The pastor did not see it coming.
Sure, there were some hints and signs, but nothing to prepare him for the meeting on Saturday with the personnel committee.
He was told he needed to resign. There was no explanation given. He had only been given positive reviews to this point. Some of the people on the personnel committee had been his supporters and friends.
He was shocked.
The pastor was leading change in the church. The church was growing and vibrant. But a couple of weak staff members didn’t like the direction and expected accountability. They teamed with the known church bully and went before the personnel committee. They presented their perspectives.
The pastor never was asked his perspective. He could have fought the weak personnel committee and likely won. But he didn’t want to tear apart a church he loved.
He resigned.
For the sake of the church he loved, he resigned.
He was yet another victim of the church cartel.
A church cartel is an alliance of bullies, bully-followers, carnal Christians, and even non-Christians in the church. Its ultimate goal is to get its way. It feeds off of selfish power.
We don’t like to talk about church cartels. After all, it’s not the Christian thing to do. But they exist in too many churches. And if they are not exposed, they will continue to wreak havoc.
Here are five of the very dangerous realities of the church cartel:
- When a cartel is allowed power, the church is already unhealthy. The cartel is, by its definition, self-centered and power-driven. A church is already very sick if members remain silent and do not confront this evil directly.
- A church cartel leaves carnages of wounded and dying people. If you have any doubts about this danger, please see my post on “Autopsy of a Deceased Pastor.” See the comments. See the pain and questions and defeat the cartel leaves behind.
- Church cartels drive away healthy leaders. Some of these leaders are driven away by the cartel. Others leave on their own accord because they want to be in a joyous and healthy church. Their departure exacerbates the problems in these churches.
- Church cartels cause church leaders to work from a posture of fear. Instead of moving forward in faith, church leaders often spend more time worrying about how their decisions will impact the cartel. These leaders know the cartel will come after them if they go contrary to the carnal group’s wishes.
- We are told in Scripture to manifest the fruit of the Spirit; the church cartel causes the church to do just the opposite. Galatians 5:22-23 is clear about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Church cartels bring hate, discord, anxiety, impatience, evil, fear, brutality, and chaos.
Churches that have cartels usually know they are present. They know who the bully is. They know who the bully followers are. They see them. They hear them. And they often fear them.
Courageous leaders must confront and stop church cartels. If no one is willing, the church is already on a path toward decline and death.
Posted on November 30, 2016
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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143 Comments
I butted heads with the “Cartel” and was willing to do so. What happened was that the Cartel then cut my salary in 1/2 until I could no longer afford to stay on that job. The salary cut was never before the entire congregation so most had no idea what was going on. They did not “FIRE” me, but eventually, I had to resign
That was a cowardly approach on their part. But such is the nature of cartels.
My last church had a favorite saying: “Cut his pay and starve him out.” They were actually quite good to me and only made the comment in jest, but many churches do indeed use that approach. I agree that it’s cowardly.
In a mainline church I was sent to a fongregation where the previous minister was forced to move just down the road. The cartel that ran the church would meet with the previous minister before our monthly meetings. It was an impossible situation and after a term of five years I moved to another congregation that was a lot healthier.
My advice to ministers who are sent – be aware of the politics in the church and work with those over you to replace/remove them. Otherwise your life will be literally he’ll on earth
Bro. Thom,
I whole-heartedly agree with this post, currently experiencing this first-hand.
However, when I read the following quotes:
“We don’t like to talk about church cartels… if they are not exposed, they will continue to wreak havoc.”
“Courageous leaders must confront and stop church cartels.”
They left me wondering “how”. How do you propose that pastors/leaders/laity “expose” church cartels? Also, what steps are there in appropriately “confronting” and “stopping” them?
Respectfully submitted with the hope of wise counsel,
Joe
I am not a pastor, but support staff, at least I was for 14 years until about 2 weeks ago. That’s when the ‘cartel’ forced me to leave. Our church has been being led by the ‘cartel’ for the past 12 months because we do not have a senior pastor. I told them I would no longer cover up their lies or keep quiet about the lies they made me participate in. I kept saying this is immoral, illegal even. They said, just be quiet, no one will believe you. After my meetings with the ‘cartel’, they determined that the staff was in fact emotionally harmed by the actions of the leadership and gave all staff 10 sessions of Christian counseling, but insisted that there wasn’t any problems with the leadership. I was #10 to leave in just under a year of a 24 person staff, they are now down 2 more in the last 2 weeks, putting them at about 12 people. I am broken hearted for this church that I love. But, I am out and safe. and sadly in this situation, it has become every (wo)man for themselves for survival.
This was my church for more than 45 years, where myself and all my children were baptized, my parents laid to rest, my grandchildren dedicated. This is my church, protecting it meant more to me than anything else, but that time has passed. I can no longer be the keeper of the secrets. It is a very old congregation, the saints that have gone before us and sacrificed so much deserve better, and the Lord, most definitely deserves better.
I have dealt with cartels in 2 different baptist churches.. In both cases I have found that cartels are nothing but a gang of unbelievers who have no desire to follow God’s Word. They are corrupt in mind, they oppose the Truth, they deceive, and they are people who have been taken captive by Satan to do his will. I am convinced from both cases that there was a demonic host behind these wicked people whose intent was to stop the word of God from going forth. However, in both churches I saw God draw the true believers out of those churches and leave the cartel there, along with their followers to die as a “church”.
On the other side of the coin, I believe that there are many of cartels in churches for the following reasons:
1. Churches don’t practice regenerate church membership like they should.
2. Churches don’t practice church discipline.
3. Pastors over the years have catered to these cartels instead of standing up to them.
4. Southern Baptist Churches have adopted an unbiblical practice of allowing deacons to run the church.
5. Southern Baptist in the past 70 years or so have become more concerned about numbers than doctrine, which have led to the points above.
It is a shame that so many churches have been handed over to the children of the devil. I feel for the pastors in these churches who want to lead but cannot because of these strongholds that exist.
For the record I haven’t seen a cartel in my current ministry. But I have seen and heard about this far too often. It seems that smaller congregations can be particularly susceptible to this although I guess it can happen to large churches, too.
It can create a viscous cycle: a pastor resigns, the cartel steps in and takes control, the next pastor tries to lead but can’t so he resigns (or is forced out), the cartel’s power strengthens in the leadership vacuum, etc.
Sometimes the bully is the priest. Speaking from personal experience.
We lived this about a year ago. After over 30 years of being abused and damaged from being in the ministry ourselves, we found a place of healing and a place we loved. For eight years our family invested our lives, our time, and our money into a place that was everything a church was supposed to be. Then out of the blue we were all struck by a grenade—the staff issued an ultimatum to the pastor who then resigned to try and “save” the church. The damage from the shrapnel has been extensive and will never be undone. Power, pride and lies were at the root of the cartel—they all go together and they feed off of each other. It is shocking what people will say, do and believe in the midst of the battle. Friendships are gone, fellowship is gone, half of the church is gone and what is left is a shell of what it was. Since then we have barely been attending church anywhere. We now look at other churches through jaded eyes and think this is all a lie—it’s just a matter of time until it happens here. Thankfully our trust is in God and not in people or a church because if it was we would never trust again.
I feel your pain. As a pastor I have been badly bruised in 3 of the 5 churches I pastored. You cannot imagine the things that I have seen take place. I tell pastors some of the things that have went on and they don’t even seem to believe me. I am now in my 5th pastorate. I am very gun-shy because I know how many SBC churches are when the word of God is truly preached. Herod loved to hear John the Baptist preach until John the Baptist called him out on his sins, then Herod had him beheaded. Most of our SBC churches have become so full of unregenerate church members that the true church barely shines through. However, despite how bad it can be and how it can make you feel, just remember that God still has those who are truly his. The true bride of Christ is very beautiful and just as Christ loved the church so should we. So, don’t give up on the the true body of Christ.
This is a fascinating discussion and I find the testimonies compelling. In retrospect, it seems I have survived the attack of a church cartel over the last year. I considered resigning, in fact I had an offer from another church. It came down to a challenge from a confident, was I doing what was right, or what was easy? I love the people in the church, but a small, powerful group had decided I needed to go. It was relentless and painful. I became convinced that I could not abandon the church to a group of people that were more focused on getting me out of their way, than they were on our mission. It has been painful to see several leave, but also gratifying to see love, unity, and refocusing on our mission by those who have stayed. Our intent is to seek God together, and to seek to be faithful in the work he has given us.
Wow. This is my story. I believe I replied on your previous post, “Autopsy of a Deceased Pastor.” I did find a couple of books that were helpful: “Antagonists in the Church” by Kenneth Haugk. It is an older book, but it was helpful in understanding that what I experienced wasn’t JUST personal (though it was, indeed, a deeply wounding personal attack on my wife and me) but an all too common symptom of church dysfunction. In other words, it helped me to “objectify” my experience. Very helpful in the healing process. Another author who has a whole series of books on the topic is Kent Crockett. I read his “Pastor Abusers: When Sheep Attack Their Shepherd.”
This is a great evil in our churches. And like the religious leaders who crucified Jesus, most Cartel members and bullies feel self-righteous and justified. No one stood up for me and for my wife. Not my staff. No one in the congregation. Many left. Not my governance board with whom I spent four years discipling in spiritual leadership. My wife and I were privileged to enter into the fellowship of Christ’s suffering with the abandonment and treachery that we experienced.
Though I have healed quite a bit (this happened in the last year), there is still more to go. I know there is still a bit of bitterness in my soul. There is an upside to my experience, however, and that is that my wife and I have grown deeper in our faith walk with God. I’m still looking for a permanent position (I’m serving as an interim right now) but I know that God is faithful no matter what happens.
I deeply grieve for my former church. I know why no one stood up for me. The Cartel is too powerful and people wouldn’t know where to go. They had had a split just before I came and no one wanted to fight again.
Perhaps what bothers me most is the hands-off approach that my regional executive took in the whole matter. I served in a Baptist church where denominational executives have no direct organizational authority, but they have a boatload of moral authority. Churches will listen to them. But my exec (and I suspect the majority of execs in my denomination) just wanted the whole matter done and get me to move on. Regional execs like to say that they serve the churches first before the pastors. I get that. They get their funding from the churches. But shouldn’t their care and calling be greater than the bottom line? My former church is now infected with an even more greatly empowered Cartel than before. This should not be. It deeply grieves me. Denominational leaders need to get some godly courage and do the right thing.
I hope, Thom, that you will bring a very strong word in follow-up and charge godly people and especially religious leaders to stand up to this great ungodliness that plagues our churches.
I grieve for the church…
“Antagonists in the Church” is a must-read for every prospective pastor. I also highly recommend “Well-Intentioned Dragons”, by Marshall Shelley. However, church cartels as Dr. Rainer defines them are not usually well-intentioned.
I highly recommend the book “Church Coup” by Jim Meyer and his blog “Restoringkingdombuilders.org”. Another one, “Clergy Killers” is good as well as the ones you have mentioned.
We have witnessed too many solid pastors whose careers have been ruined by congregants that are either cartels, power-brokers or self-serving in one capacity or another. None of the pastors we know, had committed any sin that would have disqualified them from ministry. As if being pushed out of their calling wasn’t painful enough, most of these pastors have only been trained in ministry so when their job ends, they are at a loss as to how to provide for their family. It is not easy to land another church job when the search committee learns that the pastor was fired or forced to resign.
I currently have a prayer support site for pastors wives who are at a loss as to how to come to grips with what has happened in their churches and how to come alongside their husbands as they themselves are grieving.
I would agree that cartels can be the pastor and staff but the bottom line is that none of us as believers should in any way be a part of some of the evil that is being committed in the body of Christ.
Thank you Thom for addressing this issue! I will pass it on!
We preach transformation. We preach that we become new creatures, leaving the life of the flesh to live according to the spirit. Yet the undercurrent of the church bully or cartel is to move them out somehow (death included, of course not pulling the trigger). Healthy leadership is transformational leadership to the whole body, because that is God’s design and within His power. Dictatorship that seeks to remove rather than seek to transform sells the power of God short. A Great Awakening might begin if we transformed the people inside of the walls that represent the body outside of the walls (and not well at this point).
I did not realize when I came to my church that a former pastor had turned the power over to the cartel to have charge of the church. He was just going to preach and let them run the church. I have been here six and a half years and have been troubled by them ever since. Even today they are still trying to get me out. One promised the youth minister he could be pastor once they got rid of me. Some of our older members say that I am the best pastor they have ever had who watches out for the people. We are asking God to open a door for us to move on.
Dude! Your story almost scared me. With the exception of the youth minister part, mine is almost the same.