Bullying the pastor can be a growth industry within churches, but even pastors bully other pastors, and Rick Warren’s ears must be burning.
Even pastors have their groupies. You know what a “groupie” is: an ardent follower and admirer. An enthusiastic young fan, often a young woman who follows rock groups around. Let’s face it, there are certain pastors who are in the same category as rock stars. They rock!
Often a “groupie” will sit in the same section of the auditorium as the pastor, maybe a few rows back from the front row. It gives them a certain feeling of “involvement” with the head guy, like being in the inner circle.
I know because a few times, when I attended Willow Creek church, I sat in that section behind Bill Hybels. There was a TV monitor built into the front of the stage that senior leaders could watch without straining their necks to look up at the stage.
On occasion when the words of the praise songs on the screens got out of sync with the singers, Bill would turn his head to Lee Strobel or John Ortberg, whoever was sitting with him, and his lips would begin moving. I don’t lip read, but I can only imagine that it was something like: “Can’t we get that fixed?” or “What does it take to make that right?”
But pastors have their detractors too. A year ago we ran an article with the author of a new book on Rick Warren, and for us it was a good story. Well, call me naïve, but I thought the whole world, like me, loved Rick Warren. Not one pastor.
“You highlighted a man on your cover that is a traitor to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” this fellow wrote me of the Saddleback pastor. This individual didn’t like Warren’s friendship with the President.
“Rick Warren may be revered by some, but not by those of us who base our opinions on God’s Word. He has called himself a friend to Barack Obama on numerous occasions, [who has] openly espoused worldviews that are in direct opposition to the Word of God,” the pastor wrote me.
Now this is no small-minded pastor in a small church; he is pastor of a megachurch many times over. He noted that “I assure you that my disgust towards Mr. Warren is based on his double-minded speech about God’s Word.”
Well, I can’t tell you that I am a theologian or can sort through those arguments easily as many of our readers can. But it was an eye-opener that, out there, there are people who don’t much like the theology of Rick Warren, and maybe also Bill Hybels or Andy Stanley or Rob Bell or a hundred other preachers. (When it comes to “universalism” I’ll give you an argument however.)
But wow, it came to me as a shock that people like Warren aren’t universally admired. Duh! This guy said he has written Warren twice to address his concerns and never received a response. And worse yet, our graphic treatment of Warren’s photo [seen here] on the cover “was made to look like Obama’s campaign poster.”
Well, this fellow cancelled the subscriptions to Church Executive for himself and five of his staff and I was told in no uncertain terms: “I also have influence with other pastors and church leaders. You can be sure I will let them know what I think of your magazine when you promote someone who ignores parts of God’s Word. He has become a friend of the world, which would make him an enemy of God,” this pastor wrote.
Within congregations, The Lutheran magazine reports that bullying is on the rise, and Susan Nienaber of the Alban Institute agrees: “Pastor bullying — along with other sorts of bullying — is a phenomenon undergoing a resurgence.”
Its resurfaced everywhere in American life, “but in the more than 20 years I’ve been a consultant, I’ve seen an increase in incivility over the years — although congregations are notorious for what they’re willing to tolerate in the name of being a Christian community,” she says.
“The healthiest congregations have the lowest tolerance for inappropriate behavior. Unhealthy congregations tolerate the most outrageous behavior,” she opines.
So if pastors take some glee in their entourage of hangers-on or fans, most of them know too that coming in over the transom sooner or later will be an ugly, mean-spirited and hurtful missive.
COMMENTS? RON@CHURCHEXECUTIVE.COM
