Unfaithful Senior Pastor Resigns and Elmbrook Church Does Right By His Wife - Divorce Minister
Marital infidelity (and addiction) took down another prominent senior pastor.
Jason Webb formerly the senior pastor to Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin resigned on September 19, 2018 due to his infidelities and unspecified addiction.
While this is an awful situation for all involved, I applaud the church leadership for how they are handling the matter. They have done three things worth highlighting:
1. They accepted (probably required) a resignation from the senior pastor when his marital infidelities came to light.
They did not try to keep their pastor at the cost of righteousness and godliness. Instead, they properly took these sins as disqualifying for the office of pastor.
2. They signaled that Mr. Webb will not be returning to ministry at their church after these sinful betrayals.
From the letter to the congregation:
“…we have mutually agreed with Jason that going forward he will not be returning to ministry at Elmbrook.”
This is what it means to take marital infidelity seriously. They understand that such sin is disqualifying for the office of pastor (e.g. Titus 1:6).
Yes, everyone sins. However, not everyone cheats on their spouse multiple times while pretending to be the moral leader of a local congregation. The standard for an elder and pastor is higher than just any Christian (see I Timothy 3:2).
3. They are allowing Mrs. Webb will be able to remain at her job with the church.
From the letter to the congregation:
“Elmbrook is caring for the Webb family, and Heather will continue in her role as our Global Partnership Director.”
This is not a given for many churches. Faithful spouses are often punished for being married to a cheater by other Christians, sadly. I am glad Elmbrook Church is NOT doing that here. I applaud their explicit and REAL support of Mrs. Webb doing this troubling time by stating she can keep her job with them.
Churches and denominations do not always respond this well to such awful, destructive sin in their leadership.
After I went through my trial, the official executing my year of pastoral “care” made it clear that he would handle such situations very differently if left up to him alone. This was part of the reason I left that denomination. It was not a biblical or just stance toward my situation.
This official told me that he normally would force a local pastor out of the pulpit if his wife divorced him (and it did not matter if she was a cheater).
