Healing Congregations After Misconduct: Empowering Congregational Leadership

To support the healing and health of congregations that have experienced clergy and lay leader misconducts, we must address both the harm and the factors that allow harmful patterns to repeat. Our guest, the Rev. Dr. Deborah Pope-Lance, discusses how congregational leaders can develop the capacity, skills, and structures needed to heal, protect, and express the principles and values of their congregations.

Resources shared in this program:

• When a Congregation is Betrayed and other resources can be found on Deborah’s website

• UUA LeaderLab resources to help you develop congregational policies, procedures, and priorities:

  • Mission and Vision

  • Bylaws

  • Safe Congregation Policy

  • Covenant of Right Relations

The Rev. Dr. Deborah Pope-Lance is an acknowledged expert on the harm caused by clergy misconduct on individuals and congregations. She served two decades in parish, interim and counseling ministries, before beginning a community ministry in 1995 teaching, training, counseling and coaching clergy with a focus on supporting clergy serving in unduly challenging ministries following misconduct. Her current interest is developing strategies for healing the harm caused to congregations by ministerial misconduct.