CREEDE HINSHAW: Who provides church oversight?

Who supervises what goes on in the church or in any religious organization?

I ask the question not because there is any current religious scandal. I would rather write this column while the sun is shining.

What prompts today’s musings is a front page column in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month about the continuing blowback over the Wells Fargo banking scandal where Fargo unethical bankers across the nation ripped off unsuspecting customers for years.

The Journal reported that Fargo’s Board of Directors is now “clawing back” bonuses and retirement income from two of the chief culprits. Independent proxy consulting companies are recommending that investors vote out many members of the board for not having taken a stronger role in righting the unethical practices. The current CEO bemoaned, “I wish we would’ve taken more actions and done things more quickly.”

Reread that last sentence. It could be the cry of many boards or governing agencies of many churches and religious organizations.

Because we are the church, we tend to be far more trusting, giving our leaders the benefit of the doubt. The pastors/rabbis/imams of our congregations, after all, are our chief shepherds. They have been called by God and are presumably persons of the highest moral and ethical standards. We make the same presumptions for the rest of the staff of a religious organization, lay or clergy. If people are working on behalf of God and humanity, surely they are trustworthy.

And most are. Thank God, most who serve the church/synagogue/mosque are extremely ethical and self-denying. But not everybody. And just because a person is ethical doesn’t mean they are making the best decisions for the organization.

That’s why religious organizations have committees, board of deacons, administrative councils, stewards, vestry, or whatever they are called. Some organizations are chock full of groups who have oversight of the pastors/leaders.

But these groups are volunteers. And volunteers have only so much time. And who wants to stir up trouble? And doesn’t the religious professional know better anyway? And what if one or two persons on a board/oversight group are lonely voices?

My advice is for boards to exercise the oversight and authority given you by your congregation. No pastor or leader is above reproach. No authority can make the right judgments 100% of the time. That’s why the church establishes committees.

Worst case scenario is that religious leaders are involved in sexual misconduct or financial malfeasance. But these are not the only sins that beset leaders. Some are arrogant, others are autocratic and others are manipulative. Who is asking the hard questions? It is the leaders, designated by the organization, who must support their leaders but to also provide oversight and correction when necessary.

Too often a board which should have known better provided lax oversight or was too weak to push back against the obvious warning signs. And then it was too late.

Email columnist Creede Hinshaw, a retired Methodist minister, at [email protected].