How a Pastor Should Handle A Problem in the Church
Every church has problems. Because the church is comprised of people, we will have problems to deal with periodically. Therefore, I want to suggest these things to help you deal with problems when they arise in your church:
1. Be Biblical: Handle the problem in a biblical way.
Take a biblical approach to bringing resolution to the problem, which usually involves confronting the problem, not ignoring it.
Be careful listening to the voices of other people so much that you fail to listen to God’s voice through the Scripture. As a pastor, you are to always remind your leadership and staff of the biblical approach. If you do not, perhaps no one else will.
2. Exhibit Leadership: When a problem arises that affects the fellowship of the church, it has now become a problem for you.
As a pastor, you oversee the fellowship. No one else has been called to this leadership. You cannot will problems way or sweep them under the carpet; you have to be the one to lead through them biblically and strongly. Therefore, you must get to the root of the problem so you can lead through it biblically.
3. Gather Your Leadership: When a problem rises up in the church, gather a team of leaders that can walk through it with you.
If you are in a smaller membership church, this means that you must gather your lay-leaders that can walk with you through the problem. You need their input, support, and prayer. They can also help bring balance to your perspective.
If you are in a larger membership church, certain members of your staff team can walk through the problem with you. Depending on the problem and the way your church is governed, you may also need to gather lay-leaders to walk with you. If nothing else, informing them can be helpful in the long term.
4. Bring Your Church Along: While this may be rare, there are times when specific church problems need to be brought before the church.
The level of the problem will determine whether your church needs to be informed publicly. Again, while this may be rare, there are times when we need to bring the church along. Usually, if it comes to this, others are already aware. How the issue is dealt with reflects on the integrity of the church.
Rather than mentioning specific problems, let me just say this: It is through these moments of crisis when leadership is often born. Always be biblical. Seek godly counsel. Be wise. Move slowly when needed. Move quickly if needed. This is why you need others around you as a leader.
5. Be Prayerful: As a pastor, depending on God is far wiser than depending on yourself.
While prayer cannot keep you problem free, God can use it to deliver you of many problems. Prayer moves the heart of God and the hearts of people. I have prayed away many problems. I have seen God step in and do miraculous things. I have been on the brink of having to deal with a problem, but then God delivered.
Prayer also changes our heart and view of the problem. We become wiser when we pray. We become more compassionate when we pray. We become more courageous when we pray. As a pastor, one of the wisest things you can ever do is pray daily through challenges you are facing.
Pastor, God will see you through. Depend on Him.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Hope Even After Failure
Wouldn’t it be nice if we never sinned again after we received Christ? What joy it would be to immediately enter a state of sinlessness. No sorrow, no repentance, no regrets.
In His wisdom, God decided that incremental growth, slow conformation into Christ likeness, would bring Him glory. As a result, we often find ourselves in a roller coaster pattern of Christian advancement. And, because we often forget the grace of God, failure leaves us feeling despair.
In the Spring 2014 unit of Bible Studies for Life, Pete Wilson says it like this:
“When we come to faith in Christ, we realize there is nothing we can do to earn a right relationship with God. We fail, but Jesus gives us hope. After we become Christians, we still fail, but we sometimes chastise ourselves for failing. We think: If I were a Christian, I wouldn’t do that. The same grace we needed for salvation is the same grace we need to live it out. The hope we have in Christ is grounded in grace, and we need to experience that grace day-by-day.”1
Peter’s Failure
One of the best known stories of this kind of restored hope is in the life of the Apostle Peter. Peter was that disciple of Jesus who seemed to always be the first to answer. He was the one who stepped out of the boat to walk on the water. He was the one who “confessed” Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. But, he also was involved in one of the greatest personal failures in the entire Bible.
Near the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, as His crucifixion drew near, He warned that all His followers would abandon Him.2 Peter, in his typical style, assured the Lord of his steadfastness, promising to stand with Jesus even if all the others ran away.3 Jesus responded, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”4
Scripture records Peter did indeed deny knowing Jesus three times in a single night. All the more poignant, all the denials took place in the timeframe of Jesus’ trial.5
Peter, the Bible says, wept bitterly at his failure.6
Hope Extended
One might expect Peter to be ruined, overcome by his own inability to live up to his bragging. And that might have been the end result had Jesus not extended hope to Peter in a very forthright way.
After His resurrection from the dead, two of Jesus’ followers met an angel at the empty tomb. The angel said to them, “Go tell His disciples and Peter” that He is going to Galilee and would meet them there.7
Just a few weeks later, God allowed Peter to bring the message of the resurrection on the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 people were saved. What a restoration of hope in the life of this one who had failed so badly.
Do you feel as if you have failed God? Listen to our Savior encourage you to follow Him. Do not despair; let hope in! There is hope for you.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
1– Bible Studies for Life, Let Hope In, by Pete Wilson (Emphasis in original)
2– Matthew 26:31
3– Matthew 26:33
4– Matthew 26:34
5– John 18:15-27
6– Matthew 26:75
7– Mark 16:7
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.