I've been watching a series on YouTube which has been diving into the recent history of the collapse of megachurches in particular but also of many churches and denominations in general, especially Evangelicalism. Many well known pastors of churches so large they've become their own brand have succumbed to the temptations of lavish lifestyles and abusing their authority to sexually abuse their congregants in one way or another. This has happened so often it's almost a given that if a church reaches a certain size and celebrity that it's only a matter of time before it happens there too.
One of the constant factors in these collapses is the lack of accountability for the pastoral leadership in either their personal conduct, their handling of church finances, or both. In these churches, the pastor is at the top and even if there is a board of elders or deacons, they're usually filled with his friends, family, and those who will rubber stamp everything he does or says (and it's usually a male pastor). When a credible accusation of abuse comes up, the victim is silenced, shamed, and paid off in order to protect the institution and its brand.
Thing is, this kind of monarchal pastorate isn't what Jesus taught. It isn't even what Paul taught in his letters. Presbyters and bishops, the terms Paul uses for church leadership, were to be held accountable by the rest of the community because of their position as guides and teachers. They were to be the living examples of discipleship that everyone else could see and emulate. They were to not only teach how to operate with the Spirit instead of from their own dysfunctional flesh, they were to demonstrate it. When one of them began to engage with his flesh, with his fear, aggression, or bodily craving responses, the protocols for correcting them were different than for others in the community. There were no private asides. There were no taking two or three other brothers or sisters with you. They were to be confronted publicly and in front of everyone. Paul demonstrated this forcefully in his account of challenging Peter to his face in Antioch. Jesus demonstrated it in also publicly rebuking Peter in front of everyone. In a way, Peter did it with Simon the Sorcerer as well, publicly rebuking him. Whether he was in any kind of a position of leadership among the Samaritan community isn't said, though given his previous social position, it's probably not outside the realm of possibility.
Part of the problem as well is the current model of church communities and giving. In the ancient Christian communities, all resources were put into a common pool where everyone could draw from as they needed. That included the community's leadership and spiritual guides. They had no more access to the community's resources and finances than anyone else. They were provided for out of them, yes, but no more than anyone else. In the Didache it talks about traveling prophets who would come to stay with these communities. They were to be allowed to stay and draw from the communal pool of resources for no more than three days before being required to move on. Otherwise, with the exception of the pastors, bishops, or presbyters, everyone who drew from the communal pool of resources was required to contribute to it as well as they could. Widows and orphans were obviously exempted from this, though Paul encouraged younger widows to remarry rather than draw from the communal pool for their livelihood. (This was a cultural thing. Unmarried younger women had few recourses for their livelihoods in that time even in Roman society. They were expected to either be married or live from their parents.) This is what Paul meant by "if someone doesn't work, neither should he eat," referring to those capable of working within the communities who stood around all day without working to contribute to those resources. But the key here is being able to contribute to the community in some way. One modern model for these ancient Christian communities is that of a religious order such as the Jesuits where any paycheck is handed over to the order and the order then provides all the necessities of life to its members.
One who claims to be a teacher of discipleship, a pastor, a bishop, a presbyter must be held accountable by the rest of the community no differently from any other professing disciple except in how they are corrected. They are not to be protected or indulged, but are to be publicly rebuked and exposed in order to bring them back to their senses.
If we had followed this actual New Testament model for accountability (and for that matter, resource distribution), none of these scandals would have happened in the first place.
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