"Nip It in The Bud" - Christianity Today

“Pray for me,” Jed told a fellow staff member, as he headed out to speak at one of our weekend services. “This one may get me fired.”

Jed was our youth pastor. His youth and teaching ministry had taken off since he joined our staff. However, over the course of the previous couple of months, I began to notice him challenging my authority. The challenges came in various forms, from showing disdain toward key decisions I made to blatantly violating church policy.

I knew that responding quickly was crucial. As Barney Fife memorably said, “You gotta nip it in the bud.” So I talked to Jed as soon as the pattern emerged. He denied it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

I told him to pray about it and to be more mindful of his behavior. But the pattern of disrespect and insubordination continued. In the following weeks, I decided to dig a little deeper. What was causing this behavior? Did he have an issue with other staff members? Was it something personal against me? Neither, as it turned out.

Jed had recently undergone a profound change in his theology, one that put him at odds with our church’s theological stances (and, in my opinion, with orthodox Christian beliefs).

I decided to clarify our views on certain doctrines and ask him if he was still able to stand behind the church’s positions. I handed him a white paper that outlined our church’s beliefs about salvation.

His response was unequivocal.

“I wholeheartedly disagree with this document,” Jed said with disgust, throwing the paper on my desk for emphasis.

That was the deciding incident. We could no longer have Jed on staff, and I dismissed him from his position.

It was a difficult situation, but Jed was openly defiant of the church’s authority and we were at an impasse. Failing to act would have only exacerbated the problem and sown dissension. At the end of the day, any consistent challenging or disrespecting of authority in the church simply cannot be tolerated.

—Eric Rojas is executive pastor at Christ Community Church, a multi-site church in suburban Chicago.