PIECING TOGETHER A SHATTERED CHURCH
How do you minister to a congregation whose trust has been broken?
Richard Porter
April 1, 1988
I was jogging down the street, thinking about my new church (I had arrived only a few weeks earlier), when a man I had never seen motioned with his hand for me to stop. I slowed down, stopped, and tried to catch my breath. "Are you the new pastor of Suburban Baptist?" he asked. "Yes," I said, smiling. "I'll never go there again!" he hissed. Then he began an angry tirade about the church's hypocrisy, its control by a few members, its lack of love. It took him thirty minutes to finish. I could tell he had been deeply hurt, but I wasn't sure what to say. I only knew this was going to be the most difficult pastorate of my ministry. Following a Fallen Pastor
The previous pastor at Suburban, whom I'll call Fred Sharpe, had resigned under pressure from charges of sexual indiscretions and aberrant theology. When I had candidated, the pastoral search committee described the problems in general terms, with a note of sadness. "Fred was a man of unusual abilities," they explained. Before Fred had become pastor, the congregation had been divided on whether to call him, but Fred had been highly recommended and demonstrated qualities the congregation sought: he was articulate, personable, and young, and held a reputation for leading churches into growth. The church grew rapidly under Fred's ministry. Many were attracted to his nontraditional approach to preaching and worship, and soon a second service was started. After about eighteen months, however, a few people started leaving the church, upset primarily by Fred's theology and his practice of drinking beer in public. There were also rumors of sexual indiscretions. As I considered the call to Suburban, Fred was still living in the community and had started a "Church without Walls." The church ...
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