Why Pastor Left the Church

On rare occasions, when a well-meaning Christian discovers that I prefer home churches to traditional denominational gatherings and am not affiliated with any particular group - although I'm asked to minister in many - it has happened that their discovery is met with a negative response, assuming I must have been hurt and require a ministerial tourniquet.

Truth is, just as it is with so many others, yes, I was hurt. But Jesus, my Redeemer and Healer, ministered to me, bound up my wounds and turned me loose on the enemy. The Father has used certain negative, manmade circumstances over the years to get me to recognize that what I was calling "The Church" had no semblance to anything described within the pages of Scripture, nor does it bare any resemblance to the Church in the third world, the persecuted corners of the Earth - the ONLY places on the planet where Christianity is actually thriving, by the way. In his multi-faceted, multi-purposeful, loving way, God also used the situations in which I had been placed to help me realize a few things about myself. Perhaps, as you read this message, you may realize a few of those things about yourself as well.

I was once the Singles Pastor of a church with nearly 3,000 people on the role. One outdoor event we held had hundreds of singles attend. I baptized 16 in a river that cool October day. I left that church after 5 years with a much-beloved couple who felt led to start a House Church. We grew so fast we felt compelled to find a building and establish "Church as usual," in accordance with the prescribed methods we had all been taught. We worship session with rise to 300 in no time. It lasted eight years. I served there as the Assistant Pastor and left after seven years when I was asked to step down from serving in the thriving Children's ministry. I won't elaborate, but it was political. I had thirty volunteers serving with me and the kids were being trained to minister and were active in all capacities of Church-Life from ushers to musicians. They LOVED outreaches in the poorest of neighborhoods, manning the puppet shows, passing out groceries and praying door-to-door. Finally, I moved two hours south to be nearer to my family. Within a year after I left, the church closed its doors. There were less than twenty attending by then, I was told. My ministry, health, family and personal life have flourished ever since.

These days, I am an avid House Churcher who, through relationships and the leading of the Holy Spirit, find myself being invited to speak to Christians of many denominations in a variety of settings. In our House Church, we have seen miracles, deliverances, and lives changed regularly. Something I attribute to one thing: we love each other. There is unity there and it commands a blessing from on high.

THE SMITING OF THE SHEPHERD

Why do pastors leave the ministry? A research paper by Dean Hoge and Jacqueline Wenger reveal several main reasons:

(1) preference for another form of ministry

(2) the need to care for children or family

(3) conflict in the congregation

(4) conflict with denominational leaders

(5) burnout or discouragement

(6) sexual misconduct

(7) and divorce or marital problems.

Two of these factors are especially important: conflict and a preference for specialized ministry. A close third is the experience of burnout, discouragement, stress and overwork.

Their study is part of the larger Pulpit and Pew research project on the state of pastoral ministry, based at Duke Divinity School, funded by the Lilly Endowment. The authors conducted extensive interviews with clergymen and women who have left Protestant church ministry, voluntarily or involuntarily, and with denominational leaders from five denominations including the Assemblies of God, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Methodist Church. Another heart-wrenching book that I read years ago, Shattered Vows, is an expose' on Catholic priests and why they leave their callings. The reasons are similar to their Protestant counterparts, as I recall.

Hoge and Wenger learned that, in many denominations, a standard of dependence between clergy and leadership is set that is hard to live up to. Also, things such as greater freedom of choice and the tendency of a minister's spouse to choose to work outside the home have made the desired pastoral model increasingly hard to find. The study reveals: "the more a pastor's career is determined by his or her denomination, the more conflict that pastor will potentially feel with denominational leaders."