A growing number of pastors are being forced to leave their churches over what a South Carolina Baptist Convention official calls “control issues.”
In fact, said Monty Hale, the question of who is going to run the church has consistently ranked as the number one reason cited for forced terminations of pastors of Baptist churches in South Carolina since 2005, according to surveys.
Monty HaleHale, director of association and pastoral ministries for the SCBC, gathers data annually from directors of missions about pastor terminations. In 2009, with all 43 SCBC local associations reporting, 14 pastors were reportedly dismissed over control issues. The next three highest reported categories of forced termination were related to the first: pastor’s leadership style too weak (8), pastor’s leadership style too strong (7), and church’s resistance to change (7).
Disagreement over doctrine (2) was low on the list of reasons for forced terminations, and sexual misconduct resulted in four terminations, although Hale said he sees a disturbing “inching up” in sexual immorality-related terminations, a phenomenon he attributes to the rise of pornography.
Hale said up to 25 percent of all forced terminations go unreported. In 2009, there were 57 reported pastor terminations in the SCBC.
The numbers in South Carolina reflect a trend across the country, he said, and “the number one reason for forced terminations is always about who’s in charge.”
As an example, he cited so-called “family chapels,” where “patriarchs and matriarchs” have veto power over all decisions. The pastor is allowed the power of “management by exception,” meaning, Hale said, “we will let you do what you want to do until we don’t like it.” To make matters worse, he added, the pastor often “doesn’t know where the line is” until after he has crossed it.
“It happens on every scale,” he said. “Worship wars and debates over deacons versus elders – these aren’t the problem. They’re symptoms. The problem is control in the church. It’s a trend that is sad.”
Issues of church control haven’t always been the main reason for forced terminations, Hale said. “Twenty-five years ago [terminations were] more for moral or theological issues,” he said.
Why the change? Hale thinks it’s directly related to the rise to power of baby boomers, a generation that came of age “telling ourselves it was all about us, and that [attitude] washed over into our thinking and into our Christianity.”
Hale, himself an admitted boomer, said the “golden age” of North American church growth began soon after World War II – with the rise of the builder generation – and continued uninterrupted until about 1964.
With graying boomers now at the helm, Hale said, churches have to guard against being too invested in “programmatic” thinking – nurturing the status quo and focusing inward. “The ones in control want to hang on to their culture,” he said. “That’s what’s affecting the church right now.”
Nevertheless, Hale is optimistic. He sees the “rising of a new church culture that has to do with our children and grandchildren,” a generation that does not value “buildings and programs.”
“They want to be hands-on,” he said.
While he believes conflicts arising from issues of church control will continue “until boomers fade from the scene,” Hale hopes the emergence of a generation of believers more interested in reaching the world and less in maintaining programs will lead to a day when “firing people for no good reason will not happen.”
Forced Pastor Terminations in South Carolina, 2009
Control issues: who’s going to run the church (14)
Pastor’s leadership style too weak (8)
Pastor’s leadership style too strong (7)
Church’s resistance to change (7)
Church already in conflict when pastor arrived (5)
Sexual misconduct (4)
Conflict with other staff (4)
Decline in attendance (4)
Pastor’s poor people skills (4)
Pastor at church too long (3)
Administrative incompetence (3)
Doctrinal disagreement (2)
Rapid growth (1)
Other (9)
Total forced terminations: 57
Source: South Carolina Baptist Convention