Communicating Difficult News to Your Church, Part 1
Communicating difficult news to a church family is never an easy task. If the news involves a staff member, the task often falls to the senior pastor. If the news involves the senior pastor, the task often falls to a board member.
Recently, I had the opportunity to compare two events and the communications sent informing constituents of some troubling news. Both offer some insight into communicating difficult news.
The first is from Miles McPherson, pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego, CA. Here is his email:
Rock Family,
In recent days, you may have heard of an unfortunate and deeply troubling classroom situation that occurred at the Rock Academy some time ago involving a former teacher. It’s a sensitive story because it impacts children, parents, teachers and others who have devoted themselves to family and Christian principles.
Because of the on-going investigation and the request for privacy by those involved, we have been unable to discuss this publicly, but with the media coverage we felt it necessary to communicate at this time.
In February 2010, there was a report of a breach of Academy protocols by one of the school's teachers. Our Church team confirmed the report and the teacher was fired that day. Our Church team also followed our legal requirements to immediately forward the information that resulted in the termination to the San Diego Police Department so they could investigate. That police investigation was ultimately closed in April 2010 because there were no findings of criminal misconduct. As a result, nothing more could be said other than the communication that went out indicating he was no longer with the Academy.
Two years after the teacher’s firing, when new allegations were received of inappropriate physical contact at the time the teacher was employed at the Academy, the Church immediately forwarded that information to police to further their investigation. The status of the police investigation is unknown, but the Church will continue to cooperate fully as we have since the beginning of this unfortunate situation.
I should note that it is the police department's role and responsibility to investigate these claims. The law expressly directs organizations like the Academy and the Church not to interfere with these investigations, and we have not.
For the families who have been directly impacted by this teacher's actions, we have attempted to provide them with professional care and support and will continue to do so.
I do want to assure you that the Rock Academy and the Church are taking all actions necessary to provide a safe environment for the children who attend the school, and we are undertaking a thorough review of our hiring practices and classroom safety protocols to make sure they continue to be the strongest possible. Unfortunately, the best possible practices cannot always prevent unforeseeable individual behavior.
As with any challenge facing our Church, and in this case, the Academy, we trust in the God of all comfort to get us through it (II Corinthians 1:3C4).
Again, because of the ongoing investigation, out of respect for the privacy of those involved, and our deep desire for healing, we cannot comment further and we ask everyone to simply pray for the families and our Church and ask for God’s help during this difficult time.
If you have any comments, questions, concerns or information you would like to communicate, please contact Treena Meyers at 619.226.7625 or [email protected].
Miles McPherson
Here are some lessons we can learn from this email:
The email acknowledges the obvious--the congregation has heard some "unfortunate and deeply troubling" news about the school associated with the church. Right up front, McPherson acknowledges this as fact.
The email explains why the church has remained silent for so long about the issue. They are not hiding anything, but there has been an on-going criminal investigation.
The email provides a brief description of what happened and offers evidence of how the church responded to the incident (firing the teacher) and how they cooperated with law enforcement.
The email acknowledges that new allegations have arisen, which brings the issue to the surface again. I believe this is important simply because in many cases involving inappropriate contact with a minor, there are often additional victims that remain silent.
The email acknowledges the victims and offers evidence that they have received professional help. Too often in a situation like this, the victim is projected as a part of the problem, especially in church-run ministries.
The email concludes with a restatement of the church's continuing efforts to provide a safe environment for children in their care, and that they, again, are providing help for the victims and are cooperating with law enforcement.
I believe this email serves as a good example of how a church should respond in communicating difficult news to its congregation.
In Part 2 of these two-part series, we will examine the communication failures of ABWE in dealing with an explosive situation involving one of their career missionaries.