You’re a pastor, senior church leader, or lead a growing ministry. You’ve been a faithful shepherd your entire career and always sought what’s best for your church family. But out of the blue, and with no warning at all, you just got the call you hoped you’d never receive: A respected member of your staff has confessed or been caught in a serious moral failure. It could be embezzling money, an adulterous affair, a drunk driving arrest, possession of pornography, illegal drugs, or sexual abuse. Whatever the accusation, you have to respond. But this isn’t covered in seminary or Bible college, so what do you do?
Over my career as a media producer and communication professional, I’ve helped a significant number of churches navigate these exact situations. And when I take the call, the pastor, ministry leader, elders, or board members are usually blindsided. They had no idea how it could have happened and, worse – no idea how to respond. It goes without saying that a spiritual leader’s moral, financial, sexual, or other sin can have a significant and often devastating impact on the church or ministry. Aside from the theological and scriptural implications, a significant trust issue is involved, and in many cases, one or more victims. As a result, churches and ministries take a heavy hit when a leader is accused of financial mismanagement, engages in unethical or illegal actions, or worse, is involved in abusive sexual behavior. How you react in the first 48 hours is critical in these cases. Every situation is different, often requiring different actions to address various crises. But having advised numerous organizations through these difficult situations, and based on my book “Church on Trial: How to Protect Your Congregation, Mission, and Reputation During a Crisis,” here is a good general list of recommendations on the actions you should take during the first 48 hours:
1. Act quickly. In our digital era, it’s not just our theology, legal, or moral principles at issue; it’s about telling the truth and getting the facts straight. Otherwise, things can quickly spin out of control in our media-driven culture, and rumors and lies will mount up. When that happens, your congregation, donors, and the general public start losing trust, and trust is incredibly hard to rebuild. You can spend decades building trust, but all that work can topple in an instant. In today’s text message and email universe, word travels fast, so you’re living in a dream if you believe you can hide it or keep a lid on it for long.
2. Your first call should be to get your attorney’s advice. Especially if it involves offenses like sexual abuse with minors or downloading child pornography, not reporting it promptly can be a crime in itself. There have been pastors who had nothing to do with the abuse and yet were threatened with prosecution simply because they didn’t report the situation to authorities. An experienced attorney can help guide you through that process and will know which authorities to notify.
Along that line, it’s worth noting that any sexual relationship with an employee or church member is also considered sexual abuse because of the power dynamic involved. Aspects of the relationship, such as if a salary is on the line, or they highly respect or feel they should submit to a spiritual leader, etc, are coercive by nature – even when both parties are adults. So, never let a perpetrator pass something like that off as consensual – because it isn’t.
3. Be concerned and helpful to all parties – immediately. For instance, in the case of a leader being accused of a sexual violation, even if you think he or she is innocent, never criticize or demean the other party involved. Particularly at this early date, no one knows everything about the situation, so never come across as harsh or unfeeling towards the person making the accusation.
There have been major churches and ministries whose leadership initially dismissed or ridiculed the accuser, only to discover within weeks or months that he or she was right. Those critical elders or staff members were humiliated and often forced to step down. I recommend you act out of authentic and genuine concern, arrange counseling or medical treatment, and do what you can to help that victim. Even during the initial chaos, don’t forget that abuse can leave a lifetime of psychological damage, so the immediate offer of counseling and assistance with spiritual and psychological issues is paramount.
4. Get communications advice from aprofessional. Good attorneys can help with legal issues, but an experienced crisis communications and media professional can help you know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. Many of the crises we’ve seen in the headlines over the last few years were made worse because of the poor way they were communicated to the church and the general public. Writing official statements and press releases can be tricky, and setting up a press conference can backfire. Talk to someone who has been there and can help you plan. The cost will not only save an enormous amount down the road, but it can also save the church’s reputation.
Especially in the case of an outside crisis or natural disaster, a communication professional can also help activate a crisis team if necessary. These are key leaders in your organization who understand the situation, can be trusted to deliver an accurate story, and are good on their feet. Get them together, go over the situation, and implement your plan.
5. If possible, break the news to your church family first. This is indeed a family, and they need to be told in person. Don’t email the news; tell it to them live if possible. Sometimes, it’s difficult if the problem happens early in the week because the word gets out. But if possible, and especially if the news comes to light toward the end of the week, I advocate sharing the truth with the congregation first. They deserve to hear the real story, not rumors, gossip, or through the local news.
Email is acceptable for updates down the road, but whenever possible, the immediate news should be shared face-to-face. Remember that these people have faithfully supported the church for years, sacrificed financially, sat under the teaching of the pastor and other church leaders, and volunteered thousands of hours for church outreaches.
Rusty George, lead pastor of Real Life Church in Southern California, puts it this way: “How do we manage a crisis when we’re in the middle of it? Think about the impact as a series of concentric circles. First, evaluate who is the closest to the blast zone in this crisis. What do they need first and how can you help them? Then, think about your staff and how to communicate what’s happening and how much to share. Next, ask yourself what the church needs to know, and finally, what the community needs to know.”
Granted, if it’s a case requiring immediate notification of local law enforcement, there are many opportunities for leaks. But the staff and the congregation deserve to hear the real story.
6. Speaking of sharing the story, always lead with the facts. Don’t hide, embellish, or deflect. It will always come back to haunt you. That doesn’t mean you blurt out everything you know, and sometimes, especially in the case of minors, there are privacy issues. And for the record, it’s not always appropriate to include lurid details (if any), but you do need to be honest and share the truth – according to what you know at the time.
7. Don’t waste time initially worrying about the cause. Should something happen, it’s crucial to remember the one thing you should never do when you’re knee-deep in a crisis: Waste time wondering why it happened.
Why it happened is important, but there will be plenty of time for that later. But in the heat of the moment, while the clock is ticking, isn’t the time to debate, discuss, or argue about why what went wrong went wrong. The minute you do that, you start falling behind in your response, helping the victim (if any), assurances to the congregation, donors, and the public that you’re taking care of it, and, in some cases, communicating with the media. The problem happened, so let’s deal with it for now. We’ll have plenty of time in the future to examine what caused the problem and make the proper changes.
8. When it’s called for, develop a statement for the press that you’ve written with the advice of your attorney and communication advisor. It needs to be clear and express the truth about what happened. But one thing that most church leaders fail to include is to outline the steps you’re taking to remedy the situation. For instance, if the problem was an abusive situation in the youth group, what policies are you putting in place to ensure it never happens again? Without that step, parents will be understandably slow to keep their kids involved.
Remember—the more you hide, the more people will assume you’re not telling the whole truth.
9. Finally, I recommend scrubbing the disgraced leader from all communications. If a pastor, ministry leader, or other staff member is a public figure, has published books, or produced teaching content online, or on social media, radio or television, pull that content immediately across all platforms. Unless you do that, it will appear that you’re condoning the perpetrator. Plus, once the accusations go public, critics will use those images and clips to ridicule the church or organization. So get your web and media team to pull online video, TV programs, websites, or social media platforms that feature that leader. After all, you want the congregation to begin focusing on the future, and constantly seeing products, social media posts, or other resources from the fallen leader is confusing and distracting.
Now that you know the steps to take once a crisis happens, here are three things I recommend you do right now:
PREPARE FOR A CRISIS AHEAD OF TIME.
Research shows that organizations that have a crisis plan recover much more quickly (and with less cost) than those that don’t. And don’t think a crisis can’t happen to you. In today’s complex, Internet-driven world, the chances your church or ministry will have problems have only increased. With the advent of social media, someone on your team has a greater opportunity to post something inappropriate or say something they’ll probably regret. And don’t forget that the minute you get upset at someone, chances are, someone is recording the incident on their phone. That’s why I advise you to pray and hope for the best, but always have a plan if something goes wrong.
KNOW YOUR RISK FOR LIABILITY.
Accidents and lawsuits happen, and a good insurance policy can literally save the church. Because there is such a wide range of potential crisis situations, you don’t want to bring the entire church down because of legal expenses. Particularly in the case of physical accidents on church property, financial mismanagement, or other liability issues, good insurance policies could save the day. I can’t tell you the number of churches that have been forced to close because of the financial cost of a crisis, and church members were innocent people caught in the crossfire. So talk to your insurance agent as well as your attorney and make sure you’re covered for these types of situations.
IF YOUR CHURCH IS PART OF A DENOMINATION OR NETWORK, BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THOSE RESOURCES.
There is often a wide range of information, expertise, and resources available, and access to those assets can make a dramatic difference in the outcome. In the event of any crisis, be ready for criticism of all kinds because even some Christians, inexperienced in these matters, will criticize a crisis plan as not being spiritual or trying to manipulate the truth. But it’s not about manipulation, it’s about being honest. It’s not about contriving a story, it’s about revealing the truth. However – it needs to be handled appropriately so more lives aren’t damaged, and the church doesn’t suffer even more. While some may think this strategy is harsh or insensitive, the scrutiny can be white-hot. Without the proper response, negative press coverage, social media criticism, and word of mouth can destroy an otherwise great church or ministry. And that’s an important point. You don’t want a victim’s life destroyed or a great work undermined.
(Reprinted by permission)