Pastors don’t trust your people...

....or yourself for that matter. 

The following are headlines taken from online news sources from March 22 and 23.  During those 48 hours we find:

“Oklahoma pastor’s daughter arrested for allegedly molesting 10-year-old boy.”

“71 year old church treasurer accused of stealing nearly $500k from church.”

“Former Las Vegas church treasurer headed to prison for stealing $1.5M from church.”

“Youth pastor accused of recording teens showering at his home.”

“CHURCH YOUTH-GROUP LEADER ARRESTED ON SEX ASSAULT CHARGES.”

“Hurst pastor takes computer in for repair, faces child porn charge.”

“Local pastor arrested on felony insurance fraud charge over staged burglary.”

“Pastor's Wife Charged With Fraud Again.”

“Prominent Columbia Pastor Charged with Domestic Violence.”

“Pastor Jailed For Three Years For Child Molestation.”

“Roanoke pastor faces sexual battery charges in cases involving juveniles.”

These stories have at least two things in common.  First, is that they are terrible tragedies.   Each headline represents a monstrous betrayal and terrific hurt.  Behind the headlines are broken hearts and ruined lives.  These are stories of faith now in crisis because of the evil behavior of sinful people. 

The second common denominator is the responses of incredulity from church members and leaders.  If you listen to the voices of those in the congregations, you will hear things like:

I just can’t believe it.

He/she is the last person you would expect to do something like this.

We never thought they would do this.

In the church we have fallen prey to being too trusting of those around us.  Let me state that I do not believe that we need to be in a perpetual witch-hunt, always looking for a child molester or pervert under every rock.  There is a level of trust that is necessary for life in a civil society.  But our error over the last few years has not been to the side of overly cautious, but on the side of foolishly careless.  For example, a couple of years ago my daughter visited a church near the Bible college she was attending at that time.  On her first visit to the church she was asked if she would like to help in the nursery the next Sunday.  This volunteer recruiter did not know anything about my daughter and presumed that she was a Bible college student.  We know that every and all Bible college students are of only the highest moral character.  (Please take a moment to bask in the cynicism of that statement)  For all the recruiter knew, my daughter could have been a witch that was looking for a human sacrifice).

Not every church is as foolish as this congregation was, but our universal reaction to the moral crisis in our church is shock, surprise and bewilderment.  It is time for the church to put away the humanist ideals of the ‘goodness of man’ and take a more Biblical worldview about herself and the potential for evil within the church.

Here are three generalized suggestions that might be helpful:

Presume failure and take steps of prevention.  Too may times, I have heard minsters or church leaders say, “I would never do thus and so.”  More humble leaders might say, “I hope I never fall into this or that sin.” I believe a better statement would be,  “I will certainly fall into the most grotesque sins unless I actively, faithfully and honestly take proactive steps to prevent sin and live a life of holiness.”   The first two statements presume the likelihood of life-long, personal holiness as a real possibility, which is unreasonable.  The third statement presumes failure unless active measures to pursue holiness are an intentional part of life.

Let’s do good practical theological work on human depravity.  The question is not really about Calvinism or Armenianism. It is more practical than finely chopped theology.  Rather than focusing on the nuances of different theological positions, we need to focus on the very practical application of what we know about our fallen, human nature.  Unless you believe that everyone in your church has archived an entire sanctification, which has led them to Christian perfection, then everyone in your congregation is, at least, capable of acts of gross depravity.  The sooner we become more Biblical and less Humanist the better.

We need to be honest and open about accountability.  In my years of ministry with multiple staffs, the only time I had to deal with behavioral problems from staff members was with those members that were resistant to being held accountable.  I realize my experience is limited and antidotal, but this pattern was 100% consistent.  I never had problems with staff members that were willing to set up systems of accountability.  I am so convinced of this that I believe if a staff member will not set up and work under an appropriate system of accountability they should be dismissed immediately. 

In a crisis moment in my ministry I had a conversation with an attorney to discuss our church’s exposure regarding an event of moral failure by one of our leaders.  The attorney gave me three very important questions that always come up in court.  I want to apply these questions to this discussion.

#1.  What did you know?

We know that man has a bent toward sin. Even after salvation there is an ongoing war in every Christian’s heart.  There is always the possibility for catastrophic failure. 

#2.  When did you know this?

We have known this in the church from the earliest days of the church’s existence.  It is testified to us in the Word of God.  It has been discussed and studied for almost 2000 years of church history.  We have known this a long time.

The most important question:

#3.  What did you do about it?

Too often we have done very little.  That is a question I must leave with you