{"id":754066,"date":"2021-08-17T05:00:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=754066"},"modified":"2021-08-16T06:48:33","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T11:48:33","slug":"10-questions-to-consider-if-youre-a-pastor-thinking-about-leaving-your-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/10-questions-to-consider-if-youre-a-pastor-thinking-about-leaving-your-church\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Questions to Consider if You\u2019re a Pastor Thinking about Leaving Your Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love local churches. I know the joy of leading them, and I know the anguish of leaving them at times. If you\u2019re thinking about leaving your church\u2014and the issue is not your own sin failure that necessitates your departure\u2014maybe one of these questions will help you decide:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. How closely have you been walking with the Lord?<\/b> Obedience facilitates clarity in knowing God\u2019s will; If you\u2019ve been walking in disobedience, however, it\u2019s hard to hear His voice clearly. You might even deceive yourself in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. What have you heard from the Lord in Bible study and prayer? <\/b>I\u2019m not suggesting we need some mystical experience, but I am saying we need to put ourselves in a place to hear from the Lord. We need to utilize these two disciplines He\u2019s given us to communicate with Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Are you making a decision in a storm?<\/b> If you decide in a storm, you might regret it when the clouds are gone. Sometimes you need to weather the storm before you decide \u2013 and the situation often doesn\u2019t look so bad when the sun\u2019s out again.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Are you physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted?<\/b> That happens to all of us at some point. My encouragement is first to take a day off, go on a vacation, take a spiritual retreat, or do whatever you need to be renewed before you take the next step. If you don\u2019t do that, you\u2019ll take your exhaustion to your next place of ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. What does your spouse say?<\/b> One of the dumbest mistakes I ever made in ministry was going against Pam\u2019s intuition about leaving one church to go to another. I would have saved us much grief if I had just listened to her.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. What do those pastors who know you best say?<\/b> It never hurts to hear from someone outside our family\u2014but make sure it\u2019s someone whose walk with the Lord you trust. Get this same person to pray with you about this decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Do you have a track record of short ministries? <\/b>If so, it\u2019s possible the Lord has led you in those directions. In other cases, though, recurrent short tenures say something about us and our leadership. Don\u2019t ignore this issue if it characterizes your ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Do you feel both a push from one place and a pull toward another?<\/b> I don\u2019t argue that <\/span>every <\/span><\/i>person feels both, but there is wisdom in considering this question. One without the other ought to give you pause.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Have you already convinced yourself the grass will be greener elsewhere?<\/b> It seldom is, no matter what you think now. Weeds still grow in the lawn, even if they\u2019re in a different location.<\/span><\/p>\n

10. Are you willing to give God a blank check?<\/b> That is, are you ready to do whatever God wants, go wherever He requires, and pay whatever cost He demands? If not, you may still have your own hands on the steering wheel too much.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastors, what other questions would you add?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I love local churches. I know the joy of leading them, and I know the anguish of leaving them at times. If you\u2019re thinking about leaving your church\u2014and the issue is not your own sin failure that necessitates your departure\u2014maybe one of these questions will help you decide: 1. How closely have you been walking…","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":754068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,195,177,176,196,189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-754066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-conflict-and-people-problems","category-lead","category-revitalize","category-staff-and-organizational-issues","category-turnaround-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 Questions to Consider if You\u2019re a Pastor Thinking about Leaving Your Church | Church Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I love local churches. 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