For Pastors - Chapter on 'Dragons in the church'

Some church members seem to go out of their way to give their minister a hard time. This is a common phenomenon. Kent Philpott shares some reflections about this . . .

'Kent, have you got a couple of hours? I've got a real mess here.' Seymour, pastor of a nearby church, of another denomination, sounded excited and disturbed.
'You want me to come over?'
'Thanks, but no. I don't want anybody to know we talked. It involves you.'
Okay, now I'm interested. Is it about Ed?'
'That's it. How about I meet you at the high school football field?'

Ed had just left the church I pastored, mad and vengeful. His parting words to me went something like this: 'You don't preach the Word. You are a hopeless liberal. You are a poor shepherd. You won't preach the truth because you're afraid you'll run off the big givers. I am leaving and I want my tithes for this year back.' Ed had been a friend for ten years.

Many years ago my friend and former pastor, and the long time pastor of Hillside Church of Marin, Prince Altom, gave me a book by Marshall Shelley titled Well-intentioned Dragons, published by Word in 1985. The subtitle is 'Ministering to problem people in the church'. The dedication to that book is: 'To those scorched by dragons but not reduced to ashes nor hardened beyond feeling, who in the face of beastliness maintain their humanity and divine calling, this book is dedicated.'

I recommend this book though it may now be out of print. It helped me realise there were people in the church, often very well-intentioned people, who could make my life miserable. Unhappily, I, as any pastor will, have encountered many such dragons.

Battling the dragons, perhaps more than anything else, beats the pastor down. It can bring depression, discouragement, panic attacks, and the urge to quit.

Every born again member of the church has a fallen nature; each Christian is a sinner. We are aware there is sin in the world, but the wise and mature pastor must realise that there will be sin in the church as well.

Reinhold Niebuhr, a German theologian who came to Detroit, Michigan, after having fled Hitler's Nazis, defined sin as 'the will to power' in The Nature and Destiny of Man. Niebuhr taught that the fallen nature manifests itself in a grasping for power over people and events, even over nature and God. This hunger for power is often the motivation of the 'dragon' though it always, or almost always, will be unconscious.

Lust for power

Many people lack significant meaning in their day-to-day routine, but the church presents an arena where they can experience and exert a measure of power and authority. A lust for power over people and events may be ex-pressed through a personal attack against a pastor or another leader in the church, or it may be directed against a form or structure that exists in the church. There are so many ways disturbances can occur that it seems impossible to list them all. That attacks will come should be no surprise. The challenge is learning to cope with and survive the attacks of the dragons.

Let me say, too, that dragons can change. Dragons have made transitions, become teachable, submitted to discipline, and abided by the counsel of Scripture. Every war with a dragon is not lost; dragons need not be slain nor slay.

I hesitate, however, and am uncertain at this point, because I have not always dealt effectively with the dragons. This chapter is probably written ten years prematurely. With that caveat in mind, here are a few suggestions.

One, when a dragon strikes, react slowly; let some time go by before any response is made. Take time to pray about and think through the circumstances. Do as little as possible at the outset.

Two, keep close counsel. Relating the details of an attack to others within the church may simply serve to spread the flames.

Three, I especially advise no letter writing. I have written a few letters in my time, and, with rare exception, I have regretted it.

Four, things will often 'blow over' without doing anything about the situation at all. Many problem people will take themselves right out of the church, sometimes with a few others in tow, but that is all right. We talk about 'blessed subtractions'.

Five, there is the potential of using the problem resolution process of Matthew 18. If the war with the dragon continues for some time, this is the way to go. However, the first step, the 'one on one' meeting may already be obsolete in that other people have already become involved. It may be beyond the small group process, too. This has been my experience as I am sometimes the last to know that war has been declared. It may be that the best that can be done is to lay the situation before the church's clearing house, the church council, or some other board. If the problem continues unabated, then it must come before the entire congregation.

To complicate matters, the person or persons acting the dragon may have a semblance of a valid argument. For instance, I love and value Sunday school, yet I have not been successful in putting one together. I have tried several times and failed each time and have been attacked for this, and consequently the attacker has a point. However, my worth as pastor is not based simply on my ability or inability to put together a Sunday school. There need not have been a war at all, but the lust for power and authority caused the escalation (see James 4.1-2). If conditions are beyond the point of 'agreeing to disagree', which is often the case, someone will leave the church.

Nearly resigned

I recall three or four people who left Miller Avenue in a less than amiable manner. Once I nearly left myself. And when I think of these people I am still troubled. I wish I could go back and redo, or undo, what I did. For better or worse I usually act and that is why now, with hindsight, I suggest doing as little as possible as the main battle strategy. With the exception where an individual is acting the dragon by preaching, teaching, or otherwise expounding false and dangerous doctrine, less is best.

I have rambled a bit here and this chapter overlaps some others, but I think it is worth it to recognise that there will be dragons and that we will be damaged. We will be struck by blows. This is why we have the armour Paul describes in Ephesians 6. If the armour were not needed it would not be provided. There will be wars with the dragons and we are equipped to face them.

* Have you ever been a 'dragon' yourself?
* Can you recount an instance where you witnessed a dragon in action?
* What ought to be a pastor's attitude towards dragons?

This article is a chapter from 'For Pastors' by Kent Philpott, Earthen Vessel Publications, and reprinted with permission of the author.

Kent Philpott is pastor of Miller Avenue Church, Mill Valley, California.