In my denomination, we have a democratic form of church government, which includes regular church-wide business meetings. Matthew 5:11-12 says, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” The “rejoice and be exceedingly glad” part is difficult, but Jesus knew people would persecute preachers when He said this. Jesus spoke about this in the Sermon on the Mount.
Yet some of those same people have no problem going behind a pastor’s back to undermine the authority God has given to him. I would also say if you ask people within the church if they believe God calls a person to pastor a particular church, they would say yes if you ask if they believe God tells a pastor what to preach, they would also say yes. The church doesn’t belong to the pastor, and it doesn’t belong to the members. I don’t do well with a CEO pastor, and I detest situations where a pastor is bullied and abused. I have known pastors who had a CEO mentality, and I have known churches where people beat up their good-natured and loving pastor just because they could.
Let me first say that the pastor’s authority should be balanced. I would imagine it happens in most churches at some point. If you have experienced, or are now experiencing, a situation where a congregant or a group of congregants try to undermine your authority as a pastor, you are not alone. This subject is difficult for me because the very thought of it makes me ill.
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