If you’re a pastor or on church staff, have you thought about leaving ministry lately? I don’t mean just going to another church, but leaving entirely. As in embracing a new vocation….
If so, you’re not alone.
All leaders have been in a pressure cooker unlike any in our lifetime. In my view, church leaders have had it somewhat harder than many other leaders.
While many sectors have bounced back since the pandemic disrupted everything, churches have not seen the return leaders were hoping for.
In addition to people leaving, many churches haven’t been immune from the division, political schisms, and constant complaining that has become part of the last few years.
No wonder leaders are discouraged.
A Barna poll from late 2020 revealed that 29% of pastors were seriously thinking of quitting ministry (you can find the survey and some thoughts on it here).
While it’s hard to get accurate statistics about how many pastors and church leaders are quitting in 2021, conversations I’ve had with leaders give me the sense that many are exiting, and others are still thinking about it. (Here’s a thoughtful article on some of the reasons pastors are leaving.)
So how do you know if it’s time for you to quit?
Well, let’s state the obvious. Clearly, no one can answer that question for you in a blog post. Whether a pastor resigns from the church should be a matter of careful prayer, discernment, and (I hope) influenced by the counsel of wise people who know you well and love you enough to tell you the truth.
But that doesn’t mean all outside guidance is unhelpful.
While every decision is personal and needs to be made carefully and prayerfully, there are factors that can help you make a wise decision no one will regret.
Here are five factors worth considering.
1. Don’t Quit On a Bad Day
One mantra I’ve followed for years in leadership is to never quit on a bad day.
2020 and 2021 have had a lot of bad days.
Consider this. A few years ago in their State of Pastors Report, the Barna Group noted pastors who led a declining congregation were at four times greater risk of burnout than pastors who led growing churches.
If you read through the risk of burnout in the chart below, it almost perfectly describes what most pastors have been leading through for almost two years now.
What you’ve been through takes a toll on the mind and the heart.
Never quit on a bad day. The decisions you make when you’re down rarely help you, or anyone, get back up again.
Never quit on a bad day. 2020 and 2021 have had a lot of bad days. Click To Tweet2. Determine Whether the Things You’re Feeling are Temporary or Permanent
In normal times, there are signs it’s time to leave.
Here are seven factors to consider when you’re wondering whether your time is up.
- You’ve lost your passion.
- There’s no other role on the team you can get excited about.
- You’ve ushered in all the change you can.
- Your vision no longer lines up with the organization’s vision.
- You feel like a fish out of water. (I explain what that means here.)
- Your passion for what’s happening elsewhere is greater than your passion for what’s happening here.
- Your inner circle agrees.
I explain all seven factors more in this post, but as a rule, if you’re 7 for 7, it’s probably time to move on.
The challenge is that depending on the day, many leaders would say they identify with three to five of the considerations which would move them toward an exit. In the last few years, almost every leader has lost some passion, felt disoriented, and might be excited about other opportunities (because right now anything looks better than what you’re doing).
There are two really important questions worth considering when you feel a malaise surrounding your current work:
- Are these feelings temporary?
- Will an exit from pastoring truly change things?
If you haven’t noticed, the world’s kind of on fire right now, and it would be far too easy to trade one set of problems for another.
Further, to make a permanent decision based on temporary emotions is almost always a mistake.
The key factors in determining whether it’s time to leave would be whether your inner circles agree (more on that shortly), whether you’ve ushered in all the change you can, whether your vision and the organization’s vision are out of line, and if there’s no other role in the church that you can get excited about.
If those factors don’t point toward an exit, you’re probably not called to leave.
To make a permanent decision based on temporary emotions is almost always a mistake. Click To Tweet3. Don’t Decide Alone
When you’re struggling, the first thing to go is your judgment.
I know when I’m in a not-very-good-place emotionally, I’m far more likely to make poor decisions. Abandoning a calling has the potential to be a long-term poor decision.
When you're struggling, the first thing to go is your judgment. Click To TweetThe best way to determine whether you should stay or go is to get a circle of people around you who love you enough to tell you the truth.
I offered my resignation as a lead pastor during a discouraging season in 2009 because I had lost confidence in my day-to-day decision making. The board and the people around me immediately corrected me and told me I absolutely needed to stay. They were right.
In 2015 under a very different set of circumstances—I was in a great place and so was the church—I exited the Lead Pastor seat of our church (moving into a Founding Pastor role).
I had been sensing for a while that it was time to transition our church to the next generation of leadership. That prompting was followed by months of prayer, discernment, discussion with our board, and wisdom from mentors, who, after months of dialogue, shaped my final decision to exit at that time.
The point? I actually trusted their judgment more than mine.
In both cases, even though I prayed deeply and read a lot of scripture, it was the discernment and judgment of the people around me that helped me make the final decision to stay (back in 2009) and to step back in 2015.
Needless to say, if you’re married, the full agreement of your spouse is also both essential and wise (from about a thousand perspectives).
Wisdom has many counselors. Lean into their judgment, not just yours.
Wisdom has many counselors. Lean into their judgment, not just yours. Click To Tweet4. Consider the Brain Drain
Another factor to consider is that this is the season where the church needs its best thinkers, most faithful people, and best leaders.
I realize I have to be careful talking about this because I stepped out of day-to-day ministry myself (not that I am those things I list in the paragraph above), but I get concerned when I see some of the best leaders I know decide to do something else with their lives. Some days it feels like a brain drain going on in the church—the kind of pastors we need the most are the ones who are exiting.
The next season of ministry is going to require the best and the brightest leaders the church has to lead into the future.
We’re fortunate to have some very thoughtful, faithful, intellectually robust leaders in the church. But we could use ten times the number we currently have.
Before you leave for personal reasons, consider the state of THE church, not just your church or your ministry.
Sure, I get to help now in a different role (one that I see every bit as much a calling as my two decades as Lead Pastor in a local church), but if the church ever needed a group of top-notch leaders, it’s now.
Fully engaged hearts, minds, and souls will make for a better future.
Some days it feels like a brain drain going on in the church—the kind of pastors we need the most are the ones who are exiting. Click To Tweet5. Escapism Provides No Escape
If you do end up exiting (notice my bias against it in this season), just remember you’re not off the hook.
It can be easy to assume that leaving will magically erase all your challenges.
Ha…nice thought. 🙂
Or that running away means you finally don’t have to answer for anything anymore.
Jonah tried running away. So did Elijah. Not a great idea.
Your escapism provides no escape.
Leaders, your escapism provides no escape. Click To TweetYou know that green grass you see when you think about what you’ll do next? It’s spray painted.
The moment you get into that perfect job/career you’ll discover that it’s got a whole host of problems you didn’t anticipate.
And you’ll soon realize you brought another problem with you—you brought yourself into the new situation.
The good news and the bad news is that God doesn’t run away from runaways. Just ask Jonah. Just ask Elijah.
That’s mostly good news, but if you’re tired and burned out, it feels like bad news.
Again, some prayer and discernment, making the decision on a good day, and finally, really wise counsel will help you make a decision everyone will be grateful for.
Just remember, the calling is on your life. And it follows you everywhere.
If you’re trying to escape, it won’t work.
God doesn't run away from runaways. Click To Tweet
