Pastoral Ethics Discussed Saturday at Central Bible Baptist Church

Richard Walker, president of Black Renaissance Ministries, presented problematic scenarios for 20 pastors and church leaders to consider at Saturday’s Pastors Roundtable at .

“Sister Jones is in a counseling session with Pastor Smith, when she confesses that she is attracted to the pastor,” Walker said. “What is the first action that the pastor should take?”

Roundtable participants and the three pastors on the Black Renaissance panel —David Kinlow, Word of God Community Church, Canton; Eddie Hawkins, retired from Good Shepherd Baptist, Cleveland; and Henry Wallace, Grace Fundamental, Cleveland — offered their views on this sticky situation.

Wallace summed up most of their responses with a concise observation of his own: “In the Old Testament and the New Testament, there’s only one thing to do. Run!”

Black Renaissance Ministries, which started in 2002, schedules roundtables to discuss issues that are relevant to pastors and church leaders.

“It allows an environment where you can express yourself,” said Pastor Harry Cain, who is in his second year of pastoral ministry at  on Noble Road. “You realize that the things that you face, you’re not facing them alone. What are some nuggets I can take away from here that I can implement or share with my (church) family?”

During Saturday’s roundtable on pastoral ethics, participants discussed the relationship between a pastor’s devotional life — Bible study and prayer — and ethical behavior.

“If your devotional life is not strong, it will manifest itself in your professional life, in the pulpit, in counseling,” Wallace said.

Hawkins included “Devotional life” in what he called “The Ds to Watch,” some basic rules to follow.

Repeating what his own pastor told him many years ago when he entered the ministry, he said, “Watch that Drinkin’. Watch that Doctrine — what you teach. Watch your Deportment.”

Other “Ds” referred to “the Door,” meaning how you handle money, and “the Daughters” or women of the church, which dominated the discussion.

“Sometimes it’s not a matter of people doing wrong,” Walker said. “It’s a matter of perception.”

Hawkins recommended that counseling of women be conducted “in an open area where people can see what’s going on.”

Such areas could include having an office with a window or glass wall or a door that is opened slightly, so it can be easily pushed open.

“Have a good secretary (chosen by your wife) who will protect you,” Hawkins said. “If that woman is coming in for serious counseling, she is vulnerable.”

Kinlow has a standard rule, which his congregation knows.

“I don’t let women in my house if my wife is not there,” he said.

Other ethical concerns were not addressed as the enthusiastic discussion ran over time, but Hawkins managed to squeeze in the importance of keeping private conversations private as the last word of the roundtable.

“Once you break confidentiality,” he said, “your counseling ministry is gone.”

For more about Black Renaissance Ministries, including classes it conducts at Central Bible Baptist and other venues, visit its website.