‘Incredible Job Protection” in Methodist Church Criticized : Inept Ministers--Bishop Shines Light on Shadowy Topic

The minister might be a poor preacher, putting them to sleep or always leaving them puzzled. The pastor might be one who consistently botches visits with church members--at worst, failing to maintain confidentiality. Perhaps uncooperative with colleagues, the minister might also be awful at filling out and returning needed reports.

Unable to build enthusiasm--much less consensus--in the congregation, the bumbling reverend will typically place the blame on someone else.

Some or all of these shortcomings characterize incompetent ministers, a tiny minority found in any denomination.

‘Job Protection’ Cited

But a Los Angele-area bishop says the problem is acute in the United Methodist Church because the inept clerics enjoy “such incredible job protection” that it is scandalous.

United Methodist ministers in good standing are guaranteed jobs until retirement. As a result, the ineffective pastor is often moved from pulpit to pulpit instead of being removed from ministerial ranks.

Bishop Jack M. Tuell, who wrote a study of the problem seldom discussed openly, said that solution is unfair to both the minister and the next congregation. “Local churches have a right to expect they will not be sent pastors who are unable to do the work,” he said.

Tuell estimated that the number of incompetent clergy is less than 1% of the denomination’s 37,400 ministers, but the bishop added that even that number can have an impact over the span of their ministries.

In the space of a decade or two, “by being moved, the minister ruins five churches instead of one,” Tuell said in an interview.

“I believe there is some relationship between our continued employment of ineffective ministers and our continuing membership loss,” Tuell wrote in his study containing recommendations for reform in the nation’s second-largest Protestant church body.

Tuell urged that the quadrennial United Methodist General Conference next year, first of all, eliminate a trial procedure that he said is inappropriate for someone who tries hard to be a good minister yet demonstrates inability to do the work.

Currently, a minister who is believed to be ineffective is allowed to demand a formal church trial if he is not given a ministerial appointment. The practical effect of that “is to render the termination of ineffective ministers all but impossible,” Tuell wrote. That is because, he said, denominational rules require that any such “offense” must have taken place within two years before a complaint is filed.

A trial is suitable for a pastor to defend himself or herself against charges of indifference to the work or flaws in character, he said.

‘Somewhat Subjective Judgment’

Ineffectiveness is not the kind of “offense” that can be shown to have witnessed in a particular period but is “by its nature . . . a somewhat subjective judgment based upon a minister’s performance over a period of years,” Tuell said.

Tuell, a former attorney, has been a bishop 15 years, the last seven in Southern California, where he heads the California-Pacific Conference.

It has frequently been suggested to him, he said in the interview, that clergy unsuited for pastorates be given desk jobs instead. But, he said, “There are hardly any administrative positions which do not involve the need for interpersonal skills and caring about people--the same qualities which pastors really need to have.”

Tuell said the church is committed to helping clergy increase their skills through continuing education and by providing counseling.

But the bishop said, some new measures need to be taken to ease the transition of a minister into another vocation:

- The practice of making a person surrender ministerial credentials should be stopped so that there is no suggestion of a “dishonorable” discharge from the ministry.

- A provision for “severance pay” should be instituted by the church to ease the transition to another line of work.

For denominations in which importance is placed on the “call to the ministry”--the personal perception that God wants one to be ordained--leaving the ministry can be especially traumatic.

An Episcopal clergyman who is launching an interdenominational project to help clergy find other work--for any reason--said the decision alone is difficult.

“There is no theology for undoing the call,” said the Rev. Russell Ayres of Washington.

However, an American Lutheran Church task force suggested in its final report early last year that “too great an emphasis on an inner call” by a pastor can result in de-emphasizing whether parishioners affirm that divine direction. A cleric’s call to the ministry “needs to be validated by people around him.”

The group defined ineffective pastors as “those persons deemed by their supervisors, colleagues and parishioners to lack the necessary natural and spiritual gifts.”

The study, passed onto the newly merged Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, points to the need for evaluations both at the seminary level and during one’s ministerial career and consultations and counseling once attempts are made to remove a pastor.

The delicacy involved in treating the subject was reflected by the change in the committee’s original name. Once called the task force on clergy incompetence, it was changed to one on pastoral competence.

Tuell said he has received some critical mail since an article on his study appeared in United Methodist Reporter, a nationally distributed newspaper published in Dallas.

“A couple of letters were from people who said the problem was with incompetent bishops and district superintendents,” Tuell said. “I wrote back that I was talking about clergy . . . in all posts.”

A minister whose letter was printed in the United Methodist Reporter said Tuell’s observations shocked him and “smacks of legalism.”

Another letter-writer endorsed Tuell’s concerns: “We have had our present pastor for almost one year, and our membership is down by 50%. We have an active outreach program, but people won’t come back after one or two worship services.”