SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE FORUM
Richard Halverson
October 1, 1981
Although we felt LEADERSHIP had to deal with the very tough issue of clergy divorce, we wanted to do so within the parameters of our journal's mandate: providing practical help for local church leaders. Thus, we only examine the question from one perspective, fully realizing many additional questions could be asked and profitably explored.
Ordinarily, we would be content to examine the issue from this one perspective. But because clergy divorce is a complicated, explosive issue, we asked several Christian leaders to respond to our Forum's wider implications. The many important questions they ask, each of which could be the kernel of another article, demonstrate the complexity of the problem.
It's most discouraging to hear ministers discuss their experiences with divorce without even raising the question as to whether or not their divorce was on biblical grounds. These men speak sincerely of their experiences of love and acceptance from church sessions and people, but no one spoke of the faithful exercise of church discipline toward them or their former spouses.
While no one can be free of blame in a marriage that ends in divorce, it does not follow that there is not one person who is guilty of breaking a marriage by unfaithfulness, or by unwillingness to live in the bond that has been joined by God. The innocent and injured party in the divorce needs a different form of pastoral care and discipline from that needed by the guilty person. It would be a tragedy for a guilty person to escape church discipline by organizing an independent church. Admittedly, some churches may be legalistic in the use of disciplinary sanction, but surely that is increasingly rare today. A greater danger is to ignore the commandment of Christ and ...
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