Featured Pastor pledging not to change beliefs

Over at SBC Today, Kyle Gulledge posted a thread called "Helps for the Pastor Search Committee." The helps include a "pledge statement" in which the prospective pastor says he is not a Calvinist and pledges if he ever becomes a Calvinist he will resign and move on. I realize that the questionnaire is about Calvinism and therefore most of the people there wanted to discuss Calvinism. But I would like to discuss the general principle of making a pledge statement, something like “With integrity of heart, I have received the doctrinal statement of this church and statements of explanation by the Pastor Search Committee, and I pledge that if my theology ever changes to __________, I will share with the Staff and Deacons my new beliefs and work with them in transitioning to a new place of ministry that is more in line with my new theological stance.”

Do you think a "pledge statement" of this sort is a good idea? Would you sign one?

If you agree, to what extent should this principle of a pledge statement apply to major changes in belief? What if a preacher changes an ecclesiological belief (e.g. from strict communion to open communion, or vice versa) or an eschatological belief (e.g. from amillennial to premillennial, or vice versa)?

Would you stand behind his keeping the principle of the integrity of the pledge even if it something our believe he should change and teach the church to change? (E.g. the church practices segregation and the pastor changes to teach it is "a house of prayer for all people).

What if the pastor has been there 20 years before he changes, as opposed to say 2 years?

Thanks.

 

RevMitchell, are you focusing on the context of Calvinism, or that many Southern Baptist lay people are uneducated in the doctrines of their church, or maybe something else?

Thanks.

 

I did read it. If it had helped, I wouldn't have asked. JonC got it, but I didn't. Maybe you don't want to help those of us who are a little slower?

 

I don't doubt I have misunderstood something. You are free to answer with what you mean.

 

Interesting quote, Jerome. Thanks. Goes to show that ministers flying under false pretenses is nothing new. I've heard of several cases in which a preacher who holds 4 or 5 points of Calvinism but withholds the information from the prospective church until he can be called and then begin to indoctrinate the flock to his viewpoint. This is a current concern of many in the Southern Baptist Convention because of the popular growth of Calvinism, and is the reason why groups like Connect 316 are promoting ideas like the questionnaire and pledge statement. While the Calvinistic concern is more recent, I have seen and known of preachers lacking integrity in view of a call for as long as I have been in the ministry. Here are a few examples:

A preacher wants to be a pastor, so he pretends to be in agreement with a church he wants in order to get the call. This preacher is willing to compromise and pretty much preach what the church wants to hear. He doesn't cause controversy in the church with his doctrine, but if he stays long enough the church's convictions dry up, because the pastor doesn't preach with conviction.

A preacher wants to pastor a church that is not the same affiliation as he is (e.g. SBC, ABCUSA, BBFI, IFB), so he pretends their affiliation does not matter to him -- until he is there long enough to (try to) convince a majority to change their affiliation. He should have been upfront with his views on affiliation and let the chips fall where they may.

A preacher wants to pastor a church and agrees to all the non-doctrinal things brought forward by the church -- parsonage, salary, insurance, expectation etc. -- but almost immediately shows he really didn't like that and tries to get them to change everything. (Not talking about negotiations that might take place over an extended period of service.)

These are a few I have seen. There is another kind of change that is not the result of being unethical. This is a pastor whose views were exactly what he said they were, but who changes some belief or point of view through studying the Bible. These don't usually hatch out shortly after a preacher gets to a church -- as with those who went went an agenda -- but develop over a long period of time and study. Some people think it is a matter of integrity for this preacher to step down.

We might careful how we say it, but this latter situation we may tend to judge differently according to whether it is a minister changing to lead a church away from the truth of the Bible or a minister changing to lead a church closer to the truth of the Bible.