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Pastoral Confession January 4, 2007

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, recently wrote an interesting piece about the fall of Ted Haggard. Driscoll, in his usual pull-no-punches style, outlined 6 things we can all learn from his situation.  (read the complete piece here).

All 6 points are powerful; however, it is the first point that should intrigue the most:

“Like 1 Timothy 5:24 says, some mens sins are out ahead of them in plain sight while others trail behind them. In this instance, Haggards sin finally caught up with him after his admittedly many years of battling in shame and secrecy. This is a wake-up call for all Christian leaders to be open and honest about sin and temptation before it ends up in a similar scandalous scenario.”

In this day and age, pastors are living increasingly in the fishbowl under the microscope of not only their congregations but, through media, the entire world.  Let’s face it—the world loves it when a Christian falls.  And, as the old adage says, the bigger they come—the harder they fall.  The Haggard story provided great fodder for the late-night talk shows and cable news outlets. 

Driscolls’ wake-up call for pastors to be open and honest about sin should be heeded.  But how does that happen?  What does it look like?  The most important question is what accountability structure do we have for our pastors to do that?

Being a pastor has to be a lonely place.  Imagine everyone looking at you for spiritual guidance and comfort.  Everyone is looking to you for the biblical answers for their problems.  Everyone is looking at you to be the example of the perfect Christian.  Everyone expects you to be the perfect pastor, the perfect husband, the perfect father. 

Do we really want our pastors do be open and honest about their sin?   Every unrealistic image of who are pastors are will be shattered.  Craig Groeschel, pastor of the mega-church Lifechurch.tv, recently wrote a book called Confessions of a Pastor: Adventures in Dropping the Pose and Getting Real With God.  Written before the Haggard scandal, Groeschel writes with sobering honesty about the many struggles he has as a follower of Christ.  While the many challenges he faces are serious, they pale in comparison to the severity of Haggard’s fall.  Yet, the fact that he is a pastor may be unnerving to some.  There may even be some who think that he should not be a pastor.  Many find it unnerving to know that their pastor struggles with lust.  Some would be shocked to learn that their pastor really doesn’t like prayer meetings.  Maybe your pastor doesn’t like some people.  Would that upset you?  Groeschel’s book gives us great insight into how our pastors are just normal men with all the same struggles, sins and weaknesses that we all have.

Driscoll’s call for pastoral honesty and openness made needs to be heeded by every church.  No pastor should stand alone.  Every pastor should have a group of men (elders, deacons, leaders) in the church who surround, protect and encourage him.  As a normal practice, our pastors should have the liberty to confess their sins with these men.  What is needed is not some hokey, Oprah-like appearance of transparency where our pastors get in touch with their “more sensitive side” and cry like babies.  But down and dirty confession and repentance with men who will pray with and for their pastor. 

In hindsight, maybe that’s what Ted Haggard needed.  Let’s hope that all churches will learn this lesson and strive to give their pastor the liberty to be weak.  When we do this, maybe the days of the fallen pastor will be a thing of the past. 

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