foregoing presupposes that thorough prior study would already have been given to the process as pro posed before implementation. The mere application of the Working Policy in relation to the morally fallen, even when undertaken in the kindest manner possible, too often simply dispatches them into oblivion.
Personally, I would like to see a spiritually redemptive process, fully studied, shaped, and published as the Seventh-day Adventist Church's formal administrative procedure in dealing with all fallen colleagues. It deserves the most careful thought and should involve the wisest counselors that can be assembled.4 Very significantly, such a process should also include a clear and effective way of ministering to the victims the women and children who are objects of such pastoral wrongdoing, and who are most frequently tragically neglected in these situations. (This dimension is intentionally not a part of this article.)
When is restoration achieved?
Assuming that an accountability process akin to the above proposal has been implemented, when, or how, may we be confident that the goals of heartfelt repentance, forgiveness, and rehabilitation have been achieved?
This will largely depend on the attitude and teachability of the fallen person. What do his accountability partners discern about what's in his heart? What is the testimony of those he associates with most closely his spouse, children, family? What is discerned by the church community with whom he has cast his lot since his fall?
Commenting on Saul's conversion, Ellen G. White discerns some important principles that the church must ever bear in mind about the proper use of authority in directing sinners in the way of life. "When Saul [Paul] asked, 'What wilt Thou have me to do?' the Saviour placed the inquiring Jew in connection with His church, there to obtain a knowledge of God's will concerning him." Meanwhile the Holy Spirit also directed Ananias to be the church's mouthpiece, seek out Saul, witness the restoration of his sight, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Can any lesson be learned from this early church experience? Yes, indeed: "'Many have an idea that they are responsible to Christ alone for their light and experience, independent of His recognized followers on earth. Jesus is the friend of sinners, and His heart is touched with their woe. He has all power, both in heaven and on earth; but He respects the means that He has ordained for the enlightenment and salvation of men; He directs sinners to the church, which He has made a channel of light to the world."5
This role of the church should still apply today. Despite her feebleness and defects, the church, particularly the local congregation, is the divinely ordained theater where the community's collective spiritual discernment and physical proximity to the wrong doer can authenticate his contrition or otherwise.
The congregation is most suited to observe the nature of a wrongdoer's relationship to his congregation, his teachability and spiritual intuitiveness. The body of which he is a part knows best, whether, when, and how a wrongdoer's influence and spiritual authenticity can be affirmed and restored.
Restoration and/or reinstatement?
Finally, does restoration of a fallen pastor equate with reinstatement to gospel ministry? The General Conference Working Policy insists on a blanket no. However, if the process as suggested in this article is sincerely attempted, might the Holy Spirit not in some cases show us a different way?
I submit that if the suggested process would be sincerely followed to discover how much God's grace can still teach us; and, if a fallen brother sincerely participates in such a process with a contrite and teachable spirit; and, if in due course the congregation can authenticate the wrongdoer's spiritual rehabilitation through submission to the process, what else might then preclude him from reinstatement to gospel ministry other than a working policy?
If the Working Policy shall be indefinitely and infallibly applied without regard for what the Holy Spirit can achieve with a formerly fallen brother, as here proposed, would that not imply, regrettably, that the Adventist ministry could not accommodate David either, the former murderer/ adulterer, or Peter, who denied our Lord? Yet, I shall always marvel that by God's grace, not policy, they were reinstated and resumed their calling.
*This word is borrowed from an esteemed colleague, Don Livesay, president of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. He reported in his November PresReport, a monthly newsletter from the resident's office, about meeting with a local church in business meeting where the congregation dealt with their former pastor's moral fall. He applauded their redemptive attitude. He also noted: "As I reviewed the Church Manual on the subject of church discipline, I noted that the section titled 'Removal from Membership' no longer uses the word 'disfellowship.' This is a significant statement about our Church's journey in the area of discipline. There are times a person should be removed from membership but I believe this should be done with the attitude of re-fellowshipping that person into the church rather than disfellowshipping someone from the church."
1 Working Policy of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2003-2004 edition (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub Assn.). See Section L60, 376-379. The same information appears in the Working Policy, North American Division of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists under Section L70, 494-497.
2 Seventh-day Adventist Church Manual, Revised 2000 16th ed (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn.). See Chapter 14 on church discipline.
3 Church Manual, 182, 183. (Quoting Testimonies, 7:263}
4 A practical and general discussion about such a process is available on CD from the Willow Creek Association in the Defining Moments series titled When a Staff Member Falls, with Nancy Beach and Michael Simone, featuring Bill Hybels. Web site: www.willowcreek. com; Tel. 800-570-9812.
5 Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Pnb. Assn, 1911), 120-122.
