In the past, I sent one page letters monthly to the active bishops of the United Methodist Church as a way of providing "continuing education." In my retirement, I have not been as faithful to that opportunity as I used to be, though you will find many of those I have done posted on this blog in times past.
A couple weeks ago, after speaking to a pastor who was being treated egregiously, I wasn't able to sleep. So I worked on a rant about certain injustices in our denomination. When I got done, I felt better and could sleep. However, friends to whom I showed it had major questions about how it was all stated and about its usefulness. So I revised it down to a two page letter to the active bishops. That did not pass muster with my friends so I sat on it.
I got it out this morning and instead of developing two one page letters to the bishops, I discovered I needed to do five pages. I did not consult with my friends but I think they will see that I heard them. In the meantime, I heard of a bishop who is actively helping a pastor under fire from other conference leadership just outside the range of direct episcopal authority (without him using the "nuclear option" of appointing the trouble-makers to Podunk Hollow). I reread the five letters and hope they will be seen as recognizing that only some bishops and Cabinets are going rogue but that all bishops need to be wise about how long they have been getting away with it.
I decided to try to put the letters out daily this week. Annual Conferences have just begun in some places but the bulk are in process, a very busy time for the bishops. I felt the message needs to get out now so that the bishops will be aware of consequences of actions their Cabinets take, knowing some will be too busy to get to my letters. I'll take that chance.
The reason I am posting all of them here now in one set is that I goofed when I sent out the first emailing. Accidentally, I sent out the last one! I corrected that by sending out the first one right away.
For those who get impatient with the daily feed, I will let them know they are all now posted on line.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Death by a Thousand Cuts (1 of 5)
Associates in Advocacy
Justice Always,
Reconciliation and Restoration Where Possible
Dear Bishop,
In the early 1980s, I received a call from a pastor. He needed help. He had been put on Cabinet-initiated leave of absence (suspension without pay) and had to be out of the parsonage by Friday (the call came late Wednesday night).
This pastor had an average of 300 every Sunday in his small church, more than filling the sanctuary week in and week out. The leadership of the congregation, upset by what they saw happening, tried to get the ear of the Cabinet but were given no credence. Much of that congregation attended the trial. When they saw the prejudice against the pastor that led to his conviction and realized how he was being treated by conference leaders, they left the church. Attendance dropped to fifty and the church never recovered.
Under the unwritten rule that the customer is always right, many Cabinets have responded to complaints about pastors even with many years of effective ministry by forcing them onto leave of absence or saying they were unappointable because they angered people in their churches. Cabinet members in too many places disregarded all the books about antagonists in the church and clergy killers and removed the minister, not the unruly complainers.
In my role as contact person for Associates in Advocacy, I have received calls from an average of ten different pastors every year since 1984. When the pastors were removed from ministry, they, their families, and close friends tended to leave the church. Sometimes church members who had watched in horror as this "antagonist" clique or that "clergy killer" took all of the Cabinet member's attention leading to the pastor's removal also left the church. These were not the elderly members. They tended to be the younger, more enthusiastic members with kids.
I estimate that such unfairness may have led to as many as two hundred thousand members lost to the church over that period of time. In a denomination of 9,000,000, that was hardly noticeable, especially dribbled out over thirty years. It obviously caught no one else's attention.
Most bishops did not let their Cabinets operate this way. But too many did. More tomorrow.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Rev Jerry Eckert, AIA contact person
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Death by a Thousand Cuts (2 of 5)
Associates in Advocacy
Justice Always,
Reconciliation and Restoration Where Possible
Dear Bishop,
Yesterday, I asserted our denomination may have lost 200,000 members over the past thirty years due to Cabinet’s mishandling of complaints against clergy.
Add those to loss by:
a. demographic changes (by far the largest factor), both deaths of aging members and loss of young people moving away and not affiliating with the church in their new locations;
b. theological differences (many conservatives began leaving before the conflict over homosexuality);
c. and upset over sexual and financial misconduct of some pastors;
and you have a better grasp of how we have lost members.
It was not mostly incompetent pastors. The requirements to become Elders set now by the Discipline and by Boards of Ordained Ministry are so high some of us would not now be acceptable!
What are the criteria and training required of Cabinet members? The Discipline just says what they are to do. The criteria and training to be considered as potential superintendents are left in the hands of the Bishop, sometimes with the help of the Cabinet. And what are the criteria and training required to be considered as possible episcopal candidates? They are nowhere to be found in the Discipline or most jurisdictions.
Based on the difference between preparations to be a pastor and preparations to be a Cabinet member, which are most likely to be incompetent?
Is there hope? Only if we define the problem correctly . . . or by the grace of God. More tomorrow.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Rev Jerry Eckert, AIA contact person
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Death by a Thousand Cuts (3 of 5)
Associates in Advocacy
Justice Always,
Reconciliation and Restoration Where Possible
Dear Bishop,
This series of letters is entitled “Death by a Thousand Cuts.” I’ve asserted that many good people left the church because of poor handling of complaints. It is a part of the outflow that ranges from demographics to theological differences to pastoral misconduct. For the blame to be laid only on pastors’ alleged incompetence is foolish.
Worse, it is part of a pattern born in the late 1970s which led to the decision by the 1980 General Conference to change the role of superintendents and bishops to being the complaint handlers. That change killed rapport between pastors and the ones who were supposed to be their pastors, mentors, and outside help in times of trouble. This happened at a time when bishops were choosing superintendents not from the pool of older experienced pastors but of younger more ambitious ones who knew how to be“team players.” These younger pastors could use the Cabinet to be stepping stones to large churches and to the episcopacy. Helping pastors was not their goal.
That breakdown in collegiality led to the ministry in our denomination becoming one of the worst workplaces imaginable. Pastors ended up with no support. The morale among clergy dropped precipitously. Without any assurance of back-up in an increasingly antagonistic environment, good pastors lost heart and average pastors found no help to improve. Blaming pastors for incompetence only further worsens the atmosphere. As I suggested earlier this year, check out the ones coming out of seminary. They are no longer the very best students. Those “brightest and best” are earning MDivs and applying them outside the church. The most talented don’t want any part of the “organized church.” The bishops have set in motion a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Please help end this foolish drive to presume pastors are incompetent. Pastors are unable to get away from criticism. Cabinets, particularly bishops, can slough off criticism and ignore it without any consequences. Pastors cannot.
If I have brought insight to the true problems of the denomination, you have already begun to see ways to ameliorate the situation. More tomorrow.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Rev Jerry Eckert, AIA contact person
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Death by a Thousand Cuts (4 of 5)
Associates in Advocacy
Justice Always,
Reconciliation and Restoration Where Possible
Dear Bishop,
Here are the problems: Cabinets have become antagonists to pastors rather than being colleagues in ministry. Being prosecutors rather than pastors, Cabinet members no longer think in terms of how to help pastors and churches succeed together. Instead, they undermine their pastors’ ministries by joining forces with complainers rather than evaluate the whole situation to see who is really causing trouble.
Cabinets tend to be inexperienced and are certainly lacking in training in personnel management. There are no requirements that episcopal and superintendent candidates be educationally qualified at anything like the military’s Officer Candidate Schools.
Cabinet members tend to only hold themselves accountable (which they rarely do) and resist anyone from outside to do it. If there are consequences for Disciplinary violations by bishops and superintendents, the ones harmed never see it.
Cabinet members, especially bishops, are wrapped up safely in financial packages way beyond 99 percent of the pastors as well as have power which distorts every contact with those same pastors. Thus it is easy to become insular and above criticism to the point where blaming others is the probable response when there are difficulties.
With few exceptions, my dealings with individual bishops are usually very good. Nearly everyone I have talked with has been gracious, attentive, and professional. What really scares me is the mindset with which the Council of Bishops influences individual bishops’ practices and worldview. Good bishops go along with that small handful who are controllers who set the tone and agenda of the Council of Bishops.
Possible solutions?
Tomorrow.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Rev Jerry Eckert, AIA contact person
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Death by a Thousand Cuts (5 of 5)
Associates in Advocacy
Justice Always,
Reconciliation and Restoration Where Possible
Dear Bishop,
To bring an end to the onerous workplace of our clergy and bring back morale, I think several things must be developed soon.
One: remove the Cabinet from handling complaints. Set up an independent judiciary within the Annual Conference separate from the Cabinet and Board of Ordained Ministry.
Two: allow that judiciary to handle complaints against Cabinet members so that accountability can help the harmed parties.
Three: have Cabinets have as their highest priority helping pastors and the churches to which they are appointed be successful together.
Four: learn the difference between opinions and facts so that in supervising, Cabinet members are not manipulated into siding with the complainers but approach conflicts in a fair and open minded manner. That may mean setting aside other tasks in order to have time to be helpful in difficult situations.
Five: the most wise and experienced pastors with no further ambitions than to help pastors succeed should be chosen for the Cabinet and episcopacy.
Six: candidates for Cabinets should have one to two years to attend training programs on administration, personnel management, and alternative dispute resolution systems before they are made bishops and superintendents.
Seven: the Council of Bishops needs to pay attention to whichever of its episcopal members or retirees are most like Pope Francis and St. Martin of Tours.
Will these happen? The consequences of something like them not happening are too dire to comprehend. There is a God so all things are possible.
In the covenant of the clergy,
Jerry
Rev Jerry Eckert, AIA contact person
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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