6 Things to Consider When Letting a Pastor Go

I was recently speaking to someone who was telling me a very sad story about how their church had to let a pastor go.

The church was experiencing some financial challenges that resulted in a decision to reduce expenses by terminating a pastor.

My acquaintance shared with me that the pastor was notified of his termination by the staff accountant and had no conversations with the senior pastor (his boss) .

To make matters worse, the senior pastor and his wife left town for a three month sabbatical leaving the terminated pastor and congregation with many unanswered questions.

I have no doubt that the subsequent events may or may not have transpired as my friend described but the fact of the matter is, the “public” perception of the situation was not a good one.

The story was sad to me because there are some things that could have been done differently that would have benefited the terminated pastor and the church he was leaving.

6 Things to Consider When Letting a Pastor Go

1. Decision Making Process

The decision to terminate any employee is never an easy one and deciding to let a pastor go is one that can be extremely difficult to make.

One of the biggest expenses for any organization is salary expense so deciding to let an employee go to save money is a understandable budget decision.

However, all other cost cutting measures should be exhausted before making the decision to let an employee go.

2. Covering Job Responsibilities

Difficult terminations very often leave job responsibilities unaccounted for resulting in employees, or even volunteers, scrambling to cover the bases.

Spend some time with the departing employee to learn which job tasks need to be assigned and who may have the interest and skill set to be successful.

These conversations can be done as part of an exit interview process.

3. Do Unto Others

Terminating an employee is a very difficult thing to do and, unfortunately, people who have never done it and don’t know how, make the common mistake of avoiding the difficult conversation.

Consider the way you would like to be treated and try to create a process that eases the difficult conversation.

Ask the question, “if this were me, who would I want to share the news with me?” and “what information would be important for me to hear?”

4. Severance Package

Church employees don’t typically qualify for unemployment insurance claims making it very difficult for employees as they make a job transition.

If at all possible, put together a severance package to at least buy some time for the employee while they begin the job search process.

A good rule of thumb is allowing for a week’s pay for every year of service.

Depending on the age and tenure of the employee, an outplacement service may be in order to help the employee prepare for a new job. Outplacement companies can coach a job candidate on interviewing skills and help with resume writing and networking.

This benefit can be expensive but the investment in the employee, and the employee’s family, may be worth the expense.

5. Job Search Leads

If the employee provided value to your church, offer assistance by using all available resources and contacts to get the word out to assist this person in finding a job.

Any help you can provide could help expedite the job hunting process.

6. Communication Plan

It is critical to have a well thought out plan for communicating with the church, volunteers and other employees.  This plan will add to or subtract from the credibility of the organization.

These groups of people will find out anyway and a good plan will control what is communicated while controling the rumor mill.

The secret is to answer any questions before they are asked by thinking through who, what, when and how.

For example, members may want to know why the decision had to be made, when the employee’s last day of work is, who will be taking on their job responsibilities, how the employee was provided for as they made the transition and if they will continue to worship with church members.

Making the decision to terminate a church employee is never easy but with a little thought and planning the process can provide assistance to the employee and demonstrate the organization’s compassion and care.

Who more than the church should operate in this manner?