What's the right way to fire someone from a biblical perspective, even when it's painful? Well, they're a fellow believer. This is Lead in 10. I'm Chris Moore, and today we're stepping into one of the most difficult and emotional decisions any Christian leader will ever have to make, letting someone go. Maybe you've tried coaching them, maybe you've prayed for a breakthrough. Maybe they're even a fellow believer, someone you care about personally, but it's just not working. The team is suffering. The mission is getting off course, and now you're faced with the decision you've been avoiding. What do you do? Isn't biblical to fire someone? Can you do it in a way that honors Christ and still protect your business or team? Let's turn to scripture. Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 17 lays out a model that's deeply helpful here. Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou has gained thy brother, but if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more. That in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established, and if he should neglect to hear them, tell them to the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be into thee as a heathen man and a Republican. Now, while this passage primarily addresses sin and conflict in the church, the principle absolutely applies in leadership. Start with a private correction. Follow up with accountability. If there's still no change. It may be time to separate. Look, that's not rejection, that's faithful leadership. Proverbs 27, 6 tells us, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. In other words, telling someone the truth, even when it hurts, is actually an act of love. So here's the core principle, firing someone when done with humility and compassion. Can actually reflect the heart of God, especially when truth and love walk hand in hand. Let's talk about four steps to do that well, step one, prepare with prayer and documentation. Before you ever call a meeting, spend time with God. Ask for wisdom, ask for discernment. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart for your frustration, your pride, or your fear. And then take time to prepare. Have you clearly addressed the issue before? If you haven't, now's where you need to start. Are there a written record of missed expectations or behavior patterns? If they're not, you also may not have shared those appropriately with the person that you're thinking about firing. Don't go into this moment unprepared or emotionally reactive. Your role is to lead with truth and clarity. If you're going in with overt emotion, with anger, with frustration, you just take a step back and make sure that you're grounded in prayer. Step two, you need to speak clearly and kindly. This is not the moment to beat around the bush. Don't open with small talk. Don't make vague comments. Instead say something like this. After much prayer reflection, I believe it's time for us to make a change In your role. Explain your reasoning. Use facts not your emotions. Speak with respect, but you do need to be direct and avoid the trap of trying to make it feel better than it is. Minimizing the decision that just causes confusion and even hurt more in the long run. Step number three, you need to extend grace without avoiding the truth. If appropriate, you should offer resources to help them make that transition given encouragement When you can do it, honestly, maybe you say, look, I know this is hard, but I believe God has a next step for you and I'm willing to support you however I can as you take it. Even in hard moments, you can show grace, kindness, and confidence in God's bigger picture. But don't walk back your decision. Don't leave the door cracked open unless you truly believe that there's a path to restoration for that individual. You have to be firm, but you also need to be full of grace. Step four, leave space for restoration, even if it's not a rehire. Jesus always left room for redemption, even for Peter after denial. Now, that doesn't mean you offer the job back next week, but what it does mean is you release the person with love in your heart and not bitterness. You should still continue to pray for them. It means you speak well of them publicly. It means you trust that God is not done with them, even if you were done managing them. Let me give you two warnings. Two warnings that trip up. A lot of leaders warning, number one, delaying that decision out of fear or out of guilt. Dragging these things out does not help anyone. It actually makes things worse. The person you're afraid to hurt might be silently hurting, already confused, anxious, or even sensing what's coming. Clarity is kindness. Delaying creates damage. Warning number two, avoiding clarity to spare feelings. This is a big one. We start saying things like, well, maybe this isn't the best fit right now, or, let's take a break and we can revisit later. If you've made the decision, own it with humility, speak the truth, wrap it in love as best you can, but don't soften it to the point that there's confusion for the individual about why you made this decision. You know, uh, several years ago, over 10 years ago now, almost 20, I guess you could say. Um, I went into an office. And did an evaluation of that office for the owner. The owner was having difficulty, uh, both in sales and operations, struggling with some things, and after spending a couple weeks at the enterprise, I made the unfortunate recommendation that there were three people in his organization of 40 plus that he needed to let go. These three individuals were causing difficulties for themselves and difficulties for the organization as a whole. Don't wanna go too far into what was happening with these individuals, but each one of these three were young men. Young men who did not have families who were at the beginning of what they felt like was going to be their career and through their struggles they were not only failing themselves, they were failing the company and causing a lot of internal strife. The owner unfortunately didn't take my initial recommendation, uh, took six months. Uh, drawn out, uh, ended, not as well as it possibly could have, but here's what ended up taking place. One of those individuals while they were in the midst of discussing exactly what we're talking about, said, you know, I've really been feeling like I needed to go back to school. I would like to get a finance degree and move into financial services. And so made some recommendations. Uh, the owner who actually had experience with his kids getting them into college helped this individual get enrolled in school, apply for grants, get a scholarship in order to go back to school. Another individual went back and decided that he wanted to go to culinary school. He had always wanted to be a chef, but didn't feel like he had. The opportunity and that maybe this was what he was supposed to do. Um, the third person didn't even seem like they were bothered that they had been let go, jumped into another job. Those first two individuals. One did get his master's degree in finance and now owns his own business. The other went back to culinary school, worked for a famous chef, and now owns two restaurants of which they are the owning chef of those restaurants. Two things that never would've happened, and both of those individuals came back to the owner and said, thank you. If you had not done this, we probably would've just struggled on for another couple of years until we quit and don't know where we ended up this moment in time for them where they heard things in truth that were wrapped in love, changed their lives for the better in the long term. So don't ever think that letting someone go is the end. It may very well be their new beginning. Is there someone on your team that you've been avoiding confronting? Out of fear, out of guilt, out of your own discomfort. Well, here's your action step. I want you to spend 15 minutes today praying about that person, the relationship, and the performance. Ask God to show you what the truth looks like, what love looks like, and when the time is right. Commit to having that conversation. If you have not had the first conversation where it's clear. Where you were setting expectations, where you were letting someone know what they need to do, and you know that you have given the training that they need to have in order to perform in their job. If you have not taken those steps yet, the problem is not with that individual, it's with your leadership, but if you are doing all the right things and someone still isn't performing. Remember this leadership isn't about avoiding those hard moments. It's about learning how to handle them with grace, with integrity, with courage, and always being the face the spirit. The hands, the feet of Jesus. This is Lead in 10. I'm Chris Moore. If today's message gave you a little more peace and clarity for that next leadership decision that you need to make, uh, then please share this episode with another leader who needs it. While I can subscribe and I'll see you next time.