Bible Stuff [For Christians interested in studying and understanding the Bible.]
This week’s blog was supposed to be a “World Stuff” topic, until I received the news of Pastor Robert Morris’ (Gateway Church) moral failure.
Please don’t mistake the academic nature of this writing for a lack of emotion. Like others, I’m grieved.
Yet I do not write from a position of unforgiveness or bitterness. I have no desire to pile on, nor to opine for the sake of adding my two cents. My heart breaks for the Morris family, along with the multiplied thousands shocked by the news. Instead, I’d like to share a personal and theological perspective that may be useful to others.
Above all, I grieve for the victim. I cannot imagine the emotional and physical scars she has navigated, and still navigates.
Over my years in the Lord, I’ve watched dozens of leaders in the Church, both local and globally, fail morally and ethically. During my earliest days at The Church on the Way, I watched leaders brought before the congregation to confess their sin in accordance with 1 Timothy 5:19-21. My full-time ministry calling began with two successive senior pastors, each of whom I served as an associate pastor, who turned out to be adulterers. As a senior pastor, I had to confront several church leaders regarding their unethical or immoral behavior, and was asked to serve on a pastoral restitution team for these and others in our denomination.
This heightened my desire to be person of integrity, particularly given my call to pastor ministry. I watched the devastating effect of immorality on families and congregations. Added to this grief was how it affected those young in the Lord or seeking Christ for the first time. As one person relayed to me, “If this is Christianity, I want nothing to do with it!” I’ve also spent the past many years trying to explain to other Christians how to respond biblically to the moral failures of Church leaders.
That’s my goal here.
Church leaders (i.e., anyone who influences others in an official capacity, particularly those who teach or shepherd others) are held to a higher standard (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1; James 3:1). There is no wiggle room. We are responsible for the spiritual well-being of those we serve and will answer to the Lord for our words and actions that impact others. We are role models of Christ—imperfect, yes, but role models, nonetheless. People must trust us, follow us as we follow Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
In this, like all other shepherds, I’ve made mistakes. Nothing unethical or immoral, but imperfectly conveying a perfect message—the Gospel. At times I said stupid, even hurtful, things. In such instances, I willingly confessed my deficiencies to those I hurt, or to the congregation at large, asking for both forgiveness and continued accountability.
The stakes here are unbelievable high when leading others in the kingdom of God. Notice Jesus’ words:
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in Me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:5-6).
The Greek term for “stumble” is skandalizó, from which we get the word scandal. Any word or action on the part of a church leader that creates a scandal, an offense against God’s word, is both corrupt and corrupting. This is why the “stricter judgment” for pastors/teachers (James 3:1) is uncompromising.
Robert Morris’ moral failure is corrupt…really corrupt. It was both immoral and illegal, and compounded by the deceit that accompanied it. His actions, along with those who kept the secret, have devastated the victim, her family, his family, congregation, and reputation in the Church at large.
Enough said about that.
Beckie and I were active members of Gateway Church for nearly 15 years, and for most of that time Beckie supervised the Nursery Ministries at the main campus in Southlake, Texas. The Lord did wonderful things during our time there, and our joy was increased when we discovered that our former pastor, Jack Hayford, had a connection with Pastor Robert! All seemed well, but things began to change, and eventually we moved on from Gateway to another local congregation—but not until released by the Lord. We left with no baggage, and are grateful for the many years of the Lord’s ministry we experienced at the church.
So, rather than point out specifics issues that caused us to move on from Gateway, it seems more prudent to deal in generalities.
Personality driven approaches to ministry, a vestige largely of the 1980s, are a foundation upon with so many Church leadership failures have taken place—from Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Bill Hybels, and Ravi Zacharias to the more recent Tony Evans, Carl Lentz, Brian Houston, and now Robert Morris. Mass popularity (fame) often breeds isolation and pride. Whether recognized or not, when we allow ourselves to be crowned as special, differentiated as “more equal” than other Christians, failure lurks at the door (Proverbs 16:18). Consider how Jesus responded to a group of people who wanted to crown Him king:
“Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.” (John 6:15)
Notice He didn’t say, “This is so humbling, but thank you for the honor!” or, “Okay guys, you can go ahead and crown Me, but the glory goes to My Father!”
He RAN.
When the focus of a local church becomes the personality, accolades, famous friendships, wealth, influence, books, or media influence of the pastor (or any other person), whether in addition to or other than Jesus, the focus is wrong. Not to suggest that every famous or successful pastor is suspect, but being in that position of power and influence requires an intentional, vibrant, deep level of humility and accountability—a running away from fame, accolades, bragging, etc.
If God gives us a significant level of influence, (and sometimes He does) we are even more obligated to walk in humility and self-effacement because people are naturally enamored by fame, and fanning those flames to any degree is very dangerous. Even being a large fish in a small pond, as I was when I was a senior pastor, opens doors that must be attended to in the bright light of a biblical worldview. Whether 100 or 100,000 congregants, it’s still an audience of One before Whom we stand. The size of a congregation does not change accountability.
This leads me to the biblical process of pastoral accountability. Having learned so much under Pastor Jack Hayford at The Church on the Way, who despite a global influence utterly rejected the personality driven format, I purposed myself to walk in the light of God’s word and Spirit. From my time as an associate pastor forward, I committed to, and required of my team, a biblical vulnerability that kept us and our congregations safe.
From the obvious (not counseling or meeting with women alone, only calling/texting them by copying another pastor on the communication, etc.), to the less obvious (developing an attraction to any woman in the congregation, which we called “heart tugs,” women flirting with us, etc.), to the regular confession of any sins, we were committed to probing each other regularly for weak spots and responding accordingly—sometimes even removing ourselves from official ministry duties if necessary.
The problem with fame and fortune in the Church, with personality-driven ministries, is that these leaders can consciously or unconsciously mitigate accountability under the banner of “I’m God’s messenger.” All Christians are God’s “messengers” insofar as the Gospel is concerned, but those called to teach others (“Elders”- See 1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9) have a greater responsibility. Unfortunately, Americanized Christianity creates spectators rather than disciples, which feeds the cult of personality. To deter this, I would often say to my congregation, “If you’re walking out of our worship services saying, ‘Pastor Rick said’ rather than ‘the Bible says,’ and neglecting to be like the Bereans by comparing my teachings to Scripture (Acts 17:11), then neither of us is doing our job well!”
Biblical accountability is an act of love if we address the “log” in our eye before pointing out the “speck” in someone else’s eye (Matthew 7:3-5). And yes, that includes holding our leaders accountable. While we must be careful not to bring an accusation against an “elder” without corroboration (1 Timothy 5:19), every solid biblical leader I know welcomes biblical accountability. The enemy prowls about looking for weak spots to exploit, and he is really effective in this warfare— for when the enemy takes out a shepherd, he knows the sheep often scatter (Zechariah 13:7). Mutual accountability to and alliance with God’s word is a great defense against this.
So, here are some practical steps moving forward.
Pray for those affected. First, the victim. One can only imagine the pain she has suffered. Her path requires a concerted effort on the part of the Church, empowered by the grace of God, to engender healing. We pray also for spouses, children, grandchildren, parents, congregation members, including the offender! (James 5:13). It’s difficult to imagine what the Morris family and the Gateway congregation is experiencing. We also pray for the leadership of Gateway Church, who must navigate a very complex situation.
Forgive (Matthew 6:14-15). I place this subsequent to prayer because praying often softens our heart to better enable forgiveness and humility (“There but by the grace of God go we”). Unforgiveness plays into the enemy’s hand and keeps healing from happening. Still, forgiveness is not acceptance. As I learned under Pastor Jack Hayford, it’s proper to say, “I forgive you,” but not, “It’s okay.” It’s NOT okay. We can forgive without approving the sin or the errant way in which it was dealt. It’s okay to say that God used that person to minister to us while acknowledging that the person has also failed God and us. God always uses us in spite of us anyway.
Open a path of restoration to the offender (Galatians 6:1). This can include public confession and repentance, removal from ministry influence, restitution, counseling, even incarceration (be reminded of Romans 8:28). I’ve worked with pastors who’ve accepted, and who’ve rejected, a process of restoration. For the latter there’s not much to say. Regarding the former, the important question is to what are these church leaders being restored?
Galatians 6:1 refers specifically to a restoration to the community of faith, not a return to ministry influence. In fact, consider Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 9:27:
“I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
This means that although forgiven, there are things that can disqualify someone from formal positions of ministry. Restored to the community of faith, yes. To leadership, maybe not. Although there are other sins that can be disqualifiers, the specific context of Paul’s words refers to sexual immorality. The biblical discipline of those who have failed in their leadership capacity, including a disqualification from formal ministry, is not a denial of grace; rather, it’s trusting God to enact grace even within the consequences of our sin.
Having moved on from Gateway church a while ago, long before this situation, I still grieve with and for my Church family at large. Thankfully, God’s word, Spirit, and kingdom prevail. Certainly, with this we can encourage one another, and look into the mirror of God’s word for our own accountability and well-being. May the Lord, somehow, be glorified!
Topics for Future Blogs?
Email Me: richardaallenjr@pondering.blog
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