It can often feel too risky to take church bullies on. But if you want to be a church on mission, pastors and church leaders can’t afford not to.
2. Leadership Can’t Be Questioned.
Having been a pastor who was sometimes at the mercy of self-appointed yet biblically unqualified congregational “leaders,” I’ve sometimes been tempted to think that a healthy church is one where the pastoral leadership holds the power. But a quick look at the headlines will illustrate that toxic churches can be found having all forms of church governance.
While churches with more of a top down authority structure don’t have to endure the drama of persnickety people at congregational meetings, they often lack transparency and accountability. And that becomes a breeding ground for abuse.
When pastors hold a disproportionate amount of power and wield a disproportionate amount of influence, it rarely ends well. At the very least, it can result in unwise leadership decisions that could have benefited from more input. At worst, it can cultivate an environment where abuse is not only possible but also overlooked and even accommodated for.
I don’t imagine any church leader sets out to make foolish decisions or behave in ways that harm others. But when leadership can safely skirt accountability by virtue of their influence, they have been given a kind of power that is dangerous to both them and the people they lead.
The people who work most closely with pastors and church leaders are often the first to notice that something is not right. But too often, they don’t have the ability to question a leader or raise concerns in a way that won’t leave them ostracized, unemployed, or both.
We can’t afford to only give lip service to leadership accountability and transparency. Systems must be put in place that have actual teeth, rather than just the appearance of decency.
While it isn’t necessarily healthy to give everyone in a congregation an equal voice to speak to leadership issues, at least a few people need to be granted permission and access to speak truth to power, potentially steering the church away from abuse and scandal.
3. No Negative Emotions Are Allowed.
Lament is a biblical category that far too many evangelical churches ignore. We do so to the detriment of our collective spiritual health.
To be sure, Christians are to be marked by an unshakeable joy that is anchored in the hope of the good news of Jesus. But we must never weaponize that call to joy to keep us from holding space for the very real and difficult issues present in our churches and communities, whether they be loss, tragedy, or injustice.
This is particularly true where the Church has historically been complicit in perpetuating problematic structures that have led to abuse or inequity. Too often, instead of repenting and seeking to do better, we accuse those of bringing these issues to bear in our local contexts of being divisive and distracting from the gospel.
