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UNDERSTANDING
HOW CHURCH
POWER
CAN
STEAMROLL THE PASTOR
A few years ago I wrote a book
entitled, Pass the Power, Please. The book attempts to describe the
ways in which power persons and groups in a congregation impact the
ways in which decisions are made, and ultimately, the health or
dysfunction of the church.
As I did research into church
life with particular attention to issues of power, influence and
control, it became clear that every congregation has two levels of
power at work: formal and informal. The formal power consists of the
elected and called leadership of the church, the committees and
boards chosen by the church, and all of the structures documented by
the constitution and bylaws. These are the “official” power
elements of the church.
Formal power in the church
makes its decisions and takes its actions in duly scheduled or called
meetings. Orderly processes and public discussion generally
characterize the work of the formal power groups and individuals.
Their decisions are often deliberate, predictable and reasonable.
The informal power structures
in a church are much more mysterious and covert. Informal power has
its “meetings” over the phone, on the parking lot after
church or at the coffee shop downtown. They are not elected to their
positions of power. They may be matriarchs or patriarchs of the
church, wealthy benefactors of church projects, or persons with
strong natural leadership gifts.
If the formal and the informal
power structures of a given church are represented by two
intersecting circles, problems often occur when the two circles do
not intersect enough. That is, if there is a great difference between
the membership, opinions and values of the two, the stage is set for
conflict. In this circumstance, the formal power will make decisions
that the informal power will veto or delay. The informal power will
express preferences that the formal will resist or refuse to implement.
Very often the pastor is
caught in a vice between the two competing power structures. Many
forcible terminations of ministers take place under the pressure of
this vice. The pastor is necessarily associated with the formal
power, and because it is more visible and obvious, the pastor may
believe that the best hope for effectiveness in leadership rests with
the ability to work with the formal power. But the fact is, most
often the informal power is the stronger of the two.
Some of the errors made by
ministers in their effort to work with church power are:
-
The failure to know the leaders
and understand the culture of the informal power.
-
The mistake of under-estimating
the power of the informal power persons and groups.
-
The assumption that if one takes
care of the needs and meets the expectations of the formal power, one
is secure as a leader.
-
The failure to “keep in
touch with” and get advance endorsement from the informal power
before working decisions through the formal power structures of the church.
-
The unwillingness to back off
when a decision made by the formal power is vetoed or frustrated by
the informal. Patience and slow, cautious progress are often
necessary. One should not try to sprint through a minefield.
The work of Ministering to
Ministers is an effort to help pick up the pieces of broken lives and
wounded churches after these power dynamics have played themselves
out. Sometimes ministers and their families have been unknowingly
caught in the squeeze between competing forces in the church that
existed long before they arrived and that will continue to joust long
after they are gone. The tragedy is the human wreckage and pain that
often results.
Dr. Robert Perry was the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ministering to Ministers.
The book, Pass
the Power, Please,
(priced at $8.95 with shipping), is available from
Organizational Health
Associates, P. O. Box 3, Willard, MO 65781 or Online HERE.
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