Before Leaving Your Church

Last updated on: February 27, 2017 at 8:38 pm by Scot McKnight

Before Leaving Your Church 2017-02-27T20:38:05-06:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was very impressed with the deadly serious honesty in Wade Hodges’ e-book, Before You Go: A Few Sneaky-Good Questions Every Minister Must Answer Before Moving to a New Church, about pastors leaving churches and what they need to think about. So I asked Wade to write something up for this blog about why he wrote that book, and here are his reflections:

From Wade Hodges

I occasionally get a comment on my blog that perks me up like a shot of caffeine straight to the vein. This one is from an elder and search team leader in a church currently looking for a new pastor.

He writes:

“. . .the new pastor has no idea what he or she is stepping into. The person running the search could be a real power broker that makes back room deals to get things done. Being on this side of a search process, a pastor is really a sitting duck not knowing all the politics and the players. It really is a pretty big act of faith to accept a call to a new church.”

It’s bracing to hear someone “on the other side” acknowledge what seasoned pastors already know and what naive pastors desperately need to learn before they put themselves and their families in church environments hazardous to their long-term spiritual health.

Pastors and former pastors, What is one question you wish you had asked before moving to your current ministry?

I wrote Before You Go in an effort to share insights resulting from my own naivete in working with two churches, as well as from conversations I’ve had with pastors who are convinced that moving to a new church is the best way to relieve frustrations with their current ministry. I suggest a number of probing questions that will benefit both pastors and churches as they navigate the complexities of the search process.

I ask two kinds of questions in Before You Go. I begin with some introspective questions designed to get pastors to focus more on the kind of people they are becoming rather than the kind of church they want to lead.

Most pastors change churches for the wrong reasons. They end up just as disappointed in their new church as they were in their previous one because they fail to address the changes they needed to make within themselves before they moved.

If you can’t answer the question of how you will be different in your new setting, you’re not ready to move on and shouldn’t expect much to change except your zip code.

The second kind of questions deal with the specifics of the church the pastor is considering. During the interview process, pastors are interviewing the church just as much as they are being interviewed by the church. I’m amazed at how little thought most pastors put into the questions they ask the search team during the interview.

Consider the search process a great opportunity to play the role of detective: asking questions, chasing leads, and following hunches. Every church has a few secrets that don’t make it into the opportunity description packet, some of which will have a huge impact on your ministry if you accept the job. You owe it to yourself and your family to do some digging.

Ultimately, there is no way of guaranteeing that things will go well in your next church. You can, however, increase the likelihood of having a productive ministry, while also diminishing the level of regret you’ll experience if things turn sour, by asking (and answering) as many great questions as possible before you go.

A re-post

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 27, 2017

Angels Abounding

Next Post

February 27, 2017 A New DMin Cohort in New Testament in Context

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which king was killed at the Battle of Megiddo?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Amaziah Jehoash Josiah Asa