How about a lack of perseverance?  Much of the maturity it takes to pastor effectively comes, not in seminary, but in the congregation.  It takes time to become an effective minister.  Some of the lessons are painful.  It is too bad that congregations and young pastors can’t take the long view.  Thankfully, my church understood I was young and choose.  They didn’t expect me to have all the answers and ease all of their anxieties.  They invested in me as much as I invested in them.  They allow me to grow and I am extremely thankful.

I am nearly finished with my seminary studies and I hope to be a pastor of a congregation.  After reading the top 10 reasons, I think number one - the discontinuity reason hits the bullseye.  Discontinuity can only be dispelled by personal effort.

Pastoral work is similiar to other kinds of work in many ways.  Work sometimes involves doing things you do not enjoy doing.  So, check your motive for why you’re doing it, and for whom.

Higher education presents to those who pass through it’s halls, an ideal.  Idealism is espoused in textbooks and in lectures.  Idealism can charm anyone into thinking grand things and making great plans.  Should it be any other way?

I found that the best antidote for idealism is a dose of realism.  Pastoral internships can provide the realism often needed to “open our eyes” to the difficult tasks.  Practical experience has been my eye-opener to the pastoral ministry.  Early on, find a pastor and climb down into the same trench and start asking tough, honest questions.  It eliminates surprises later.

Perhaps there is one reason missing and so I’ll propose a number 11 to the list.  Many pastors do not have a release valve for the build up of pressures and frustrations.  Most do not have a safe person to go to in order to blow off the steam.

In my case, I would say the #1 strain I have is how much emphasis is placed on how the “ministry” is going (are “religious sales” up?) and how precious few people really seem to pause long enough to hear how I am doing.

Finally--- some honesty about leaving the vocation called ministry--- Young or old, the list is pretty acurate!  A big problem for us older guys that have had enough--- mainly our lack of qualifications for a “real” job in the real world.  Not many places with the big bucks want a communicator to communicate once a week.  Not many out there want a person that has “worked with kids” to manage adults.  Not many out there want authenticity either.  So, young or old the switch is difficult-- and I’m still very much in the process.
Don

I don’t want to seem insensitive (and I’m sure some of you will get ticked off) but my first thought was “grow up”.  Ministry is hard work - it’s not for the faint of heart.  If someone doesn’t take the time to ask the right questions - do a complete job interviewing the church - understanding the job description - it’s not the church’s fault.  Now that I’ve ticked most of you off and with that said, yes, there are a lot of churches that chew up and spit out pastors and lie.  I have been one of those they have mistreated and abused - I’m qualified to say “grow up” - I have the scars to prove it - but not the bitterness.  In fact our friends wonder how we ever stayed in ministry.  Our very first church ... the pastor lied about everything.  My wife was pregnant with our first child - due in 6 months.  Within three months the had ministry grown from 6 kids to 60 and we were fired because I did not agree with the pastors unbiblical position - yes unbiblcal.  We were let go and the pastor REFUSED to extend our insurance.  For the entire final month I was with the church the pastor never said one word to me - and I lead worship every Sunday.  Oh, and you know how I found out I was fired?  I walked into the deacons meeting and they said, “You can;t be in here, we’re discussing your termination.” That will ruin your day.  We never spoke a word against the pastor - and God took care of us.  In another job the guy who hired me ( the executive pastor) left a year later leaving me - abandoned me in the church that did not share our philosophy ministry and we had to move on again (and we had just moved from the left coast).  Later, in another ministry we were wrongly fired and had to move back to the left coast - back home with my parents into a house made for 5 and now there were 8 of us (my parents and my family of 6).  We lived out of a suit case for 13 months because we could not afford to move our stuff home from the east coast.  My 6 year old daughter wrote “my clothes box” on her orange box that contained all of her clothes.  Ok, so your a dad, the provider of your family, how do you feel?  I was making $50 a day for a family of 6 and the oldest was 6! we cashed in everything - down-sized - never went out - it was definitely a low point but God was faithful - it sucked - thrift stores were all we shopped at but we didn’t give up.  Now, 13 years later I’m having the time of my life in ministry as a church planter and using all that I learned in those hardships. So, yeah, I guess I can say, “grow up.”

I read you fellows loud and clear,But one thing I say to you.JESUS called you,or HE didn’t. Some of you don’t take the time to
visit the church that has invited you to come. One or two times there won’t tell you
if you can be a team.
I have been on Search Teams,the last three Pastors we had,sold us a bill of goods.Now we are looking again.Seems we are more cautious but we want GOD’s man,young or old a Pastor’s Heart he must have,He must be the one to seek out those he can
be frank with what is on his heart.A loving people will understand his needs.

This is a pretty good list, and I suspect that most of us could add to it. Numbers 3, 4, and 9 are essentially the same thing, however.

From where I am standing, one of the biggest problems is churches that tell their incoming pastor that they want to grow without telling him that they expect him to grow it all by himself. Plus, if he actually succeeds, they get mad because growth brings about change.

I also have to agree with some of what has been said about pastors need to understand that sometimes we do have to clean toilets, so to speak.

Number 5 is a huge problem that most people don’t want to talk about today, and it is a growing problem here in the US. There has been an epidemic of pastors/staff getting fired for reasons that are not biblical. This devastates pastors, their families, as well as the offending congregations (voice of experience here).

Ultimately, for all our talk of being in the world but not of the world, churches are a reflection of society. Just as our society is coming apart, so are our churches.

It is so ironic for me that you would post on a topic like this. You see, my wife and I just made the decision yesterday to leave ministry… at least for now.

We actually had an opportunity to join up with a ministry that does connect with us as 28 and 24 year old post-moderns. The thing is that it is full-time domestic missionary, support raising kind of ministry, and my wife and I just really aren’t ready to take that kind of step in our lives.

If you’re interested in reading what went into our decision (at least, as much as I posted about it), you can check out some of the posts below:

http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/08/ever-struggle-with-passage.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/08/how-about-struggling-with-this-passage.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/08/letter-of-resignation.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/09/bats-and-prayer-requests.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/10/sorry.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/10/too-many-choices.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/10/by-sunday.html
http://brianburkett.blogspot.com/2005/10/toughest-decision-weve-ever-had-to.html#comments

Of course, there are other posts in there that deal with this, but those are some of the main ones over the past two months. I hope that posting all these links isn’t wrong. I just thought that you might be interested in seeing something from a real life example.

By the way, the door to come back to this ministry is still open for us… my wife and I just feel like we need a season of rest, recuperation, and refreshing from the ministry.

Beneath His Mercy,
Brian Burkett

I think one of the primary issues is simply this:  Paul noted that there are a variety of gifts.  He also made it clear that none of us has them all.  Unfortunately, congregations expect pastors to do at least most, if not all of it.  So, for instance, a person who is gifted in preaching and pastoral care is expected to be youth leader, evangelist, adult Sunday school teacher, church adminstrator, (and often secretary), cheer leader, and so on. 

Two things:
1. I don’t know anyone who is so diversly gifted and I think what Paul would have said is that those (in the congregation)who are gifted in youth ministry, administration, secretarial work, etc. need to step forward and do their part so that the pastor can foucs on what the pastor was called by God to do--preach and pastor.  For example, if pastors were called to be adminstrators they would have gone to business school instead of seminary.
2. When a pastor starts having all those things to do, one of 2 things will happen.  Either the pastor will have to start working 60, 70, 80 hours a week to get it all done (and will eventually burn out and/or watch his or her family crumble about him or her)or the pastor will start cutting corners and I’m betting that most of the time that will occur in the area of sermon preparation and pastoral care--probably the areas most pastors most enjoy in terms of their ministry.  Obviously, that will only complicate matters and lead to even greater dissatisfaction and quicker burnout.

There are variations on this but I think you get the idea.  The church would be well advised to get away from a business world mentality where “pastor” is seen as job and pay as something for whihc “you get your money’s worth” and more.  Rather, it should recognize that minsitry is church wide, that pastors are human and limited and that they are going to have to choose what they want the pastor to do.  But don’t ask for it all.  Each member of the congregation has a minstry to do.  You compensate a pastor for his or her particular area of giftedness--preaching and pastoral care.

Grace and peace,
Simon.

I’ve pastored 3 churches in 13 years.  I’ve pastored a mission church in an inner-city setting, and learned what not to do when doing “mission” work.  I also spent 5 years in a country church that was bound and determined to survive, regardless of the call to grow.  I’ve spent the last year in a church that was on the brink of extinction in Lubbock, TX.  Yes, Lubbock, TX!  And I’ve questioned my call, as has my wife, many times along the way. 

Over the last two years I wanted to move to Seattle, WA and do some church planting; but at every turn, God shut the door.  So, instead of being on the cutting edge, I wind up 30 years behind the times on the South Plains of Texas. 

Why tell this story--well, I figured out something on my way to Lubbock--not much scenery, but plenty of time to think and pray.  My prayer changed from “God, send me to a particular place and church” to “God, for good or for bad, let me be where you want me to be.” He showed me that I need to be working with broken, angry churches that need healing and a steady hand.  I wanted the glory of cutting-edge growth.  He made me to be someone different, a healer and encourager.

I think that the high drop-out rate of young ministers has something to do with the searching process--coming to terms with who they are and what God wants them to do.  Maybe he did not call them to be ministers for the long-haul.  There is no shame in leaving the ministry for a short time if it is beneficial in the long run.  Certainly, they can minister and shepherd without the title of pastor, and our churches need people who can “make a difference” in the lives of people.

One more comment: many young ministers that I am now meeting (30 and younger) do not have the patience to develop their calling, skills, or spirit.  They want to manage a succesful church from the beginning, and they struggle to pay the price.  They need to be told that there is a price to pay, and simply making a difference is not enough.  It requires sacrifice as well.

As a pastor of 15 years whose been bivocational for most of those years, I somewhat understand some of the Top 10 reasons for leaving ministry. There have been challenges and temptations for me also. I wonder what those same pastors who have left the ministry would come up with as the Top 10 reasons for staying in ministry.

Perhaps I’m too much of a traditionalist - when I answered my call to preach by uttering those words, “Here am I, send me”, I meant it. It is precisely that commitment that is lacking in the “What’s in it for me?” generation.

Jesus never said, take up your ministry and follow me. He said, take up the cross of the Gospel in the midst of an unfair and troubled world and be an ambassador of the message of reconciliation.

I believe God positions pastors to be examples of His grace that is all sufficient, not examples of worldly wealth or pleasure.

What keep me going, is God’s promise to the Levites, That He will be my inheritance.

You can have this world, just give me Jesus.

Bless you Pastor Dane. “Anyone having put his hand to the plow and looking back...” I have been in ministry for 27 years and there have been a few years (maybe 5 total) when I didn’t think about quitting.  I have to say that this past year has been the hardest.  I’ve never felt more pain, been hurt by more gossip and lies, than any time in my ministry. The challenges to my call grow each year.  But the upside of faithfulness is that we started with two families and we are now one of the top 5 largest churches in our state.  But the trappings of success that come along with it (in worldly terms) are just of no consolation. I didn’t get into ministry to be a “success” I got into it, and stay in it because I was called.  I serve in a hard place. New England is a pastoral grave yard. The pastors and churches around me are dropping like flies.  Maybe that’s the reason we have grown so much. Not that I’m so dynamic, but that I’m just faithful. I have a pretty good sense of who I am, and if I were in another place where people had more options and more faithful preachers and churches to choose from, we may not have grown nearly as much.  But that’s OK. Again, it’s always been hard and there’s never been anything that has motivated me to stay more than my call.  “The gifts and callings of God are without repentence.” I know that there are churches that chew up and spit out their pastors. If that happens here, I’ll just go start another one. I must.  Maybe instead of railing against the institutional church, it would be better to start a new one.  Is it going to be hard? Yes. Are you going to be broke? Yes.  That’s where I’ve been and what it cost me. But don’t get the idea that if you can have everything your heart can imagine in a church, which I almost have, that it gets any easier. In many ways gets harder. I don’t have to worry about my salary.  I just have to not screw up or make bad decisions cause I have 20 or so other people counting on having a paycheck next week. They need healthcare. They need resources for their ministries.  They need my time for mentoring, which is increasingly sparce.  And I still have a family that needs to see me.  The answer is not in bigger and better.  The answer is the one I need to hear from Jesus, “Well done good and faithful...” The question is, what does it take to make you give up?

Why young pastors fail in the ministry – my response to Chicken Little Play Time Pastors.
1. The discontinuity between what they imagined ministry to be and what it actually is, is too great.
I wonder if these are the same thoughts Peter, James, and John had after Jesus called them and said, “Follow Me.” I believe the expectations of those men were a lot different than the expectations of some of the young men called into ministry today. It would be nice if these men truly believed GOD to keep His promise, “Peace I give to you, NOT AS THE WORLD GIVES…”

2. A life without weekends sucks.
That is what Peter certainly said just before he denied Jesus three times on the worst weekend of his life. Is that a cock crowing I hear in the background?

3. The pay is too low (most pastors in my denomination make less money than a school teacher with five years experience).
As the fishermen tossed down their nets and left them behind I am positive their first thoughts were, ‘How will we be paid.’ Maybe this is the real difference between a “Calling from GOD” and a “Career Path of man.”

4. They are tired of driving ten year old cars while their congregations trade in their cars every two years.
Keeping up with the Jones and then holding them in contempt is not what Jesus had in mind when He said, “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

5. Many young pastors are called into difficult congregations that chew pastors up and spit them out because experienced pastors know better.
Paul never attempted to appease the congregations he started. From the beginning he told them the truth sometimes served with honey and sometimes served with arsenic. Homework does not get any easier once you leave school - it becomes more important!

6. Even though the search committee told them they wanted to reach young people, they didn’t really mean it.
Anyone attempting to enter into an already established congregation must be prepared to ask the correct questions up front. Fear is the enemy’s tool. “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”

7. When the pastor asked the search committee if they were an “emergent church”, the members of the search committee thought he said “divergent church” and agreed.
Why is it that Christian-eze is used when attempting to clarify understanding? Could it be that the ones avoiding clarity by using words they probably do not understand the true meaning of in the first place, are afraid the “truth will set them free” from control and insecurity?

8. Nobody told the young pastor that cleaning the toilets was part of the job description.
If Jesus can wash my feet, I can certainly clean toilets; explain why people should wash their hands; set up tables; mop floors; be a construction supervisor; jump buildings in a single bound…., etc.! Isa 43:7 states we are made for GOD’s glory – whatever makes Him shine is fine all the time! You might even say that a sparkling porcelain fixture reflectively shines our own desire to glorify GOD!

9. The young pastor’s student loans came due and the amount of money he/she owes on a monthly basis exceeds his/her income.
I guess you could divide the monthly indebtedness by the number of people in the church and then send each person a bill for their part of your incurred indebtedness! Have you ever heard the term bi-vocational? Paul certainly understood the term…

10. Working at McDonalds has a lot less stress.
Obviously, Deut 31:8 wasn’t written for the weak-meek. It must have been written for the meek willing to serve under and through GOD’s strength! Deut 31:8 “The LORD is the One who goes ahead of you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
And of course if we had no stress in our lives, such as the temptation to be a sluggard, we could not find the ultimate joy that comes in relying on GOD’s provisions. 1 Cor 10:13-14 “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry (Working at Mikey D’s to avoid the call of GOD certainly is the idolatry of a sluggard!). NASU