When is it time to leave a ministry position?
If you are a Rockbridge Seminary student, think about the Time Line of your life that you built in “Developing the Focused Life,” your first course. The Time Line helped you identify people, events, and circumstances where God was at work shaping you into the person you are today.
Could it be that your present ministry position is coming to a close and, in Time Line terms, you need to transition to a new ministry chapter?
My experience is that ministers leave ministry positions far too often for the wrong reasons and sometimes resist leaving for the right reasons.
Author Gordon MacDonald suggests 8 reasons why you might leave a ministry position:
1. Incompatibility.
Good church, good pastor, but a bad fit. Both pastor and congregation develop a suspicion of the other’s agenda, and no amount of mutual reflection brings about convergence.
2. Immobility.
The congregation has become trapped in an ecclesiastical whirlpool—lots of programmatic motion but little sense of direction. There is an inescapable sense that the congregation is a closed community that plays church as a way of meeting the social needs of its constituents.
3. Organizational transition.
Healthy organizations inevitably reach growth points where a new kind of leadership becomes necessary. A wise and humble pastor learns for which era of church life he is best suited.
4. Stagnancy.
Sometimes pastors conclude that they can no longer personally develop in giftedness or leadership effectiveness in their present situation. When a congregation prevents its pastor’s personal growth, the result will be boredom and mediocrity for everyone.
5. Fatigue.
Looking back, I feel I often created problems for myself by promising people more of myself than I was capable of delivering. In the end our congregation was too large; the programs were too many; the staff wanted more of me than I knew how to give. I grew weary of trying to please everyone—and often feeling as if I pleased no one. My problem, no one else’s. The result, however, was exhaustion and disappointment. When the fatigue reaches the chronic stage, going over the side may be necessary.
6. Family morale.
Occasionally there comes a time when it’s impossible to ignore the fact that one’s spouse or children are being more harmed than helped by the present situation. No pastor can afford to sacrifice the family to unrealistic expectations of the congregation. Perpetual financial suffocation is not a healthy thing. Living conditions that embitter children, or church contentiousness that constantly humiliates or demeans a pastor in front of his own family, are strong indications that a leave-decision is called for. Nothing has been gained if a pastor is successful in the church and a failure in the home.
7. Closings and openings.
This one—hopefully, the best of them all—is tricky and demands thoughtful, spiritual listening and the counsel of trusted advisors. One intuits that ministry in a particular church has reached a point of conclusion. Word comes that another congregation is seeking a pastoral leader. The new situation fits one’s sense of call and giftedness. There is the concurrence of a spouse, a bishop, or trusted advisors. Most of all, one feels that God is in the decision.
8. The age factor.
There comes a time when a pastor can no longer keep up with the pace of ministry’s demands. Usually this reflects one’s age. An aging pastor faces the terrible temptation to hold on to the job too long. The love he has for the people and the love they have for him is life giving.
Read the full blog (Off the Agenda: Conversations for Building Church Leaders)
Good church, good pastor, but a bad fit. Both pastor and congregation develop a suspicion of the other’s agenda, and no amount of mutual reflection brings about convergence.
2. Immobility.
The congregation has become trapped in an ecclesiastical whirlpool—lots of programmatic motion but little sense of direction. There is an inescapable sense that the congregation is a closed community that plays church as a way of meeting the social needs of its constituents.
3. Organizational transition.
Healthy organizations inevitably reach growth points where a new kind of leadership becomes necessary. A wise and humble pastor learns for which era of church life he is best suited.
4. Stagnancy.
Sometimes pastors conclude that they can no longer personally develop in giftedness or leadership effectiveness in their present situation. When a congregation prevents its pastor’s personal growth, the result will be boredom and mediocrity for everyone.
5. Fatigue.
Looking back, I feel I often created problems for myself by promising people more of myself than I was capable of delivering. In the end our congregation was too large; the programs were too many; the staff wanted more of me than I knew how to give. I grew weary of trying to please everyone—and often feeling as if I pleased no one. My problem, no one else’s. The result, however, was exhaustion and disappointment. When the fatigue reaches the chronic stage, going over the side may be necessary.
6. Family morale.
Occasionally there comes a time when it’s impossible to ignore the fact that one’s spouse or children are being more harmed than helped by the present situation. No pastor can afford to sacrifice the family to unrealistic expectations of the congregation. Perpetual financial suffocation is not a healthy thing. Living conditions that embitter children, or church contentiousness that constantly humiliates or demeans a pastor in front of his own family, are strong indications that a leave-decision is called for. Nothing has been gained if a pastor is successful in the church and a failure in the home.
7. Closings and openings.
This one—hopefully, the best of them all—is tricky and demands thoughtful, spiritual listening and the counsel of trusted advisors. One intuits that ministry in a particular church has reached a point of conclusion. Word comes that another congregation is seeking a pastoral leader. The new situation fits one’s sense of call and giftedness. There is the concurrence of a spouse, a bishop, or trusted advisors. Most of all, one feels that God is in the decision.
8. The age factor.
There comes a time when a pastor can no longer keep up with the pace of ministry’s demands. Usually this reflects one’s age. An aging pastor faces the terrible temptation to hold on to the job too long. The love he has for the people and the love they have for him is life giving.
For a month I am living in a Balinese Hindu village in the home of Balinese friends my wife and I met while traveling here over the last decade.
Posted by Sam Simmons 
Posted by Sam Simmons 
Posted by Sam Simmons 
