06 2d

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Section 06: OVERSEEING AND PLANNING, Pastoral Level 2d

06 2d: Practice good pastoral ethics and leadership style; calling a pastor

Practice these pastoral ethics:

Respect other pastors' flocks (don't steal sheep),

Keep confidences, never reveal confessions,

Do not visit, travel with nor counsel persons of the opposite sex without a third responsible person present or, for counseling, on the other side of a soundproof glass panel,

Keep all financial matters transparently open and accounted for,

Do not permit 'dealing' in business, loans or political campaigns at church activities,

If you leave a church do not return or visit the folks in it unless the new leader authorizes it,

If you mention resigning--even in a whisper--do it!

Find in Romans 15:20-21 a guideline for respecting another shepherd's flock.

*Find in Acts 20:17-38 examples of how a supervisor relates with other leaders.

Find in 2 Timothy 2:22 a guideline for avoiding rumor-provoking behavior.

For video courses that you can take at home, contact Jon Raibley at Western Seminary's Center for Lifelong Learning. Ask about courses related to pastoral ethics. Call (503) 517 1899, or e-mail CLL@WesternSeminary.edu or view courses offered on http://www.westernseminary.edu/. On the home page click on Enter, then Academic Programs, then Distance Education, then Course Listings.

Leadership Handbooks of Practical Theology, edited by James Berkeley, Volume 3:

managing the leader's own private and public life, call, general leadership responsibilities: sections 1-5

searching for, calling, a pastor: sections 10-11

terminating staff: section 21

For general understanding of Christian ethics: Honesty, Morality and Conscience, Jerry White

Write these and other ethical guidelines where you can review them regularly.

Discuss them with other Christian workers.
Note Bible references for each one.
When satisfied that these represent your convictions, carry a copy of them in your Bible.
Refer to them from time to time.
After a few years, you will have several stories of how those guidelines kept you from trouble.
Teach them to other gospel workers.

For help: Research

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