April 8, 2019—Beginning a ministry at a new church is an exciting experience. New challenges, a fresh start, promising possibilities, new relationships, can all be energizing. For most clergy, the first year at a new church is filled with excitement…
September 24, 2018—One common and practical schema used to understand congregations is the congregational size approach to classifying churches. Looking at congregations through this lens is used not only by denominational strategists in assessing and planning, but also by sociologists…
August 13, 2018—Rev. Dr. Cody Sanders taught the online course, “Ministry With LGBTQIA Youth” at the Center for Lifelong Learning in October.
He is the pastor of the Old Cambridge Baptist Church, and serves as the American Baptist Chaplain…
July 23, 2018—Chris Hedges states that after a period of time, war begins to develop its own life. The former theology student turned journalist wrote in his book, War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning, that those involved…
Ethics are often a victim of forced pastoral terminations and for that matter, the continuing conflicts in church life which lead to such traumatic moments.
Nearly every minister who has suffered an involuntary termination or a ‘near miss’ can testify…
May 21, 2018—As a bi-vocational pastor, I am constantly reflecting on how one vocation informs the other. I serve a small congregation but I also work through The Outreach Foundation to resource small churches, and to connect them with our…
When we hear of a minister being terminated, we may think about a “gang of three” as the instigators and carriers of bad news that a minister must leave.
Or we may think about the minister who was terminated and…
April 23, 2018—One of the biggest challenges in ministry is outreach, especially if your church is small and doesn’t have the financial or human resources to do BIG outreach the way some city and suburban churches might. Yet, we are…
April 19, 2018—My relationship with the small church has been an on-again, off-again relationship. I grew up in a small congregation where my faith was formed, I was confirmed, served as a junior elder and as a youth leader. In…
April 16, 2018—At a recent Healthy Transitions Wellness Retreat for Ministers and Spouses, a minister pointed out that during the conflict leading up to his forced resignation, he and his wife were surrounded by church families who loved them and…
April 9, 2018—I was once on staff at a small church in the Houston area. We had less than 150 people weekly, but our property situated on a busy road where nearly 30,000 cars a day passed us by. One…
March 26, 2018—The Bowen Systems Theory concept of multi-generational transmission in families, although often difficult to accept at one level, is logically appreciated at another. Families pass along habits, traditions, beliefs, grudges, feuds, genes, and emotional process down the generations….
Not too many years ago a popular song reminded us that some of the things we least expect can happen to us.
Forced terminations of pastors certainly fit within this expectation.
Most pastors have never faced a forced termination.
Most…
