Nothing stresses a pastor like conflicts occurring on his staff. A secretary in the office, the minister of music, the organist, the head custodian–each of them was brought to the leadership team for good reason. Now, here they are threatening the unity of the church–not to say its mission and ministry–by a conflict with another team member.
In my four-plus decades pastoring six churches, I’ve seen the following (and plenty more, too, let me add) up close and personal….
–a senior staff member addicted to prescription drugs
–staffers using the computer for online porn.
–associate ministers who were protective of their turf, who resented anyone–including the pastor!–intruding to tell them what to do.
–Staffers who wanted to be left alone to do their work and not be asked to cooperate with anyone else
–Staffers who were angry at me about something and shared that little bit of gossip to laypeople in the church before telling me.
–Lazy staff members.