By Eileen E. <mailto:eflynn@statesman.com> Flynn
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
How churches deal with the news can affect whether members are disillusioned
or drawn together.
When the Rev. Michael Lewis, pastor of Great Hills Baptist Church, got word
this summer that his education minister had been arrested on charges of
sexual assault of a minor, he made sure the news got out to his congregation
fast.
Lewis and other Great Hills leaders began calling members at home to let
them know before they found out from the media or through the grapevine. At
the next Sunday service, the church provided grief counselors.
"There's a sense of disappointment, a sense of betrayal . . . when someone
that you know and you love and respect makes a moral choice that is
certainly harmful to the church and most of all injures the Lord and his
testimony," Lewis said last week. "There was a lot of weeping, a lot of
mourning on my behalf and the congregation's behalf."
Sexual scandals, which recently have plagued national and local churches,
challenge clergy members both to restore the faith in church leadership and
to show concern for the accusers. Such scandals can be especially damaging
for evangelical churches, whose leaders often are outspoken on sexual
morality and whose mission hinges on spreading the Gospel and making new
followers of Jesus.
Since the arrest of the Great Hills minister, Jerry Dale Carver, average
Sunday attendance - usually about 2,000 - has declined, which Lewis said
might be a result of the assault charges. Carver is awaiting trial.
Though different in nature, the recent revelation of evangelical giant Ted
Haggard's trysts with a gay masseur rocked not only his 14,000-member New
Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., but the 30 million-member National
Association of Evangelicals, which he led. The news was especially damaging
because Haggard had spoken out against gay marriage and had emphasized the
Bible's condemnation of homosexuality.
These scandals are nothing new, said Mark Jordan, professor of religion at
Emory University in Atlanta. Church leaders have engaged in sexual
misconduct for generations, he said, but 50 or 100 years ago, the details
were kept quiet. "Now," he said, "this is played out publicly."
Jordan, whose research has focused primarily on sex scandals involving Roman
Catholic priests, said the "congregational reaction . . . is not
denominationally specific."
"I think there's a grieving process a congregation goes through when there's
this kind of disclosure," he said.
That has been true at Great Hills, Lewis said, and at Northwest Hills United
Methodist Church, where a youth volunteer was recently sentenced to prison
for sexual assault.
The Rev. Bill Henderson, the senior pastor, received the news of Charles
"Chip" Pinkard's arrest in early April. Like Lewis, he immediately assembled
a team to release information to the congregation and had counselors on hand
for Sunday services. Pinkard's accuser was not a member of the church, but
Henderson said he was sensitive to the concerns of parents whose children
had interacted with the volunteer.
Members, he said, seemed eager to follow the direction of Jesus by visiting
Pinkard in prison, supporting his mother and praying for the victim.
"I think the congregation has appreciated our willingness to continue to be
faithful and care for the one who has given so much care through the years
here," he said. "We did not abandon him. We did not judge him. We did not
defend a crime if he committed it, but we did continue to care for him and
his family."
Henderson said the church has not lost members because of the charges.
A congregation's response to misconduct by a church leader can vary
depending on circumstances, scholars say. In some ways, an accusation of
impropriety from outside the church can be easier for the faithful to
rationalize, Jordan said.
"The Ted Haggard case was less painful than it might have been for the
congregation because the 'other man' could be portrayed so easily as a
demonic tempter," he said. "Things are much harder on a congregation when
the other party is a believing member - especially a member who is
vulnerable because of age, character or circumstance."
A congregation might feel a more acute betrayal because of the "inherent
power imbalance" between clergy and members, said Rev. Allan Cole, assistant
professor of pastoral care at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
"When clergy cross that line with church members . . . people wonder if they
could do that with us, what else could they do?" he said.
Jordan said the revelation of a scandal presents a "moment of enormous risk
for denominational leadership."
If leaders don't respond well, he said, believers can become so angry and
disillusioned that they leave the church.
But if church leaders respond quickly and honestly, pastors say the
experience can draw a congregation closer and even inspire outsiders to
join. Lewis said a new member who had been visiting Great Hills before
Carver's arrest decided to commit to the church after he saw how it handled
the situation. He said the day he announced Carver's arrest, 12 new people
stepped forward to join.
At Northwest Hills, the pain of losing a beloved member forced others in the
congregation to examine more closely their Christian calling.
"No one around here is boasting perfection," Henderson said. "We're all glad
for forgiveness. How do we build or grow in response to this? How do we
respond with faith and trust and love and forgiveness? It has been, if you
will, a laboratory experiment, a learning experience. It's been, 'OK, let's
pull together and be who we're called to be.' "