Another recent newsflash, another “fallen” pastor—one who resigned or was forced from ministry due to gross sin—“restored” to ministry after undergoing unspecified counseling and temporary leave of absence.
On this occasion the “restored” minister had been credibly accused of sexual assault by another pastor’s wife. The story was revealed earlier this year in the Sexual Abuse Task Force Report from the Southern Baptist Convention. Religion News Service has the “restoration” story.
The purpose of the piece is not to relitigate the facts of the case, but to address a broader picture of which Johnny Hunt is only one part.
Is there a biblical basis for a “fallen” pastor, and if there is, can such a pastor be restored to pastoral ministry?
The myth of “fallen”
With the prevalent use of the term, one could not be faulted for concluding that Bible must have pretty clear guidelines as to what constitutes a fall for a pastor versus the temptations to sin that all people face and to which all people succumb at one time or another.
If a pastor struggles against lustful thoughts for years, does that constitute a fall? What about a proneness to greed? Is that a fall? What about the pride that looks from one ministry opportunity to a bigger one then a bigger one until finally the ladder-climber weeps that there are no more church fields left to conquer?
What about adultery with a parishioner? A non-parishioner? What about sexual assault on an adult? A child? What if there is a credible accusation, but no legal action due to statute of limitations?
What about embezzlement or fraud?
What about assault with a deadly weapon or murder? Laziness?
It may come as a shock to some the Bible doesn’t address fallen pastors. It does not use the term, give examples of such pastors, nor how to deal with them, nor what if anything constitutes restoration.
Many point to leaders in scripture like Moses, David, Peter, or Paul who made mistakes and yet were used by God, often in substantial, miraculous ways. Are these legitimate comparisons?
Peter, who would go on to become one of the very Apostles, was at the time of his denial of Jesus still a young believer (John 6:69) who, with the other disciples, had been known to struggle with understanding exactly what Jesus’ kingdom was about.
Few if any of the pastors today who are accused of sexual misconduct are young in the faith. None are in a cold Judean courtyard under threat of literal arrest for admitting they are part of Jesus’ crew. Some have covered their sex-crimes, gone on with their ministry lives, leaving devasted victims trying to sort out their lives, some even abandoning the faith, while the pastors themselves bask in the spotlight supposed champions of the very faith they wickedly leveraged to fulfill their carnal desires.
The lesson of Peter is not that fallen Christian leaders can be restored to the pastorate; it’s that any follower of Jesus who genuinely repents—even of denying Christ—can be restored to the fellowship of the body. Humility, not hubris, should mark the genuinely sorrowful leader. The Parking Team, not the pulpit, is a more appropriate place to show the fruit of repentance.
But what about his giftedness?
I often hear sentiments like this, “But, consider how gifted a leader [fallen pastor] is! Should he really be relegated to the sidelines for the rest of his life rather than be put back in the game?”
In a word, yes and no. Many Christians are in the game who are not playing quarterback.
The kingdom of God existed for eternity before Pastor Whoever was even born and it will exist for eternity after he draws his last breath. God uses those who are nobodies in the eyes of the world all the time; his Kingdom is built on Have Nots.
In his otherwise helpful book, LEAD, Paul David Tripp uses this same, flawed argument repeated here in his weekly devotion:
[W]e must never abandon our functional belief in the restorative power of God’s right-here, right-now grace. I know too many fallen pastors who were cast away and are now supporting their families doing 9-5 jobs outside of the church because we didn’t practice the same gospel that we preach.
“Because we didn’t practice the same gospel we preach?” Restoring an offender to the fellowship of the body—not the office of pastor—is the hope of the gospel. David’s sin regarding Bathsheba never affected his kingship; there was simply nothing to be restored regarding his position. Though his contrite repentance is a pattern all Christians should follow, Psalm 51 is not and was not intended to be a pattern for restoring disqualified pastors to ministry.
Restoration Cottage Industry
I have not a few disagreements with John MacArthur’s theology, yet his writing from 2009 on this subject is instructive:
Some time ago I received a CD that disturbed me greatly. It was a recording of the recommissioning service of a pastor who had made national news by confessing to an adulterous affair. After little more than a year of “counseling and rehabilitation,” this man was returning to public ministry with his church’s blessing.
That is happening everywhere. Restoration teams—equipped with manuals to instruct the church on how to reinstate their fallen pastor—wait like tow-truck drivers on the side of the highway, anticipating the next leadership “accident”. Our church has received inquiries wondering if we have written guidelines or a workbook to help restore fallen pastors to leadership. Many no doubt expect that a church the size of ours would have a systematic rehabilitation program for sinning leaders.
The Restoration Cottage Industry comes perilously close to being a means of elevating back to public ministry those whose greater need is being restored in their private life. The complex web of relationships damaged by the revelation of a long-buried sexual assault or a newly admitted adultery must be given time to heal, if they are to heal. Smearing the spiritual equivalent of triple antibiotic cream over the ruptured organs, shredded muscle, and dangling tendons of one flesh ripped asunder is biblical malpractice.
When a pastor is being tempted sexually or tempted to use their power and opportunity to assault minor or tempted to steal money from the church bank account or tempted to abandon home responsibilities for the conference circuit, the first thought should not be, “I can be restored.” The first thought should be, “This will destroy the ministry and family God has entrusted to me and irreparably damage the faith of some of Jesus’ little ones. A millstone could well await me.”
The gifts and callings of God may be without repentance, but how they are practiced can vary widely. Giftedness can never be used as an excuse for putting an offender back in the limelight. That is more of celebrity than of Spirit. Humbug, I tell you.
Disqualified pastors
Rather than “fallen” the Bible speaks of disqualification. It was one of Paul’s concerns about himself. He did not want to become a ministry castaway, an evangelistic SS Minnow beached on a deserted, unmapped island. He did not speak of how to be restored to ministry, but how to avoid losing it in the first place: discipline.
Rather than restoration, Paul writes of qualifications in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:5–9. In the former he says an elder must “have a good reputation among outsiders,” which is indisputably not the case of a pastor who disqualifies himself and is propped back up after a quick exit stage left. In the latter Paul says elders should be “holy, self-controlled” neither of which is the case when a pastor sexually assaults a person, is an unrepentant porn consumer, or is known for treating his family like serfs in the Kingdom of Self.
These are not only qualifications to become an elder, but to remain one.
Imagine a pastor who murders the deacon chairman in cold blood with overwhelming evidence of guilt. It’s headline news. Now imagine the pastor gets off on a bizarre technicality despite being a known murderer. The pastor’s reputation is ruined in the community. How is restoration possible?
Or a pastor who embezzles a hundred thousand dollars of offerings and loses it all at the dog track. After serving a few years in the clink, leading Bible studies regularly, is that pastor ready to be restored?
In this writer’s opinion, a pastor who commits a disqualifying act is shown to be unprepared for ministry and should be treated—in the least—like a new believer upon whom hands should not be quickly laid. If you would not commission/ordain one to be a pastor a year after coming to faith, neither should one be “recommissioned” so soon after defiling the faith.
I’m not prepared to say that every fallen pastor is a wolf among the sheep, though some certainly are. Some simply succumbed after years of neglecting their own walk with God or in an actual moment of weakness, blindsided by the working of Satan. But even in those cases, the severity of the breach is witness to the severity of the need. A few months at Restoration Spa are not the answer when a few years on the back side of the desert might be more appropriate.
Even with allowing that slim possibility for restoration, that is not what we usually see today when fallen pastors are whisked away for “counseling and healing” from people not often around when the original offense took place. Current Southern Baptist Convention president Bart Barber notes this problem:
For those Southern Baptist churches who practice ordination to ministry, the authority to ordain is generally considered to arise from the congregation, but no indication has been given that any of these four congregations have consented to or given their authority to this process. Also, Jeremy Morton and FBC Woodstock have explicitly stated that they had nothing to do with this process. Although Johnny Hunt’s church membership has apparently been at Hiland for several months now, FBC Woodstock is the church at which the offensive actions took place. The idea that a council of pastors, assembled with the consent of the abusive pastor, possesses some authority to declare a pastor fit for resumed ministry is a conceit that is altogether absent from Baptist polity and from the witness of the New Testament. Indeed, it is repugnant to all that those sources extol and represent.
fides quaerens intellectum
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