The Transparent Pastor; When a Pastor struggles with an addiction, who needs to know?
By Jerry Law
This article wrestles with how transparent leaders in the church should be with their addictions. The example of a pastor addicted to alcohol and a pastor addicted to pornography is used. In both cases, the two pastors came to a point of realizing they desperately needed help.
The question of whether or not they should confess to the whole congregation became an issue. Here the author makes a distinction between two kinds of honesty that I thought were helpful. “Brutal honesty is self-centered and focused on saying whate-ever is true that makes me feel good or relieves my guilt. Rigorous honesty, on the other hand, also respects the effects of this disclosure on others.” (49)
If you are a pastor with an addiction and you want to be honest the article recommends a “progressive disclosure” policy. Disclosure starts with transparency with a spouse (if spouse is involved) a mentor, and an accountability group. Eventually it expands to a church board, and after an established period of sobriety (discerned by the church board) it is disclosed to the congregation. The pro in this approach is the potential to minister to others in addiction and help them get help. The con is that some people may well leave the church, with an understandable sense of a breach of trust. I would vote for transparency in moderation, saying things in a way that help others – not hurt them.
It is not enough for a Pastor to confess to God. We need to be rigorously honest with others.
Got this one!
ReplyDeletePreston, I agree with the progressive disclosure process. I too think that we need to be accountable to others. It should start with being accountable to God, to our spouse, to a close knit friend and the a small circle such as a share group. This accountably is important for growth in Christ and growth through others. However, I will say that there are going to be times when this progressive model might not work. For example; in the case of a church down in Sunbury, the pastor was accused, charged and ultimately pleaded guilty to the rape of a teenage girl that he was counseling. Had he had accountability partners early on, he may never have gone as far as he did. Once he did though, it was far too late to start confessing to anyone because the damage was done. He took the path of denying it all along until the proof was so overwhelming that he had to confess, by then it was too late. His failure to implement a plan with others to be held accountable brought on his own demise. It is a lot easier to seek help for sinful thoughts than it is to seek grace after a felony is committed.
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