Church Antagonism -- Part 3 -- Types of Antagonists

Or perhaps we should say levels of antagonists. You can classify antagonists based on their level of hostility. This is important as antagonism has a pyramid structure going from top to bottom. I classify them as various types of wolves in sheep's clothing.

1. The Demon Wolves -- This is the top of the pyramid -- these wolves are psychotic and paranoid -- that is they see evil in everything but themselves. The enjoy making trouble although they will deny it. These are the clergy killers who feel they are on a crusade to rid the church of evil and that evil to them is found in the pastor and his closest associates. I never really faced one this bad but I could see where a couple of them might develop into ones.

2. The Big Wolves -- These are not as demon inspired as the above but they still do many of the same things. They are distinguished by the fact there is no reasoning with them. They don't necessarily enjoy what there doing but they are dominated the the belief they are right and that's that.

The guy who ultimately got the board to go along with him in voting me out of my second church was this type -- all he could see was evil. Everything I did and said was interpreted through the lens of darkness. I had ulterior motives for everything he said. I was the problem no matter how much I did, explained my actions or apologized. The guy just did not have grip on reality. There was no explaining things to him or reasoning with him. There was a woman in my first church like this too -- I was shielded from her by the fact she wasn't as member of the church but her influence over her family that did attend and were members was large and she used it to try to get what she wanted. There were a couple of others as well. One board member I had was convinced that I should micromanage everything and that my belief in team leadership was bad. No matter what I showed him there was no convincing him -- he caused problems but then when he couldn't get what he wanted he left the church but did so in a way that caused further problems. This happened a lot in my first church.

3. Pack Wolves -- These are the antagonists that have power or position but take their orders through the Demon or Big Wolves. They strike when the first blow has already been laid down. They act as support before the blow is struck. They are cowards but get brave when the there is an advantage to them and the battle is on and the shepherd is on one knee from the knife in his back.

The best example I have of this was in my second church. There was a couple who kept under the radar but they were hostile toward me from day one. As they were leaving the church at my election they told the denomination official that the vote that elected me was illegal. They wanted someone else and I was not the people they wanted (they were trying to get a friend of theirs). After that they would show up when they felt like it. This was barely enough to keep their membership and they used their money (they were quite well off) to manipulate people. They ultimately wrote a letter saying that it was them or me. They waited until the other board member talked about above made the first move. The thought of the loss of their money put fear in the rest of the board and that formed the atmosphere for the board meeting (without me) that the board requested I leave. I could go on and on with this type -- seen a lot of this.

4. Wolf Pups -- These people yap a lot -- that why I call them pups -- they have little power or influence but they act to create the atmosphere of trouble. They create mood by keeping the gossip going or supporting what the bigger wolves are doing.

These are the basic types of antagonists. What allows them to prosper is the subject of the next post.

Next -- What Allows Antagonists to Thrive