The Denver Post reports another story of a minister who has confessed to involvement in homosexual activity. This time it's the Reverend Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel, which I believe is in the Denver area.
I just have a couple of comments on things in the story that caught my eye. First of all, this guy was not politically motivated and didn't even take a position on Amendment 43 in Colorado. So, the story won't have as strong a political angle as the Ted Haggard scandal. But the issue was brought up at the close of the story with these words:
Given the Haggard story, Palmer was asked whether Barnes' fall from grace would
expose the evangelical community to further charges of hypocrisy."The criticism is valid if you look at perfection being the mark, because the next person who stands at our pulpit is going to be guilty of not being perfect as well," he said. "Does that mean we have to change what we say about the word of God? We can't do that."
There is one sense in which I would disagree with this - because a pastor is held to a higher moral standard (I Timothy 3) there is real hypocrisy whenever he falls into any sin. On the other hand that remark about "perfection being the mark of the church," has some merit.
The charge of hypocrisy is especially valid when a church positions itself as the morality cop of it's community. The Haggard scandal would have been scandalous under any circumstances but it was magnified many times over because of his position as moral crusader.
If the church has a good handle on the doctrine of total depravity and lives with the recognition that the Romans 7 story is their own story, then the hypocrisy charge loses some of it's weight, and it can be a great place of grace.
From what I can read of the story in the Post, this church is handling matters in an impressive fashion. They have taken the right disciplinary steps, yet this pastor is going to stay in the community, living amongst those he has sinned in front of, and will be ministered to by them. Kudos to the church.
There is another comment I thought was interesting:
Church elder Russ Pilcher said the reaction at services Sunday was largely concern
for the couple. "I thought, 'Where did I fall short in making myself so
unapproachable that he couldn't come to me?"' Pilcher I said.
I think elder Pilcher ought to relieve himself of guilt here - I think this is a systemic problem. I think ministry attracts people with deep seated personal problems and while being approachable is certainly necessary and helpful it's going to take more. I don't have the quote but I heard or read somewhere many years ago that some famous preacher, it might have been Billy Graham, suggested that 90% or more of those who go into the ministry do so to assuage their own guilt and fix their own personal problems.
I won't die on the figure there and I realize that it would be hard to do a scientific analysis on such a thing, but the point is well taken - there are lots of people who go into ministry to figure out and deal with their own personal issues. I know that was the case with me - when I first sensed a call to the ministry I think it was as sincere a sense of call as a totally depraved person like myself can probably have. But I have plenty of my own "baggage" as they say and over the years I looked at ministry as a way to deal with the baggage.
I don't know that there is any fool proof way to deal with that. One thing we could do is to go out of our way to tell those considering ministry that ministry will exacerbate and multiply their personal problems, not alleviate them. That doesn't mean you can't go into ministry if you have personal problems, in fact, our brokenness can be the means of our most effective ministry. We just have to relieve ourselves and our ministerial candidates of the illusion that ministry is an effective means of solving personal problems, if that is the motive.
Another thing we could do is go out of our way to take the glamour out of ministry. In our churches we tend to fawn over and congratulate those who are going into ministry and make full time ministry sound like the top of the spiritual food chain.
In one sense this is good - the bible is clear that ministers deserve respect, double honor even. On the other hand, James warns us that not many should be teachers. Paul's ministry gives plenty of examples that ought to disabuse us of the notion that ministry is a glamorous career option.
All of the heroes of the faith seems so glorious and courageous when we look back on their ministries, but that's not the whole story. Courage looks noble and glamorous when you read about it or watch a movie about it - it doesn't feel so great when you are in the midst of using it. In other words, we ought to tell the young ministers that, when the trials of ministry come, they won't feel about those trials the way they are feeling about them as they read and hear about them in the lives of others.
Trust me, I know what I am talking about this. My heart has often been stirred reading a biography and I have prayed to be like that person in trial. When similar trials actually come my way though (always of a much lesser degree), my heart never feels stirred, it only wants to flee, and flee very quickly.
Back to the point though - I am only trying to say that one way we can help people like Reverend Barnes is to help them understand that ministry is more likely to exacerbate their personal struggles than to cure them. And, if we can take some of the glamour out of ministry it may help ward off those who pursue it with wrong motives.
Oh yeah, one more thought. We live in a sinful world full of sinful people - no matter how hard we try we can't prevent all sin. So, we can lighten up on all the handwringing, the what-ifs, if-only's and post scandal guilt that Christians and churches so often feel. When the sin hits is one of the best times to apply grace.
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