| sheepdogandy wrote: | "one pastor firing a staff member"
Says it all.
In a Congregationally governed body he would have had opportunity to address the membership.
We like to call it "due process".
I doubt they would have kicked him out under the circumstances. |
I recall you mentioning (some years ago, I think) how your church had felt mistreated by the Church of God. Yes, these things have happened (hopefully much less since the heyday of Actscelerate, where such things not only got reported anonymously, but it was ardently read by the powers that be).
However, this "due process" you mention is nothing of the sort. It may LOOK like it, but it's not. Consider if a Captain takes a man to the Colonel. The Colonel is almost always going to stand behind the Captain, right or wrong. Why? Because it wouldn't do for his subordinates to think he didn't have their back.
I've seen this done plenty of times--a few times on me! I knew I was dead right. But it didn't matter, because bosses stand behind their underbosses (see what I did there?).
Consider if this had happened in your fine church. The youth minister is given his moment...and he lays into you, saying all kinds of things that HE thinks you're guilty of...but you don't think so. Not only does this wind up tarnishing you--even people who love and support you are now going to have that rattling around inside of them--but if he convinces some of the people that you are in the wrong...now it goes sideways.
The congregational method works well for many things, but not in matters where there are strong feelings and emotions that can get out of hand. It it is the mean cousin of a pastoral selection conference in the Church of God--which can be as carnal as a beer joint fight.
If what our brother has told is the long and short of it, then it is true that the pastor mishandled this matter. No one, especially a faithful Christian, should be treated that way--especially by the pastor and in the Church of God. But while the pastor was in the wrong, if the church decides to back the youth pastor, then the senior pastor is either saddled with someone that he will have a very hard time working with...or he will likely feel he needs to leave (and, truthfully, if he's that foolish in his actions, maybe he ought to).
I doubt there is any church system in the world that's perfect in all situations. They each have their strengths...and weaknesses. For instance, the COG, by owning the property, has the power to take over if, say, a pastor is preaching heresy or if, say, he has committed adultery but the congregation thinks that him saying "Oops" is sufficient. |
Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology
Posts: 6032
6/15/23 3:25 pm
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