djchuang.com - Latest Comments in Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

supasamie — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:28:40 -0000

Hey Guys, I think this is one of those mission critical conversations we need to continue to have!! Dave, thanks for bringing it up bro! Personally, I don't have enough fingers even if I'm counting with both of my hands when it comes to cases of moral failures of our brothers in ministry that was brought to my attention personally or indirectly in recent memory. And ironically if not all, most times I seen most Asian American churches ( and non-Asian) enforce no disciplinary actions whatsoever! The worse that the leadership does is fire a Pastor quietly ( Or most of the time simply deny it or completely ignore it!) Then these pastors get hired by another Church because Asian churches for some odd reasons do not check any references from previous churches for some odd reason!!!!!???? ( still scratching my head with that one!). Here's the punch-line folks: We must return to true "Biblical" spiritual maturity and value integrity and character over Talent and Spiritual gifting! The truth is we might not verbalize it, but the church today is not that much different from Professional Sports or Hollywood: We simply value gifts over integrity and the results have been detrimental to our churches. The church is really sick and honestly it's up to us as pastors to a create a system that promotes confession and accountability among us. This is one of the conversations we're going to have in the Third Lausanne Congress in Cape-town South Africa in 2010 called by Billy Graham. http://www.lausanne.org/cape-town-2010; how the church has drastically failed in discipleship and what we need to do to change that. Lastly, I leave you guys with a thought i had for a while.... Every time I go to the bathroom in a public eater, I'm convicted by the Spirit by a short sign and try my best to apply it my own life: "All employees must wash their hands before going back to work". I wonder what would happen to our churches if we all took that assertion seriously and lived a confessed life with one another?! ( Maybe Revival, I dream!)

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

MDSF — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:24:50 -0000

I might gently suggest on the basis of my limited experience with pastors who ruin their ministry through sexual sin that pastors who are otherwise spiritually healthy and slip into sexual sin are the exception rather than the rule; they're typically unaccountable generally, either pathological personalities or "Moses model" types who genuinely believe that a pastor shouldn't be accountable to anyone for anything.

Any sort of sexual sin is just an easily identifiable transgression and much less a matter of opinion than e.g. greed, joylessness, or contempt for fellow believers; as a result churches tend to let their pastor off the hook for these other sins, and treat him as "other" or "special" until he commits a sin that is an easily identifiable event with an identifiable victim.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Matt Branaugh — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:54:28 -0000

DJ--Thanks for tackling this tough topic. We surveyed Christian women leaders last year, asking about interactions with pastors and men in ministry. It seems the problem of sexual misconduct in churches exists, although I wouldn't characterize it as rampant. But it certainly opened my eyes: http://www.christianitytoday.com/yc/2008/julaug...

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

djchuang — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:45:33 -0000

Thanks, all, for the comments and retweets!

I know that we know what we're supposed to do, what the Bible says, how we want to be serious about our faith, how we have to take precautions. And the examples of those who have fallen before us should be a wake-up call. And, of course, this topic applies for pastors and non-pastors alike, men and women alike.

But with all of that freely available and we're conscious of, what doesn't get voiced enough is:

(1) LEADERS who acknowledge their own frailty and WEAKNESS while they are in that leadership role, granted not share it every Sunday from the pulpit but share it often and regularly with a trusted few,

(2) showing how to CONFESS for those who are in the midst of an affair and feel like they're stuck and choose to keep trying to hide it and get away with it, if the survey stats are any indicator of those who are living a double life.

Warning each other to stop, to take precautions, to have accountability is good, and yet I wonder if that's becoming a familiarity that breeds contempt. If this blog post can stop one affair that's about to happen, and gets a person who is in the middle of an affair to stop and confess, then it'll all be worth it.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

djchuang — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:36:43 -0000

Steve, thanks for your comment.

While a phobia of roles or even relationships is not entirely logical, BOTH are needed to keep us on the road of sexual purity. It's not an easy road for us as sexual beings with sex drives, and less easy in the sex-saturated society of the Western world.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Tim Archer — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:28:10 -0000

Great article!

On the stressful nature of ministry: my mom had a cousin who left the ministry because it was too stressful. He became an air traffic controller. [true story]

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

charles hill — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:30:56 -0000

great work brutha!

thanks for a well thought-out and timely article...that was amazing.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Jason Curlee — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:21:14 -0000

Great post and wisdom DJ. Love the part where you said "we are always attracted to what is missing in our lives"

That is so why husbands and wives should spend a lot of energy on chasing after each other...especially in ministry.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Scott Williams — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:29:32 -0000

Run, Flee, Stop...

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

colinwong — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:51:17 -0000

Great article! Good find on the stats from ministryhealth.net.

Re: Pastors. Affairs. Power. Ethics.

Steve — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 22:11:45 -0000

Initially, the Leadership survey is disturbing, but then upon reconsideration I have to say it's encouraging. It proves to me that when a given group of people devote themselves to sexual purity, they succeed famously compared to society as whole.

Maybe our post-modern phobia of rules is not entirely logical?