In his 28 years as director of missions for Tuscaloosa Baptist Association, Jerry Wilkins said he saw more than 50 forced pastoral resignations that could have been prevented.
The problem? A mismatch.
A mismatch is a circumstance where a pastor and a church have differences in either their doctrinal beliefs or their preferences for church practice. Areas for a possible mismatch include: views on the authority of Scripture; the relative importance of different pastoral tasks (teaching, shepherding, administration, etc.); the importance of missions; pastor-led vs. deacon-led church structure; and style of worship, to name a few.
A mismatch situation can lead to three possible outcomes:
1. The parties concerned may simply agree to disagree, in the spirit of Romans 14, and remain in fellowship.
2. They may take the uncomfortable but necessary steps to come to an agreement.
3. They may need to sever the relationship altogether.
The first key to understanding how to handle a mismatch is to understand how serious it is, said Dale Huff, director of the office of LeaderCare and church administration for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
“Stylistic differences or differences of pastoral authority can be overcome,” Huff said.
That means a church and pastor can have different preferences regarding worship style and can work toward agreement on who has the final say in a church’s decision making.
However, “doctrinal or moral issues are non-negotiables and pretty much insurmountable,” Huff said.
Tom Fuller, director of ministry leadership development at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, Birmingham, and a former Southern Baptist pastor, agreed.
“Differing doctrinal convictions, particularly … core doctrines of the faith,” are mismatches that cannot be overcome, he said.
How can churches and pastors best deal with a potential mismatch?
Wilkins thinks the best way is to identify it on the front end.
“The best thing is to have committees and ministers ask the right questions to see if there’s a fit,” he said.
It is important for a pastor search committee to know its stances on doctrinal matters and to ask specific questions of potential candidates. Asking candidates about the Baptist Faith and Message, their views on predestination, the importance of missions and the inspiration of the Bible can help churches see if a potential pastor would be a good fit.
Huff affirmed the need for a pastor search committee to be in tune with the church’s needs and expectations. If a search committee is ignorant of the church’s needs or presumes to “decide what direction the church should take,” it risks creating a mismatch situation that will be harmful in the future, he said.
Clear, front-end communication from both parties can prevent an unhealthy mismatch. But what happens if a church and pastor find themselves already in a mismatch situation?
Again, communication is key.
“Communicate openly first about the differences,” Wilkins admonished, also saying that sweeping differences under the rug leads them to fester.
If a mismatch is noticed and people “just grumble about it,” Huff added, it creates a toxic attitude toward the pastor.
The pastor search committee or the deacon board can be an ideal group to bring awareness of a mismatch to the pastor’s attention, Huff said. Their familiarity with the pastor and their presence in the church make them natural ambassadors.
After identifying the mismatch, church and pastor should decide if they can move forward toward agreement or not. “Compromise and tolerance” are best if they are possible, Wilkins said.
Fuller also believes that most issues beyond core doctrinal beliefs can be worked out.
“Being part of a church is a covenant relationship … in many respects like a marriage relationship,” he said.
A covenant involves vows of unity and loyalty, and a church-pastor relationship should ideally be characterized by that same kind of commitment, he said.
Using the example of how Paul encouraged Jewish and Gentile Christians to remain in fellowship in Romans 14, Fuller advised churches and pastors to seek unity in Christ while still hanging on to their own convictions. Both sides ought to reach out in love and forgiveness.
If a church and pastor decide a mismatch situation cannot be overcome, Wilkins said the best thing a church can do for the pastor and for itself is to exercise patience.
If the church gives the pastor a
several-month period in which to search for a new job and shows him support, the break will be far less traumatic than a sudden one would be.
“If anyone’s been there a length of time, there will be people who love that minister and would be unhappy if he left under pressure,” Wilkins said.
But whatever a church and pastor decide about their mismatch, Fuller said responding to it in a spirit of openness and love is the best way to meet it. “Whatever the nature of the mismatch may be, the most fatal thing is when we fail to love one another in that Christlike way,” he said.
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