The Epic, Pt. 14

The Church Ministries and Accountability Boards met for the first time in joint session on March 2, 2008. The most significant item of business Pastor DeSilva presented at that meeting was a document he termed a “Code of Ethics.” He asserted that there had been “a lot of unethical behavior lately,” and that this document was intended to remedy this “problem.” Some portions of this document were relatively innocuous; others were extremely disturbing. (See the following posts, “Code of Ethics” and “Code of Ethics Analysis.”) Pastor DeSilva read through it, then opened the floor for discussion.

One of the elders raised his hand. Upon being recognized he paused, prefaced his comments with the statement, “You probably don’t want to hear what I have to say,” and paused again.

Rather than encouraging him to continue, Pastor DeSilva callously responded, “You’re probably right,” and acknowledged the next hand. The slighted elder collected his belongings and quietly left the room. This action was met with a ripple of surprise among the assembled church leaders.

Pastor DeSilva, realizing his rudeness but unwilling to acknowledge it, tried to “play it off” as being misbehavior on the part of the elder. He made a sanctimonious speech about how anyone who had an issue with something that was being discussed had an obligation to work through it within the meeting rather than walking out. He then “generously” declared that in light of the elder’s many years of service that he would go the extra mile and try to talk with him about what was bothering him. Pastor DeSilva decided that the “Code of Ethics” should be tabled until the next Ministry Board meeting so that he could have an opportunity to talk with the elder before it was voted.

Next: Two Faces

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