Why Pastors and Churches Part Ways

Our Association presently has 13 Churches that are without Pastors. There are three basic reasons why Pastors and churches ‘divorce’ or go their separate ways:

1- God leads the Pastor to another place of service. Or, God leads the Church to find another Shepherd. This is the murkiest of the reasons in the sense that it is extraordinarily difficult for either the Pastor or the Church to know when it’s time to “split up.” If things are going well in the Church, it is even more difficult. But if things are going poorly for either one or both pastor and church, the decision is obviously a bit easier. Nonetheless, the leadership of the Spirit being for the most part intangible, the decision to leave is only made after a considerable period of prayer.

2- Infidelity. The second reason Pastors and Churches go their separate ways is no different than the reason husbands and wives sometimes divorce: infidelity. Pastors can become unfaithful to the Church in a number of ways not limited to - a growing indifference to the needs of the flock; another Church becomes more ‘attractive’ (the grass is greener theory of life); or a sense of being unappreciated and thus unappreciative. Churches too can become unfaithful to their pastor, in failing to pray for him; by always comparing him to a former pastor or an idealized pastor they would like to have; by inattentiveness (sermons become something to be endured rather than an opportunity to grow as a believer); and by staying away from worship (voting against the pastor with their absence).

3- Money. Let’s face facts here; just as husbands and wives leave each other because of infidelity and money, so too Churches and Pastors often part ways for exactly the same reasons. Many Pastors are underpaid and many Churches operate on the presumption that “you have to keep the preacher humble by keeping him poor”. So, it is quite normal, and human, that if the Pastor is offered a better salary package by another Church he ‘hear the voice of Go calling him there.’ When Churches undervalue their Pastor, they will inevitably discover that if offered the opportunity to be valued appropriately, he will take it. To be sure, there’s always some wag in every church who honestly thinks that “we just pay the preacher what he’s really worth” and though they would never tolerate that kind of treatment from their own ‘boss’ they not only tolerate it, but actively implement it in their treatment of their pastor.

In my estimation, reasons 2 and 3 are grossly illegitimate as justification for a Pastor leaving a Church. A sense that the Church doesn’t support one as one wishes or would like (either emotionally or financially) is no reason to abandon one’s post to seek “greener pastures.” And yet, reasons 2 and 3 are the chief reasons most Pastors and Churches divorce.

Reason 1, on the other hand, is certainly legitimate as a cause to depart. However, I think it important to note that just as no one person decided on whether or not the Pastor would come to the Church, no one person can decide, or should decide, if the Pastor should go. In other words, the decision to leave is as much a Church/Pastor decision as the decision to come. As the church votes to call the Pastor, it seems only proper that the Church vote to dismiss the Pastor at his request upon prayerful consideration of the call of God to another post of service.

This, it seems to me, is the only way to ensure that the wisdom of the Spirit guide the proceedings and not the wishes (or disguised hurts) of the parties involved.