u/No_Sprinkles_3986

QUESTION: “Where did they get those guys?”

 ANSWER: ‘They scraped the bottom of the barrel.”

 SUBJECT: The quality of elders in a local congregation.

Here are five painfully true examples that explain why you have heard conversations exactly like this again and again.

 ·         Moving to a small town from a big city he insinuated himself into the leadership of three groups, (i) a local political party, (ii) a local businessman’s organization, and (iii) the eldership of a local Church of Christ.  Seeing through his flim-flam, the first two groups got rid of him as quickly as possible, but he remained as an elder for years.  During that time, he fast-talked the other elders into several very costly financial mistakes – he had campaigned for the eldership on a “run it like a business” platform. 

 ·         With a leadership style graciously described as “all over the place” his poorly managed psychological ailment regularly put him back into psychiatric hospitals, but his family had deep roots in the congregation.  While he remained as an elder, he was isolated from all influence by the board of a company he himself had founded.  No organization can prosper under the influence of someone with severe mental problems.

 ·         The eldership had experienced repeated crashes over the decades and was reconstituted again after the most recent crash – out of the same men who had crashed before.  Only this time was different.  One of the men who had been an elder before and who had been ordained again was now in the throes of Alzheimer’s.  See above: no organization can prosper under the leadership of someone with tragically severe mental problems.

 ·         Shifting membership from congregation to congregation he finally landed at a church that would have him as an elder. Haltingly unable to read printed announcements, he was finally asked why.  “I’m just not a reader” he said, and “The congregation knew that I wasn’t a reader when they asked me to be an elder.”  No one remembers him saying anything about not being able to read while he was campaigning for the eldership.   No organization can prosper under the leadership of someone who is functionally illiterate. 

 ·         Out of duty for years, he returned to the church and was very soon ordained as an elder.  The true power in the congregation worked through him, and when the details of how he had been manipulated by them came out in a business meeting he immediately resigned in shame – but not before he had been chiefly responsible for firing a preacher who was beloved by everyone except the “true power” family.   

My father-in-law (RIP) was life-long member of the Churches of Christ.  Not a leader, he was a reliable attender and giver, and he was a painfully honest observer of what he saw and saw and saw and saw.  Regarding our mistreatment of preachers he said, “If we were in legitimate business, we would get sued.  If we were in illegitimate business, we would get shot.”

As it is, only our preachers are in the line of fire. 

How much fire?  Get one of our preachers alone and in a talkative mood and ask them to honestly tell you about the things they have suffered at the hands of elders and other leaders.  Be prepared for some horror stories, but I don’t think you will be shocked because I think you probably know what you are barely able to admit.    

 Maybe it’s time we count the costs of our mistreatment of ministers.

 ·        “Oh, again” is the nonplused response of a church’s next-door neighbors to another firing/forced resignation/whatever.  The community has seen it repeatedly.  They know.  What do you think they think of us?

 ·        What do you think preacher’s kids think of us.  They have front-row seats to the beat downs, and they are not encumbered by fake adult politeness.  How would you like to be an elder and KNOW that there are PKs out there who will never darken a church door because of you?

 ·        What about preachers themselves?  They and their wives come to ministry with the highest of motives and the highest of hopes only to watch and wait as their preaching friends get crushed.  Gallows humor forces their fearful anticipation of their own future away, but only for a while.  Why do you think that so many pulpit preachers bail out?  Why do you think that our parachurch ministries are staffed so well?

 ·        Finally, what about our congregations?  Once available in abundant numbers, the supply of preachers is drying up (see 1, 2, and 3 above) and the turnover in veteran preachers is being filled by inexperienced rookies.  Congregations love their “preacher boys,” but no organization can long prosper when experience is replaced by inexperience.

 Clearly, we ought to do better by our preachers and their families, but the question that seems beyond our grasp is “How?”

I can only say that I feel much more comfortable being the preacher who has taken fire than I would feel being a church leader who deserves to get sued or shot.