Stand Your Ground

A pastor must claim authority to lead effectively. People need to sense that the person setting the vision for the church is both competent and confident. If a pastor does not provide authoritative leadership, his or her ministry can be undermined. I have observed highly qualified and motivated pastors become ineffective because of their inability to claim their pastoral authority. Sometimes it takes pastors being confronted with challenges or crises in the church before they come to realize this necessity.

I recall a time when I selected a layperson to serve in a high profile leadership role in our church. My judgment of this person’s qualifications was immediately questioned. The person who had concerns threatened to raise the issue at the church meeting where the election would take place, if I did not withdraw the person’s name. That ultimatum put me in a difficult position. Should I go ahead with my nomination and risk having the nominee be humiliated at the meeting? Or should I acquiesce to the dissenter, have my authority undermined, and forestall the installation of a promising lay leader? Neither option was acceptable.

So I took a different course of action. I discerned that the dissenter’s motivations were not only unfounded but tainted by ulterior motives. So I met with this person and said, “If you publicly or privately undermine my decision and cast doubt on this nominee’s leadership and abilities, I will divulge your unfounded reasons for this objection and the personal issues that I believe are motivating you to the church committee. We had several intense conversations. At one point, this person even threatened to leave the church.

But in the end the meeting went forward. Both the nominee and dissenter were present. The elections took place without drama or disruptions, and the lay leader I nominated was granted a leadership role. The dissenter is still a member and we have not had any problems since that tense exchange. The elected lay leader continues to do an outstanding job!

—Tracy Malone is senior pastor of Gary United Methodist Church in Wheaton, Illinois.