ALLIANCE: PASTORS A ND LAY LEADERS
How can pastors and lay leaders work hand in hand when they don't always see eye to eye?
October 1, 1989
Misunderstandings and disagreements can grow between pastors and lay leaders at any time, but they seem to multiply in conditions such as these:
the resignation of a long-standing, greatly beloved leader
the coming of a new pastor unfamiliar to the church and to the region of the country
a churchwide crisis
a severe illness in the pastor's family
a restructuring of the pastoral staff
the development of a building plan.
Such circumstances are precisely what Howard Clark and elder R. Judson "Jud" Carlberg have come through.
Howard Clark, since 1986, has served as senior pastor at Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. Previously he led a church in Pacific Palisades, California.
Jud Carlberg is dean of the faculty at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, and chairman of Grace Chapel's overseeing elders.
Their working relationship was tested under national scrutiny when, shortly after Howard's coming, Grace Chapel's former pastor, Gordon MacDonald, confessed to marital infidelity. In the weeks and months that followed, the congregation displayed remarkable maturity in forgiving MacDonald, carefully working through a year-long process of discipline and development, and eventually restoring him to public ministry.
Through such crises, as well as day-to-day church life, Howard and Jud have not always agreed. But as you'll see in this interview, they have developed a warm and honest respect for each other and learned how to work well together.
Leadership: What fears do pastors have in working with lay leaders?
Howard Clark: That some who have been successful in business, industry, or education will approach their service on the board strictly as they would another job. The ones who do it as a job tend to treat the staff as hired ...
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