For my blog the last five weeks I have been examining the Pastor’s code of ethics and covenant. Every profession has some ethical standards, but those of a pastor are necessarily different. We have examined the preamble and the first seven covenants. You can see them by clicking one of the links listed on the right side of this page. This week let’s think about the eight covenant.
- I will, upon my resignation or retirement, sever my professional church leadership relations with my former constituents and will not make professional contacts in the field of another professional church leader without his/her request and/or consent.
This is such an interesting one to me. Good pastors build long-term and deep relationships with people in their congregation. So this is a difficult one to keep. It is important to read the covenant carefully. It says to sever professional church relations with former constituents. You can still maintain friendships that have been developed during your time as a pastor. But in order for you successor to be successful they need to be the pastor for the people in your congregation. I know of a pastor who did not commit to this covenant. He continued even after he had resigned to act as the pastor to some in his church. He prayed with and even baptized some of his former congregation. I am certain he thought he was doing them a favor because they were between pastors. However, those people never let go of him as their pastor and never connected with their new pastor when he was called. The last I heard of those people is that they are not part of any church. Even a well-meaning pastor can do much damage by not adhering to this covenant.
This past week a member of one of my congregations died. He had made funeral arrangements for himself several years ago and had asked that a former pastor do the funeral. It was so nice for the former pastor to very carefully and with grace say a few words to me about his feelings about doing the funeral instead of me. I appreciated so much his concern for our congregation and me as their pastor.
Ultimately this covenant is a reminder to me and other pastors that being a pastor is not about me, but about the church, the people in the congregation, and ultimately about Jesus Christ. So often people are pulled into the idea that it is about me and my way of doing things, rather than it being about being the best servant I can be and pointing to Christ to see that He gets the glory.
