BTW some of the worst church politics I have ever seen were generated by those "sweet" old ladies. Her being old and a woman does not make her right or innocent.
They should have avoided the whole issue by promoting her to a different position. Perhaps they tried and it didn't work. We only know part of the story.
My experience is that the sweet old ladies tend to be the most vocal at meetings and tend to argue about the color of the carpet.
From the pastor: First let me address this issue in regard to how it applies to my role at First Baptist Church and some of the history that led up to the Board’s decision. As most of you are aware when I arrived at First Baptist Church the congregation was dwindling and the church was headed for eventual closure. In a short period of time we began to see tremendous growth in the church which made me and many others feel thankful and blessed. In a short period of time classrooms that did not have children in them for a number of years were filling up with children, other parts of the building that had not been used in years were now needing to be utilized as a result of our growth. New members began stepping up willing to serve on boards and in various areas within the church. Changes began to be made to maximize our growth and meet the needs of the growing congregation. The majority of our membership was genuinely excited about the growth and new hope for the future of the church, however, as you recall there were some who were unhappy with new members joining the church, changes that were being made and my performance in general as pastor. As a result a small group decided to forgo the mechanisms that we have in place for dealing with conflicts or disagreements within the church and elected to hire a local attorney and aired their grievances in a letter to the Watertown Daily Times.
So what we have here is this: An old woman is a member of a dying church. A pastor comes in and begins to revitalize the church, making changes she doesn't like. So, rather than keeping her problems with him inside the church where they belong, she (or others in her clique) GO TO THE FREAKIN' MEDIA.
The pastor and the Board decide to relieve her from her duties, and so as to avoid any potential lawsuit, they formally state only the Biblical grounds for her dismissal.
Bottom line - the woman was wrong to take her issues to the media. Paul specifically warns us against taking our internal problems outside the walls of the church.