Is there ever a reason for which a pastor should not be eligible to return to ministry?
I was reminded this week of an incident that happened at a church in our city a few years ago in which a pastor lied to thousands of people in his church and received money under false pretenses. My thoughts led me to consider whether or not he would ever return to the pulpit and if he does, should he? Although I believe God forgives and is able to restore a person to wholeness, I wonder if there are some abuses (including but not limited to sexual abuse) in which a person disqualifies themselves from ministry. This was not a guy in bad marriage falling for a pretty young girl (which is bad enough). The influence of the matter was widespread. In my mind there are certain abuses that should exclude people from the pulpit but I wondered what others believe?
I think for instance of evangelists & pastors who have fallen and then disappeared for a short period of time to only reappear claiming healing and wholeness. All of a sudden they start new ministries claiming to be ministering to those in similar circumstances. In my mind this simply seems far too convenient. I am sorry but these people have abused their positions. Abused their people spiritually and abused, in a sense, God. God does not need them. He can call others and their need and desire to return to ministry so quickly concerns me. Perhaps I am being too harsh but I think it is better to be safe than sorry.
I wonder, what do people think: What instances (apart from the obvious) exclude a person from ministry and what must a person do in order to re-enter ministry?
the archives near Emmaus 
Big question Mark. I know the minister you are talking of and yes there were a lot of issues involved.
I believe in forgiveness and accountability and therefore believe whole heartedly in restitution; believing that if God has called a person to a ministry, then they should minister. However; I do believe there should be a time where that person has a sabbatical for want of a better term.
In the restitution process I believe there should be accountability support ( I believe every minister of any sand every stripes needs to be in such a group) for that person. I know of former back slidden Christians who are in goal and are now leading the way in evangelistic / pastoral work within the prison system.
The case of paedophilia is a huge issue and one that needs to be handled openly, firmly and directly…in these cases the above still stands; though with the proviso that they are never around children… State Laws will also determine what they can or can’t do.
In regards to your comments about God calling them… it seems that God does call the foolish of the world… and so with public accountability in place… and the knowledge that we all are called to minister in one way or other…I don’t know how you can stand in Gods way… God’s grace and mercy is always more powerful than his judgement….
Good thoughts but I don’t know that “calling” is irrevocable.
It’s an area I have been thinking of for a while… I wrote a blog post in regards to your post / question http://craigbenno1.wordpress.com/2011/01/27/the-quandary-of-church-and-fallen-pastors/ in regards to how we think of Church in regards to the issue of fallen family.
I was thinking of pedophilia too, but how can a person pastor with a proviso in place about not being around children? I don’t know how you can’t come in contact with a portion of your flock and function as pastor. I also think just about anything that comes to light more than once has proven to be chronic and maybe it’s time to get rid of them. It pains me to find out that deacons, boards, elders kept something under wraps of which the congregation should have been aware.
In any serious breech of trust with the church, I think some cautiousness and time is needed. I’m willing to forgive, but we know full well humans slip back to their wicked ways pretty easily. On the other hand, I hate it when someone says, “well, you know twenty years ago brother so-n-so did such and such and we just can’t trust him anymore” Surely that’s way more than enough time for the good brother to have proven himself.
I would agree with those who mentioned pedophilia. While I don’t know if I would say one could never return from the following, a list of serious offenses should include other sexual misconduct, certain cases of dissolving one’s marriage, physical abuse of spouse and/or children, murder, and theft of church funds.
Mark, this is my opinion, but I think there are degrees of restitution – to the degree the minister falls, to that degree he or she may not be able to return certain levels of ministry – this is a challenging issue since we live in a day and age where we find it hard to be too hard on some people so we think maybe after some counseling they can come back but there are ways to disqualify one from re-entering certain levels of ministry.
I think sexual sins are the leading one and that “certain” level of ministry is the lead or senior pastorate. Basically if a senior pastor is caught either looking at porn, or caught in an affair – he’s done. I also think the recovery time has degrees also but for something like porn or an affair, and I know this might be harsh, but I say a minimum 3-5 year window of recovery with counseling and such – even then, I am not sure this person can re-enter the pulpit as lead or senior pastor for quite some time, if at all.
(Todd Bentley came back in less than a year – they should have kept him out longer, if not for good – that fake cancer – porn addicted Hillsong singer guy, he should basically never be allowed back into that level of ministry – he was sick).
This is not to say they can’t be in ministry again, just not the lead person – they can maybe come back as an associate, or lay level minister, even perhaps a deacon (not sure yet about elder) – but for all intents purposes, they are finished as lead pastor.
The hard part is we can hide all this and so the person can easily move away to another city and try to start something up again where no one knows him and so on, or they can just not listen and do their own thing. I agree their are other sins that can permanently disqualify people – embezzlement, the pedophilia someone mentioned, physical, mental, sexual abuse of any sort, etc.
lol! Aren’t you glad I am not God who is far more gracious and merciful than I?
@Brian: I think you are gracious and merciful in what you said. For the husband or wife of a pastor who became so stressed they had an affair, it is graceful to that spouse to make sure that the offender gives their life to their marriage and does not go back into something that will overwhelm them. For the children who are hurt it is merciful to them to keep a pedophile far, far, far away from a pastorate. It is gracious to warn churches when a man who embezzled money from one church attempts to set up shop in another.
God’s grace doesn’t mean we never suffer consequences (e.g. King David). And there is a reason the Spirit preserved Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus so we would have an idea of the type of conduct expected from pastors. Grace may keep some people away from being pastors!
that’s true. my last statement was a bit self sabotage – but I think much of deciding if a person can re-enter the ministry and to what level they can return is really to be done on a case by case basis, which runs into subjectivity problems but even so, that can be hard because some dis accountability and do their own thing for, in my opinion, a lack of fear of the Lord. More so, I feel we have created a culture where people can challenge spiritual leadership (only Jesus is my leader) and so who’s to say who can and who can’t be in ministry – even in the Presbyterian context the Presbytery can decide who to send to seminary and who can’t go – in our day someone could just drop out and go anyway, see what I mean? So, dealing with church discipline can have it’s challenges.
@Brian: Church discipline is very, very difficult. To oversimplify let me say that each church is responsible for their own congregation. If so-and-so goes down the street to another church, that is on that church. But I know this is easier said than done!
Here in Little Rock, last October a prominent megachurch pastor resigned after admitting an inappropriate relationship with a female church member (the pastor was already divorced). Just last Saturday, not a 10 minute drive from his old church, I saw an empty Linens ‘n Things store with a sign on it announcing a new church, with this man’s name underneath as the pastor.
He didn’t even bother to move to a new city!
I agree with all of the above comments. In regards to the pastor who faked his illness; this was a case of undiagnosed mental illness in progress and treatment has since been sought… I think we can still see a place for ministry; even dare I say it for paedophiles….. though perhaps not a leading senior position.
The question I ask the pastors is who is willing to pastor the pastors? Who is willing to pastor the fallen pastors back into restoration, hope and forgiveness. The difficulty I see is that if we are not willing to pastor the fallen into restoration, hope and forgiveness then we are truly not doing the work of the pastor….and then we have already failed.
If repentance were as easily accomplished as it is talked about, then this would be a no brainer. Forgiveness is not so simple as it sounds, either. Woe to the one who leads the least of these astray, said Jesus. He’s also the one who said to forgive seventy times seven. I think we can forgive without restoring the fallen to their former place of formal leadership. Of course the elephant in the room here is – what are we doing with a division between clergy and laymen anyway? Why is one elevated to such a position and essentially considered a different class? Hmmm.
You commit a crime while in the ministry, then there are consequences to your actions. Forgiveness is important, but once your reputation is damaged, it will never be the same again. Frankly, i don’t see a role for anyone who committed a sexual crime against another person. Done for ever. Go and sit in the pew, you blew it in a tremendous way. God can still use you, but in a far different role. But be prepared for a difficult road. Steal money from the church, you should be headed for a lessor role. Get the picture? We, who are sitting in the pew, have to trust their pastors and elders in a far different way than we do our coworkers.
Yep exactly what Doug said! 🙂
Certainly there are consequences. One thing I haven’t seen commented on though is what does the Biblical witness tell us should be the correct pastoral response?