Church Bullies

Earlier this year a prominent pastor was fired. The story of the dismissal has several threads, but the one that seems central is the authoritarian nature of his leadership. In sum, he was a bully. Pastors with that failing find it easy to justify their behavior by arguing that they are calling people to obedience. Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him, after all, and sometimes people need some spiritual arm twisting to get them to yield. Additionally, if the pastor is ‘successful’ (as this man clearly was: big church, published, international recognition, etc.), then all the more does he believe that he is to be listened to and obeyed.

The problem with church bullies is that they forget (or never really understood) that Christians are to serve God and their neighbor out of love, not fear. They also neglect to cultivate faith in their followers, preferring coercion. A good conscience and sincere faith is what Paul tells Timothy to cultivate (1 Timothy 1:5), and neither of those attributes are developed by coercion. When the apostle teaches elsewhere that “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23), he indicates that he is willing to risk misplaced faith, even “weak” faith, if the alternative is to force someone to do something they haven’t the grace to do. This is not letting people off easy, it is being mindful that they are followers of Jesus, not Paul. There is a something profoundly loving in Jesus saying that his “yoke is easy” and his “burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30).

As a hedge against this possibility, I think there’s a balance to be maintained in the pastor/congregation relationship, and it is revealed in Paul’s directing Timothy to “command and teach” the things that he has been passing on. To command is to give an authoritative order; to teach is to show how the order is fulfilled. And in the Kingdom of God, commands call for faith, and teaching is how faith is engendered. Without people being persuaded as to the necessity of following the order, some other motivation for obedience will interject itself, and the glory that rightly belongs to God will be stolen by man. A loving pastor should never want that to happen.

Strong, charismatic leaders have to be careful how they exercise the gifts with which they have been entrusted. If they do not serve in love they risk losing everything, becoming nothing (1 Corinthian 13:2). Sam Allberry, writing for the Gospel Coalition warns, “Paul doesn’t simply say that loveless giftedness is ‘compromised’ or ‘diminished in effectiveness.’ He doesn’t even talk about the resulting ministry, but only the person exercising the gifts—and they are nothing. Giftedness at the expense of character is never finally effective. No matter how dazzling in the eyes of men, loveless pastors vanish into nothingness in the sight of God.”

That being said, congregations also have a responsibility. God places shepherds over his sheep and the sheep need to listen to the voice of their shepherd. They have the obligation, of course, to be Bereans and make sure that what is being taught is in line with the revealed truth (Acts 17:11-12). But if it is, they need to heed the voice of Jesus being spoken through his ‘under-shepherd.’ Neither overbearing pastors nor obstinate parishioners are pleasing to God.