There is a lot of debate in the upper echelon of Christian upper uppities about when it’s time for a pastor to leave the church they serve. Some say you have to wait for God to “release you” from that church or ministry. Some say you have to stay where God has brought you until Jesus returns. I’ve heard some say that you’re forsaking your calling if you dare leave your church. Is any of this true? Are the upper uppities correct about any of this? I mean, they write books and stuff.
I want to share an article with you that is making the rounds on the social media app formally known as Twitter. I resonate with what this guy is saying. I think if pastors are really honest they would agree. Here is the article:
https://www.restorativefaith.org/post/departure-why-i-left-the-church
Sometimes we just hit the wall and we’re tired of the attacks and the lack of support from people who say “I love you and your family”. This guy nails it in his article when talks about being everyone’s punching bag and how we’re just supposed to “grin and bear it”because we’re “pastors” but the people who hurt us and our families get away with it.
We’re tired of the same old same old from tradition or the lack of interest in anything spiritual outside of Sunday morning at 11.
The phrase “the struggle is real” is very true for us who just want to love their congregations and preach The Word. But man, some people just make it so hard with their constant nit picking and grumbling about whatever they deem to be important.
I’m currently talking with two pastors right now who are just absolutely tired of the bull bologna going on in their churches. It’s just what the article I linked to talks about and what I have written about for over a year now.
I’ve come to the conclusion that something is seriously wrong in the church. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it’s there. Maybe it’s a bunch of small things like stepping on Legos in the dark small things.
But when pastors have had enough and they want to just leave that shouldn’t be held against them, that they’re “forsaking the call”.
“Hey, why are you leaving your sales job to go work in marketing? Don’t you know you’re forsaking God’s calling on your life?”
You do realize that you can pastor or shepherd people without being in the pastorate right?1
That type of thinking flies in the face of American Christianity. I talked with a close friend of mine who is a missionary in Africa and he was telling me about how he started a home church and that it’s overflowing with people who just want Jesus. There’s no pulpit, communion table, stained glass windows, or hymnals. There’s no arguing over petty nonsense or backbiting or who gets to “get their way”. Those people are shown the door and everyone is in unison about it because they care more about what Scripture says than what others think. Here we show the pastor the door if he’s not visiting enough or not making certain people happy or his personality isn’t to someone’s liking and believe me when I say the list goes on.
I wrote awhile back about the current pastor shortage everyone is talking about. Well, when you blame your pastor for people leaving the church because of Covid, something he had zero control over, then what do you expect? And that’s just for starters, no wonder there is a shortage and also to the pastor search committees out there: Doctorates and M.Divs don’t mean a thing if the pastor isn’t Biblical.
Okay, I’m sorry. This kind of stuff just irritates me to no end.
Pastor - if you’re struggling and you’re hurting and you need to leave your church for mental health or physical health then go without guilt. God doesn’t call you to be repeatedly abused by spiritually immature church members.
It’s okay. Every night I pray for my own mending and my family’s healing from church trauma. I’ll leave you with this thought from Carey Nieuwhof:
If you need to go then go. Don’t define yourself by what others think about you and stop being treated like a dog.
Have a blessed afternoon,
Scott
Southern Baptists just felt a disturbance in the force.
I love the footnote in this article! LOL! Southern Baptist just felt a disturbance in the force! That is good stuff!!! I laughed out loud for real!
I don't have many connections left to the SBC and it has been a long time, but I seem to remember the priesthood of all believers and a regenerate church membership being Baptist distinctives. But the way that 'a calling' is treated seems to me to make nonsense of that. A young man having an altruistic and evangelistic inclination is no indication of what the Lord has planned for the rest of his life. It just isn't. And being called by God to do a thing may be a very different thing from that being a good way for you to feed your family or good for your health(of whatever kinds).
The institutional church is binding burdens on many of our best young men that are of no benefit to the young men or the kingdom of God but only to the institution. Flee from your 'career calling' like Luther from his monastic vows. The Gospel, and freedom, and yes usefulness to the ones that you love and feel called to serve is waiting outside the walls of your prison, I mean church. The fundamental argument against the 'irrevocable calling' is this: You cannot preach the freedom of the Gospel from a position of personal slavery. You have to have the freedom to leave to be able to invite others in. You have to have the freedom to go fishing on Sunday morning to be a fisher of men.