Expert: Rev. Robert Woods - 9/17/2008

Question
Our church treasurer has always been above reproach. He's had the position for 40+ years duly voted for by the church members. One of the other members (a deacon) asked him a question not church related & apparently didn't like the response. He proceeded to berate him in front of several witnesses. He also called our treasurer at home & continued the verbal assault. Our treasurer asked the pastor to intervene. He did not. The pastor's secretary happens to be the man's wife. The pastor seems to be taking sides in this. Someone from the nominating comittee called & requested that our treasurer step down for "the good of the church"? He had already turned in his resignation but was stunned to find out that his letter had been edited by the pastor & secretary! They left out pertinent info such as him making a request that an outside audit be made & that he had asked for intervention in the conflict with the other member. My question... can they arbitrarily edit someones letter? I saw it & there was nothing untowards in it at all. The pastor has a tendency to play both sides of the fence. The secretary lied when asked to see a copy of the letter before it was put into the Sunday bulletin. Does he has any recourse of action? Should he bow out gracefully & leave the parishoners thinking that he has done wrong?

Answer
Blessings and thank you for your question.

I feel for your hurt in this situation.  Conflict among believers is never good, if you remember, Christ prayed that we would have unity not division while in the Garden.  

Now let's try and make some headway.  

1.  Pastors:  Pastors are often put in the difficult situation of playing peacemaker.  Many times a pastor has to weigh a situation to find the best overall outcome for the church.  I can't tell you if his actions of "taking sides" is right or wrong.  There may be other factors that we are unaware of.   It could be that he is wrong.  Pastors do make mistakes.

2.  From an organizational standpoint, someone who is resigning from a position doesn't have the right to ask that the organization to follow any recommendations (whether right or wrong, good or bad).   So in this case, the treasurer should have just resigned peacefully.  The treasurer would have been well within his rights to state that he was unhappy with the church's conduct, policies, or leadership which led to his decision. I would NEVER put a resignation letter in the church bulletin that is not the proper place for it. The church could have put a note in the bulletin saying thank you to Mr. Treasurer for 40+ years of service and asking prayerful consideration for a new treasurer.  

Now, the best thing the treasurer could have done was to resign, then following the church's by-laws or constitution, go to the next business meeting of the church and make a formal motion to ask for an audit of the church's finances.  There he could peacefully make his arguments accordingly.  I am sure that he would then have a proper forum to discuss why he resigned.  The key is for him to do his best to be calm, objective and conciliatory.  

3.  Church:  The proper response from the church should have been to decline the resignation of the treasurer.  They should have either attempted to solve the conflict or told the treasurer that they could not accept the resignation in the format in which it was given.  They could have explained that the resignation letter was not proper and should have asked him to resubmit it.  If the letter was accepted by the leadership, then it shouldn't have been altered.  This makes it appear that they are trying to hide something.  

4.  Finances:  Over the years, I have learned the hard way that nothing inside a church should be hidden.  In fact, everything (except what individuals give or benevolence) should be open and above reproach.  If any member wants to see what is going on, they should be able to.  Also, a church should go through an audit at least every other year.  While you don't expect to find irregularities, sometimes you do.  It is never good for one individual to serve in a financial position for more than 3 to 5 years.  Financial officers of the church should change periodically for the overall integrity of the organization.   

5.  Disputes among members should follow Christ's teaching:  First of all, the treasurer and the other member should sit down and sort this out first.  If that doesn't solve the problem, the treasurer should take someone with him and try to solve the conflict.  If it still doesn't work then go to the church leadership. Then if there is still no resolution, go to the whole church.  A pastor can step in at anytime and try to resolve this, but he must be careful because hurt feelings often lead to church splits.

I pray that the Lord of all Creation gives your church wisdom and the Spirit of Christ.  Blessings