Four churches I know have forced the resignation of their pastors during the month of August: Riverside in New York, Shiloh Baptist in Washington, DC, Victory Baptist, in Lexington, and First Christian in Winchester. This is not good news for these pastors; and it is discouraging news for young preachers.
These young preachers, of course, do not follow this sort of news the way we do, and I am grateful. If they were as aware of all of this as I am it just might open a valve in their spirits and drain the enthusiasm right out of them. It is hard enough for me to encourage them in this vocation knowing what I know and seeing what I see.
Not that other professions are any easier to negotiate: there are pitfalls of personality, power, and perspective in every field of endeavor. But when it happens in the church–rudeness, meanness, anger, retaliation, conflict–we tend to think it at cross purposes with the mission of the congregation. In business and politics and even community life: but not in the church.
But yes, in the church: all the young preachers that attend our camps and preach at our festivals will learn to deal with the dark side of congregational life. It is nothing more or less than the organizational expression of human depravity. It is sin; it is sad; it is the sorrowful reality that faces these bright, young preachers.
Preaching must go on in the midst of this perversion: of power plays, of personal vendettas, of public slugfests that ignore the gospel of Jesus and embrace the ways of the world. But: “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”