My Former Church Apologized
Name withheld
July 1, 1996
The intercom buzzer in my office sounded. "Pastor Bob Blake on line 2."
Blake served the church I'd left a year and a half earlier. I had never talked
with or met him. I pressed the blinking line.
"Hello, Bob. How's it going?"
"Great!" he said. "I'm glad to talk to you. I hope we will get to meet soon."
"I have been hearing good reports," I said. "I'm glad you called."
"The Lord is doing some awesome things here," he said. "I don't want to take
much of your time, but last Sunday, just about everyone came forward at the
end of the service to confess wrongdoing and to seek forgiveness from one
another. A number of people confessed that they were wrong in the way they
treated you and your wife before you left.
"The church would like to fly you folks back here so they can personally
and publicly ask your forgiveness."
I gulped. Old feelings of hurt and anger bubbled to the surface. Never had
I heard of a church inviting a former pastor back for such a purpose.
Been there, resigned from that
The day before Blake's call, I had read the article "Forced Out" in
Leadership (winter 1996). The article analyzed the results of a survey
of pastors who had been forced to leave their churches. From my experience
at the church Blake now served, I resonated with the scenarios presented.
I took some comfort that I was not the only one to have been forced to resign.
The survey pointed out that 43 percent of pastors who had been forced out
said a small faction forced them out. That happened to me: a small, power-hungry
group made it impossible for me to lead effectively. Most of the congregation
knew nothing of the tension until right before I resigned.
And, as many pastors indicated in the survey, the church I served ...
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