Case study
Anytown Community Church hired a new Children’s Pastor, Ann, approximately 2 years ago. She has proven to be a creative and dedicated addition to the staff, but the Senior Pastor, Richard, and some of the church leaders have become uncomfortable with some developments in the children’s ministry. Pastor Ann is enormously popular with many of the parents in the church because she gives herself so generously to the children. Pastor Ann is involved in every part of the ministry. She does all the planning, all the teaching, and even invites the parents to drop their children off at her home when they need a babysitter. She plans frequent parties at her home and will make arrangements to pick up children whose parents cannot drive them to the party. Pastor Ann sometimes complains to Pastor Richard about being tired, but when Pastor Richard has recruited others to help in children’s ministry, they seldom stick with it. They have complained that Pastor Ann is controlling and will not allow them to have any real responsibility.
Pastor Ann often comments that the children at Anytown Community Church are “her whole life.” She is married, but Pastor Richard knows that Pastor Ann’s relationship with her husband has been strained ever since he has known them. He suspects the ministry may have become her way of avoiding issues at home, but he feels stuck because so much of the children’s ministry revolves around her and many of the families would surely leave the church if Pastor Ann were removed from her responsibilities. This would leave the church in a very difficult financial situation, not to mention the tensions that would arise within the congregation, most of whom know nothing about Pastor Ann’s personal life or her behavior outside of what they see on Sunday.
Two weeks before Christmas, Pastor Richard received a phone call at 3:00 a.m. It is Pastor Ann’s grown daughter. Sobbing, she informs Pastor Richard that her dad has been admitted to the hospital, having overdosed on prescription drugs. When he arrives at the hospital, he finds Pastor Ann hysterical and unable to talk to him except to repeat over and over, “What am I going to do?” Pastor Richard sees that there are many dark days ahead for this family and for the ministry of Anytown Community Church.
In a Word document, identify the following in the case study: Any ministry “dangers” you see in the case study. What “red flags” should the leadership have noticed? What attitudes, approaches or practices on the part of Pastor Ann, Pastor Richard, and the church leadership might have prevented this tragedy?