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Terminating a pastoral employee is rarely easy, and is almost always unsettling for you, your conference, and the pastor and their family. They can be the most painful of experiences in your work as a Ministerial Director.

Many pastors who find themselves in this position may blame everyone but themselves for their plight, and others know that the conference had no other choice.

In either case, you have pastoral work to do.

Hopefully the final decision process has been handled by conference administration along with the executive committee, and that the burden of sharing the news of the termination falls on the shoulders of your administrators. That should leave you free to offer your services to the pastor as their friend and advocate. They may not be in a place emotionally where they can accept it, but it's still important to offer it.

It's also important for you to advocate for the most gracious termination package that can be given. Much of the termination settlement is a matter of policy, but committees exist to make exceptions. If you are able to successfully argue for something helpful for the pastor who is losing his or her job, not only will you have gone the second mile for them, you would be responsible for helping to start reconstruction on a bridge that at that moment seems all but destroyed. You could be their lifeline.

It would also be an important ministry to the pastor in this situation to remain in contact with them at least occasionally over a period of time after the termination. If you are persistent and kind, you will be able to minister to what is very likely a broken and deeply hurting person who probably feels like no one is in their corner.

Terminations require that you walk a fine line between your conference and the person being terminated. Everything you say to the pastor will be remembered, so consider your words carefully. Being caught in the middle is often unavoidable. But while it's an uncomfortable place to be, it is the place you need to be.