ETHICS AND CHURCH LEADERSHIP
An Article Written by Dr. Neil Chadwick
"Today, more than half of the largest corporations teach ethics to employees."
"A growing number of business schools around the country are teaching ethics, a movement led not by academics but by the private sector. They force students to confront ethical dilemmas from corporate case studies and come up with their own responses. Stanford University's Kirk Hanson presents his students with 25 'Unavoidable Ethical Dilemmas in a Business Career,' such as 'When you are tempted to oversell your product to close the deal.'"
U.S. New and World Report, March 20, 1995, "The Bottom Line on Ethics."
What are some of the "ethical temptations" for church leadership?
FINANCIAL ISSUES
Utilizing missions funds differently than promised.
Allowing a receipt for tax deduction for personal gift received.
Reporting personal miles driven as church use, or accepting mileage
expense for a speaking engagement which provided an honorarium.
Using office supplies/machines (phone) for personal purposes.
Charging books (etc.) on the church account without agreement.
Using church's tax exempt number for personal items.
Using the church van for personal purposes.
Enrolling children in church school and not paying tuition.
Expecting businessmen in the congregation to provide goods and services
free.
Raising money for a building program which is never undertaken.
Receiving a love offering for a guest singer or musicians and not
turning over to them the entire amount.
Treating church employees as "independent contractors".
Hire dedicated part timers to avoid having to provide benefits.
Involvement in Network Marketing to supplement your income while on full time salary.
Allowing decisions to be influenced by the one member who pays the most tithes.
PROGRAM ISSUES
Inflating figures on the monthly report to the Denomination.
Advertising your church as a "Friendly" church when in fact no one
greets visitors.
Lip syncing music without acknowledging what you're doing.
Advertise a "free" concert, and then take up an offering.
Omitting the notice that the music will be "Gospel".
Invite young men to play basketball at the church but don't tell them
there will be preaching during half time.
Tell people you're taking a poll, when in fact you're seeking an
opportunity to "witness".
Understating the difficulty of teaching the junior boys S.S. class.
Change the date on board meeting minutes so that the housing allowance
decision appears to have been made prior to the beginning of the year.
PROCEDURAL ISSUES
Secretary (or spouse) saying "he's not in."
Telling a husband that his wife had not come to see the pastor.
Providing a tainted reference for Bible College/Ministry credential.
An Assistant criticizing the Pastor to a deacon.
Bad-mouthing a neighboring pastor.
Taking off unauthorized days.
Candidating while on a declared vacation.
Performing a wedding for a previously married member because the family
is one of the main families in the church.
Conducting a Baby Dedication for parents who are not Christian, for the
sake of the grandparents
MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES
Exhorting members to spend an hour in prayer each day, inferring that's
what you do, when you don't.
Declaring that you spend mornings in prayer and study when in fact you
often use that time for personal errands and family time.
Quoting from others in sermons or publications without crediting the
author or owner.
Using a series of choruses which you know will bring about a "feeling
of being in the presence of the Lord".
Telling the story differently to increase the humor.
Promising to pray for someone's need, and not following through.
Saying you're going visiting when you actually are bowling.
SEXUAL ETHICS IN THE MINISTRY
Questions Ministers Need to Ask
1. Do you know your risk areas?
2. Do you consciously or subconsciously advocate or engage in nonerotic contact (hugs, pats, putting your arm around a shoulder with opposite-sex parishioners only?
3. Do you ask unnecessary questions or details about a client's (parishioner's) sex life?
4. Do you take advantage of the perceived power differential you hold over the parishioner because of your position of authority and expertise?
5. Are you aware that people with past sexual assault and/or abuse may be more vulnerable to successive victimization?
6. Do you consider yourself to be above or beyond temptation?
7. Do you maintain a consistent and devoted time of prayer and study of God's Word daily?
8. Do you have an accountability group of other ministers with whom you meet regularly?
9. Have you confronted any past sexual abuse, exploitation, or harassment in your own life in counseling with a Christian counselor?
10. If you have experienced sexual temptation with a parishioner that is not quickly and easily corrected, have you referred that person to another Christian counselor and sought help for yourself? Have you immediately referred types of people or cases which seem to trigger sexual temptation in you and sought to discover why?
11. Have you committed and devoted time and energy to your own spouse to strengthen your Christian marriage and thus reduce the temptation of sexual sin?
12. Are you aware of boundary violations, manipulation, and dependence needs of borderline personality disorder people?
13. Are you on guard for transference, with its power to produce flattering attitudes in the counselee, and of countertransference, with its potential to trigger the feeling that the pastor and only the pastor can save the client?
14. Are you on guard against deviating from your standard of moral ethics?
15. If you counsel opposite-sex people, do you avoid secluded offices or areas?
16. If you have reasonable cause to suspect a client has been a victim of sexual misconduct by a mental health services provider, even clergy, most states require that it be reported to the proper authorities.
17. Plan now a way of escape should you ever be in a compromising situation.
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