Breaking Free

People are watching more porn now than ever before . . . even pastors and ministers. How are denominations and church organizations dealing with this issue?

The Assemblies of God actually has a formal list of guidelines in place for helping ministers who have a “moral failure involving pornography.” I commend AOG for putting careful thought into these guidelines. (These guidelines were published in the Fall 2005 issue of Enrichment Journal.)

The guidelines of discipline, first, recognize that there are varying stages of involvement with pornography.

1. The Curiosity Stage – The minister is personally searching for pornography because of the veil of mystery or confusion that surrounds it.
2. The Experimental Stage – The minister is looking for pornography to see whether something is stimulating or compelling.
3. The Regular Usage Stage – The minister is using pornography at set times, under certain conditions, or within certain contexts.
4. The Habitual Stage – The minister is regularly using pornography to a point where a habit has been formed.
5. The Addicted Stage – The minister is compulsively using pornography.

For each stage there is a rehabilitation process that the Assemblies of God recommends.

1. The Curiosity Stage – There is no suspension at this stage, but the minster needs to go through a minimum of 3 months of approved pastoral counseling.
2. The Experimental Stage – There is no suspension at this stage either, but the minister needs to go through a minimum of 6 months of approved professional counseling.
3. The Regular Usage Stage – In this stage, the minister is given a minimum 3-month suspension (contingent upon and concurrent with sustained abstinence), and must go through a minimum of 1 year of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.
4. The Habitual Stage – In this stage, the minister is given a minimum 6-month suspension, and must go through a minimum of 1 year of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.
5. The Addicted Stage – In this final stage, the minister is given a minimum 1-year suspension, and must go through a minimum of 2 years of rehabilitation with approved professional counseling.

What do you think of these guidelines?

Is it wise for a church to have guidelines when it comes to the moral failure of its leaders?

Some might contest that guidelines such as these only keep a minister trapped in his sin: in the shame of his addiction and in the knowledge of what disciplinary actions await him, he might try even harder to conceal his sin. Wouldn’t it be better just to have an open invitation to ministers to come forward with their confessions with no threat of discipline?

Personally, I think this would be a very unwise decision. For one, promising no discipline is anti-biblical. All church members, even ministers, should be included in the informal and formal disciplinary life of the church.

Second, these guidelines are built to provide hope, not fear. In a denomination where a minister has a porn problem, if he doesn’t have guidelines like this, he cannot predict what discipline awaits him. Will they send him to counseling? Will they kick him out of his church? If they do, will he ever have a chance of returning to the ministry? In a church without guidelines, the minister may leave his sin unconfessed out of fear.

With guidelines like these in place, he knows that his denomination is taking a firm stance against pornography and offering help and healing to the sexually broken minister.

Any thoughts?