Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Personal issue, opinions needed

I usually just stay on the backpack section of this forum but I need a few opinions on this situation.

This took place at my church and I want some opinions of more people

Background info

1 senior pastor and 3 men that make up the elder boards, this is the church leadership board. Our church hired a new associate pastor to deal with ministry building and all the adminastrative planning. A lengthy search took place and all references and interviews were done to ensure the right man was chosen.

The associate pastor moved his family (wife and two kids under 3) to our city and purchased a home. It was the church' intention to have this man a part of our church family for years to come.

At christmas (3 months since being hired) the associate pastor was praised at the front of the church for his work and his family was given a gift. On Feb 12 the associate pastor had an evaluation where he was blind sided with a horrible review. after this he made several attempts on how he could change to fit better but "no" was the answer. On Feb 16 he was fired and asked to clean out his office by the end of the day.

The reason he was fired is that he was not a good fit. Not performance, no major sins or immoral behaviour just not a good fit.

The leadership is going to pay him for another 6 weeks then your out on your own.

I think this is absolutely horrible and unjust to treat a man this way. I am terribly upset with the leadership I cannot believe they think this is a a Godly way to conduct business.

Please give me your opinions on the matter.

Honestly this is the extent of the situation. I know it seems like it doesn't add up but this is everything that happened.

Does the congregation get any input?

Well, as the little paperback says, "Church is Stranger than Fiction".

It sounds very unfair to me, and I would think that the church leadership board owes the congregation a bit more of an explanation.

That seems a bit odd.

If everything is as you have said about the only thing you can do is approach the church leaders and tell them you think this is not right other than that vote with your feet, find a different church.

It doesn't add up...

Have you asked the senior Pastor and board members what really happened?

Some personnel matters are confidential and you may never get an answer, but it is worth trying.

Ed

Ah yes, I remember that part from Sunday school.

Love Thy Neighbor, unless he's not a good fit.


Politics is everywhere.

It seems as though this body deems its called workers the same as janitors and secretarys. This is wrong.

I would like an explanation and if it didn't pass the smell test I would be lobbying to remove the perps!

We Christians have a long history of killing our own. It is never pretty. I have seen pastors thrown out for no reason and sent away with over a year of back salary owed. I know for a fact he has never received a penny. I will never darken the door of that church again.

I am not on your church board so I cannot speak as to the real reason but it sounds bad by your remarks here.

My advice to you would be to spend time and pray about this. Ask for guidance and direction. It may be something you need to draw a line about and look for another place to worship and serve.

Just a few thoughts. Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more.

It seems that pastors often have less job security than baseball managers. It usually is a personality conflict with the powers that be. It often doesn't seem right. Churches can be very cut-throat.

I'm thinking a couple of things,..just IMO.

1) I know of a situation in which a pastor was caught red handed doing some hanky panky. The board basically gave him a choice of resigning or being fired. He resigned immediately and a cause was never "officially" given, but alot of people figured it out.

2) How large is the board that's making these decisions. Is it a large board..? If it's small, I'm thinking there might be personality issues between those involved. I've seen people try to "take ownership" of a church board and run it like their own little dictatorship without any input from the congregation.

Or,..maybe a couple members of the board are making a spot for someone using the buddy system.

Whatever the reason,..you're right, it doesn't pass the sniff test.

Keep a careful watch on his replacement and see if some interesting coincidences don't show up...

I too think you need to pray about this matter, give it to the Lord.

I would check the Church bylaws to see how a process like this is supposed to go, exactly.

If the leadership followed the bylaws, then I would take to heart the lesson that David learned in dealing with Saul. Address them, but do them no harm.

If they are working outside of God's will, the sheep will not get fed. When sheep don't get fed, they start to look for other pasteurs....

I don't mean to besmirch the guy's job performance, but maybe the leadership is just trying to be kind. Some folks don't want to be confrontational and, misguided as it is, try to fire people with as little fuss as possible.

gobs



good ole boy system


someones friend or relative is moving on up to the east side.....

Folks forced me to church till I was teen. I saw enough then, and since to dam well know to many, if not most, are just another Payton Place..


Going to add I am NOT running down God persey, just [bleep] people.

My Dad was a Minister the whole time I was growing up. We lived at the pleasure of the local church board, and the Florida Methodist Conference.
I have seen every sort of nasty, parochial, ego driven sort of abuse a church can heap on it's Pastor.
For most of my life, it soured me on not only the Methodist Church, but on the Christian religion in general.
It took many years of prayer, for me to over come that experience, and start attending church again. Never did go back to a Methodist church though.

Using the "not a good fit" reason for what amounts to firing someone is probably the least damaging reason that can be given other than a layoff due to the job going away. Likely there's something else going on and they just want the guy to go away, but without damaging his reputation.

If you trust the senior pastor and the elders, it may be best to just drop the issue. Many a rift has resulted from such issues when people can't move on, and with any rift there's a high risk of scattering the flock. Not something you want to be responsible for.

Many small originations tend to draw out small tyrants. They and Napoleons. The church is no exception. Such people must have their own way and tent to put others down to make up for their own shortcomings.

True Christian leadership will keep those kinds of people out of decision making process and leadership roles. But, that seldom happens in real life.

Don't count out the possibility of the assoc. doing something that the elders aren't making known. We faced that in a previous church when the pastor was having an affair with a divorce in the church. He just resigned and everyone blamed it on the elders. They were trying to 'protect' his image and told no one of the infidelity. The coverup pretty well destroyed the church when the truth would have brought it strongly together.