Matt Chandler is pretty different from me. He is an "All-Texas born-and-bred" guy. Mega-church pastor. Southern Baptist Convention. For all of that difference though, I have over the years appreciated Matt's focus on the Gospel of God's Grace. I've read blog posts, heard sermons and used his videos for discipling mission teams.
So I was sad when I started seeing the headlines about him stepping down from his pastorate for a season because of an indiscretion. "Oh no!" I thought. Another crash and burn big-church pastor story. "And I sorta liked Matt."
Then my Harderwyk colleague Pastor Aaron VanDerVeen shared with us all the video of the announcement made to the church in Texas that Matt serves. CLICK HERE for a video of that announcement. I'm showing this from the church's own website with their written announcement for background. It's about 18 minutes in length.
I watched and was struck: no "act of adultery." The direct messages in question were not clandestine or secret from his central relationships. The woman who raised the questions was taken seriously. Matt went immediately to speak with people that he was accountable to. There was a long, prayerful process with outside, independent review. It felt painfully long and discrete, but then, it was apparently done well and the wheels of justice always seem slow. Decisions were made by leadership and the congregation brought into them in remarkably open and transparent ways. The pastor was dealt with, while the others were kept protected from public focus.
All in all, from what I could see over several weeks, I began to think that maybe this is what it looks like to do accountabity well in a local church in light of the Gospel. Perhaps I'm not seeing everything. Time will tell. But after some time to look and ponder, maybe this IS how accountability should move forward. Four things in partcicular seem to stand out to me:
Pastors Should Be Held To A Higher Standard - I think this is what Paul meant in I Timothy 3:2 when he wrote his friend Timothy that elders should be "above reproach." It's not that we are better than anyone else or less broken or get extra credit for good behavior. It is about the position of pastoral leadership is consequential enough that we must be of good character as demonstrated over time. When we mess up, people and their faith get wounded or confused.
Gospel Grace For Everyone - Still, the Gospel of God's Grace is for everyone - pastors included. When a problem arises - or perhaps better for this case: "begins to arise" - the Gospel gives an understanding, a compassion and a hope that go well beyond either protecting the organization or pastor on the one side or throwing him under the bus on the other. A clear-eyed diagnosis of the problem with a hopeful treatment aimed at care, healing and restoration for all affected can be hard work, but it is what the Gospel calls us to
Quick and Real Repentance - I am so thankful that Matt took seriously the person and the conversation that started all of this. I'm thankful that he was quick to take the matter to people who were ready to pursue this with integrity. Matt already had safe people with accountable relationships. Apparently the structure was already in place to deal with a problem. The process itself took time, but getting it started did not seem to.
We're In This Together - It seems that neither Matt, the friend he was messaging nor her friend who first raised the concerns were boxed out or isolated for the purpose of determining an outcome. To a remarkable extent, it seems everyone was considered, listened to and protected.
As you might expect in the United States today, there were plenty of negative headlines and judgements for Matt and the Village Church through all this. No need to give them more creedance, but at this point, I'm thankful for their quick, caring response, catching a "seed problem" before it grew bigger and more damaging. That's my read.
CLICK HERE for the initial report on the incident in Christianity Today, a reliable source.
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