Guest Columnist: Clergy killers are a problem for our churches everywhere

By Randy Kanipe

G.K. Chesterton once said, “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution; it’s that they can’t see the problem.” In the October 5, Advocate the Rev. Stephens wrote about the problem of clergy incompetence. Certainly, ineffectiveness of our spiritual leaders is a serious problem. But incompetent clergy being ‘cycled through’ the system via the ‘guaranteed appointment’ is a minor issue. The larger issue is the rapidly increasing exodus of very “competent,” talented and gifted clergy. Pastors are leaving the ministry at rates never before seen. And they are being driven away by the very people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Competence is a highly subjective standard. And a witch-hunt, which is what an effort such as Stephens suggests could well turn into, is the last thing we need. When losing good clergy at a rate faster than we can replace them, we do not need to provide yet another avenue for local clergy killers to do their damage. A Duke University study found 85% of seminary graduates entering pulpit ministry leave within their first five years. And 90% of pastors currently serving churches are not expected to remain long enough to reach retirement! Why? Abusive and relentless congregational conflict aimed at the pastor.

The North Georgia clergy attrition rate runs as high as 90% for those having served 20 years or more – and so far is 70% for my own ordination class of 1994. The overwhelming majority of these pastors left not because they were incompetent or guilty of chargeable offenses, but because of the relentless abuse aimed at them in one appointment after another. They left simply to preserve what was left of their families, their sanity, their health and their faith. Statistics for female clergy are even more disturbing. They leave the ministry at rates twice as high as their male counterparts for the exact same reasons. Because of their gender, they are often maligned even more maliciously than male clergy.

The problem became so pervasive that in 2006, clergy serving the United Church of Canada joined the Auto Workers Union, to form a “Clergy Union.” They were so disgusted and fed up with the constant abuse, character assassination, and slander aimed at them – they felt they had no other choice than to unionize simply protect their ability to do ministry. “Incompetent” clergy could never have pulled off something as controversial as forming a union with all the theological, spiritual and ethical concerns such a move naturally engenders.
Watch the movie Forsaken to be released nationwide in November. The movie, a social documentary about clergy killers in the church is produced by CTLNYC Media Productions (an investigative documentary film company), highlights the actions of destructive people and groups driven by the spirit of evil. It illustrates what these people are doing to our clergy, our churches and most importantly, our collective Christian witness. The movie will also be on PBS with Bill Moyers.

And/or read Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy leave local church ministry, by Dean Hodge and Jacqueline Wenger; and Clergy Killers, by Dr. Lloyd Rediger.I personally know nearly forty friends, colleagues and mentors who have literally been shot at, physically assaulted, their families abused, driven to nervous breakdowns, spiritually abused, falsely accused, traumatized, harassed, stalked, and/or sued. Not because of their incompetence, but ironically because the work they were doing was very effective. Effective clergy are a threat to those who want to maintain the status quo.Some clergy do not do their jobs, which is inexcusable. They give all of us a black eye. But they are a distinct minority and it hardly requires a witch-hunt to ferret them out. The far greater problem is those laity who have become clergy killers; coupled with loving but silent, ‘uninvolved’ witnesses to the work of the clergy killers in their midst.

My concern is the spirit of Rev. Stephens’ article has unintentionally thrown gasoline on an already volatile situation for many competent clergy. I fear the effect of his proposal will be to empower clergy killers. He is simply uninformed as to how desperate people, hell bent on the removal of their pastor, will grasp at anything that will bolster their cause. If callously and carelessly filing charges of ‘incompetence’ on their pastor will get them what they want, then Stephens has inadvertently helped their cause. We do have a crisis in the church, but it is not incompetence on the part of clergy. The body of Christ is literally tearing itself apart over issues of ‘who will choose’ and ‘what will be chosen’ with very competent and talented clergy in the crosshairs of this fruitless debate. May God have mercy on our souls.

Rev. Randy Kanipe is the pastor of Salem UMC, Covington Ga. And the director of the Association for Stressed and Battered Clergy .