SagePage/FAQ Listing > When you can't be an advocate

Though it was heartbreaking to do so, on one occasion I felt compelled to shift from being a pastor's advocate to change to advocate for pastoral ministry in general. This happened because the pastor's behaviors were unbecoming to what we felt a pastor's practices and behaviors should be. They were not moral in nature, but rather ethical in nature. He had crossed some lines that just should not be crossed.

Even still, it was a difficult decision. In fact, we started personnel committee at 7:00 pm one evening and this pastor was the only item on the agenda. We did not finish until 6:00 am the next morning! No one wanted to take the steps we ended up taking, but in the end the group, and I, too, felt that we needed to advocate for the larger reputation of pastoral ministry. If we allowed him to continue his work as a pastor, it might well tarnish or make more difficult the ministry of pastors who did not have this particular pastor's issues.

Though I took my place beside the pastor when he appeared at committees and at his appeal, and I did support him personally in those instances, I voted for his removal on the personnel committee because I felt too many ethical lines had been crossed. Probably the most painful vote I ever cast.

Mic Thurber, MAUC Ministerial Director