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Our Pastor has been replaced suddenly, need coping advice.

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VernalSole1355

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TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!

THIS THREAD CONTAINS INFORMATION PERTAINING TO CHRISTIANITY & THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. IF THIS IS A TRIGGER FOR YOU, PLEASE DO NOT CONTINUE IN THE THREAD.

Please keep all discussions in this thread related to the OP, and civil. If it gets out of hand I will request the thread to be locked.


Ok, so I have a bit of a situation that just went down at my church.
Our church has two campuses, I attend the second, smaller campus. It's to my knowledge considered a "satellite" church of the bigger campus.

Essentially, to sum things up, we got an email last night informing us that our pastor would no longer be the campus pastor. The decision had apparently been made over internal meetings had over the last few months. We, as the congregation, were NOT notified of this until last night. It was the first we'd even heard of it. It sounds like our pastor may not have known what was happening as well.

Big campus leadership is coming to the small campus and they are having a meeting tonight to address the situation. I'm holding my peace until I hear what our Senior Pastor (pastor of big campus, over whole church) & leadership has to say on the matter. Note that they made it clear it was not an immoral issue or a legal issue, so this spontaneous replacement isn't warranted in my opinion based on what we know so far. Lots of members of the congregation are unhappy, and it sounds like this may be a spark to begin separation efforts. Again, I'm holding my peace until I hear what leadership has to say, and after that I'll choose my side in this issue.

This is a bit of a shock to the system for me, and I was wondering if anyone had some advice as to how to cope with something like this?

Reminder to keep the discussion related to the OP & keep it civil or I will request the thread to be locked.
 
Is the guy moving?
Accepting a new position elsewhere?
Stepping down voluntarily?
Or what?

It seems you know little about the situation and
are reacting in a panic stricken way, feeling out
of control.
 
tree said:
Is the guy moving?
Accepting a new position elsewhere?
Stepping down voluntarily?
Or what?

It seems you know little about the situation and
are reacting in a panic stricken way, feeling out
of control.
Click to expand...

According to the email we got, the change was "not related to moral failure, but related to chemistry, values, and personnel leadership style." So it seems like the higher leadership made the decision on their own accord. We're unsure if he's getting a new job or what.
 
So it seems like "the face does not fit"

Its tough when the leadership is remote like this.
I would continue to pray for grace for all involved.
For
- the pastor concerned
- for the congregation
- for the wider leadership


May grace and clarity prevail. No duplicity and double talk or double standards.
 
Try to think is it threatening your life? actually threatening your life ?if not! then you can tell yourself you're not dead! it's change but you can't decide for your soon to be ex-pastor so what you do is pray, what does God want you to do?
 
VernalSole1355 said:
@Streetwise I see what your trying to say with "is it threatening your life" bit, but that's a bit extreme in my opinion. But still, thanks for the advice.
Click to expand...
You are reacting to change, usually !humans don't want to admit that change is frightening ,that's the life threatening bit,if your change is meaningless and not of any consequence then goodbye
 
There can be any number of benign or serious reasons for a pastor stepping down from their position.

If it's meant for the congregation to know why, they will probably be told. Then again it may not be, whether it be will of the clergy or the pastor himself. Not everything can or should be treated as a public matter.

Cope? Move on and look forward to meeting the new pastor.
 
It's very draining being in that role, and folks often tire of it.

It's one of the signs that your church is progressive, if the pastor changes every so often. It likely means that there is someone more eager and energetic to take on the role, thinking of it like a relay race is positive, you know where they pass the baton to the next one?

Pastors get to be a bucket for other ppls toxic crap, as the biggest part of the job is counseling. Sundays are the fun days, that's the part pastors look fwd too.

I would meditate on foot washing, it's an old fashioned thing, done for another. It's a happy thought, and teaches humility. The pastor is rightly thought of as a Sheppard it's a position of great responsibility

If the congregation is sound, then all will be well. If the church splits, then That's often how new churches get to be made, so that's good too. It will be alright.
 
Judge said:
There can be any number of benign or serious reasons for a pastor stepping down from their position.

If it's meant for the congregation to know why, they will probably be told. Then again it may not be, whether it be will of the clergy or the pastor himself. Not everything is a public matter.
Click to expand...

True, but from what I'm hearing this isn't the first time that big campus has done something like this, seems to happen fairly often. I'm going to the meeting tonight to hear what the reasoning behind it is. From what I've seen on social media, people aren't happy, and as you said @Skittlebisquit someone may bring up a church split (small campus separates from big campus and becomes it's own entity). But I'm gonna listen to what big leadership has to say before I make a judgement.
 
VernalSole1355 said:
True, but from what I'm hearing this isn't the first time that big campus has done something like this, seems to happen fairly often. I'm going to the meeting tonight to hear what the reasoning behind it is. From what I've seen on social media, people aren't happy, and as you said @Skittlebisquit someone may bring up a church split (small campus separates from big campus and becomes it's own entity). But I'm gonna listen to what big leadership has to say before I make a judgement.
Click to expand...

Who and what is "big campus" and "big leadership" ?

Is this a church run by an establishment of clergy and a formal religion, or administrative bureaucrats working for higher education ?
 
Judge said:
Who and what is "big campus" and "big leadership" ?

Is this a church run by an establishment of clergy and a formal religion, or administrative bureaucrats working for higher education ?
Click to expand...

Welcome to Long Hollow!
That's their website. Our Senior Pastor is Robby Gallaty. If I'm remembering correctly I believe he is the head of the church as a whole. The "big campus" is their Hendersonville (TN) campus, capable of holding average 2,000 people + a 200 overflow if needed. They do 3 services, one at 8, 9:30, and 11.

Gallatin (TN) holds around 200 - 250 people in their sanctuary, maybe a 40 person overflow. Gallatin only has 2 services. 9:45 & 11:15. This is the one I attend.
 
VernalSole1355 said:
Welcome to Long Hollow!
That's their website. Our Senior Pastor is Robby Gallaty. If I'm remembering correctly I believe he is the head of the church as a whole. The "big campus" is their Hendersonville (TN) campus, capable of holding average 2,000 people + a 200 overflow if needed. They do 3 services, one at 8, 9:30, and 11.

Gallatin (TN) holds around 200 - 250 people in their sanctuary, maybe a 40 person overflow. Gallatin only has 2 services. 9:45 & 11:15. This is the one I attend.
Click to expand...

Ahhhh...it's a Baptist Church. So basically anything goes at the level of the congregation.
 
Well, the new pastor may be very nice too. Internal politics don't do much for me. But there is no reason why the new pastor is not going to be good. I am not sure you can conclude the change is negative right now. Be careful of picking up on other people's vibe.
 
Does a pastor have to go to seminary school or bible college in your faith? I thought with Southern Baptist that they allowed a layperson to give sermons(guest speaker) but that to be a congregational leader, one had to complete some training. Is that what a minister is? Or is minister from a different faith?
We have a reverend where I go. One of them has a doctorate, so she is called the "reverend doctor_____"
 
In short, this sounds like a mega church operation, like Joel Osteen or Creflo Dollar, where the senior pastor leeches funds from the congregation into his personal slush fund.

Personally, I can do without those congregations. To me, smaller is better. I currently (that is, until COVID-19 hit) attend a small LCMS congregation, after attending a now large ELCA congregation over 37 years, mostly because I did not like the direction they were going, namely with the ordination of women pastors, the ordination of openly LGBTQ pastors, the sanctification of same sex marriage of both clergy and laity.

Even when I was in my late 20’s (there was a time I considered myself to be an atheist),I was considered to be an old dinosaur. AFAIC, the Modern church, especially the main line denominations, are no longer considered to be evangelical. One needs to look no further than the schism currently taking place in the United Methodist Church.

In short, to quote from the old gospel song: “Give me that old time religion, it’s good enough for me!” (In my case, give me a formal liturgy, pastors that “preach Christ crucified”, and a return to traditional hymnody, accompanied by a fire-belching Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ!
 
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UPDATE:

Oi vey, that was tiring.

I don't have the energy for my full opinion right now, but I will go ahead and give the jist of things:

Apparently, Gallatin's pastor has had multiple Human Resources issues internally over the past 2 years. The church has tried to help him by offering him counselling but the issues have not stopped and ultimately they had to pull the plug.

Let's put it this way, many people are unhappy, and it turned into more of an attack on our Senior Pastor and the leadership than questioning what can we do and how we can move forward.

I'll give my full opinion tommorow if I have the energy. Cheers ya'll, thanks for the support.
 
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