Many pastors today are resigning from full-time ministry…or at least thinking about it. Many wish they could, but don’t know what they would do if they left pastoral ministry.

As someone who has left the pastorate, I want to write several posts which share some of what I have learned along the way. I will share some of the benefits of resigning, and also suggest some ideas for how you can make a living away from professional, paid pastoral ministry.

Drawback to Resigning as Pastor

In this post, let me state that if you leave professional, paid, pastoral ministry, you will most likely miss it, especially if you love it.

I loved pastoral ministry. I loved the churches I worked in. I loved the people I worked with. Not a day goes by in which I do not desperately miss many elements of pastoral work. One of the reasons I left and (so far) have not gone back into full-time pastoral ministry, is because of a conviction I have that I cannot get paid to be a pastor.

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Have you ever heard of “spiritual fatherhood”? Have you ever had a pastor who asked you to think of him as your “spiritual father”? What happened? How did it work? What was your experience of this?

This concept is not found in all churches, but where it is, the pastor often uses the idea to exert his authority and control the lives of others. It is another form of pastoral power abuse.

Scriptural Basis

The idea of spiritual fathers comes from passages like 1 Corinthians 4:15-16, 11:1, Philippians 2:22, 4:9, and 2 Timothy 3:10, 14 where Paul tells those under his care to follow his instructions and imitate his example because they are his children in the gospel. From this, certain pastors also try to get the people of their church to follow their instructions, and imitate their example. Seems innocent enough, right? Especially since the Apostle Paul set the precedent.

Spiritual Fathers and Spiritual Child Abuse

The primary problem, however, is that not all pastors are like the Apostle Paul. The ministry of Paul was characterized by self-sacrificial service to others. Many pastors who try to control the thinking and behavior of others with the concept of “spiritual fatherhood” are more concerned with their own position of power and prominence than they are with the spiritual wellbeing of other people.

This can been seen when their practice of spiritual fatherhood goes far beyond anything Paul practiced in his life and ministry. If Paul was a “spiritual father” it was a servant father, not a father who lorded his position over others. Paul, as a spiritual father, did not engage in spiritual child abuse.

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Sometimes, those of us who are pastors think of ourselves as the head of the local church, the spiritual leader that deserves respect and obedience from others, or the one like a High Priest who has the closest connection to God.

Among the disciples of Jesus and in the early church there were spiritual leaders who thought of themselves in such a manner. Some of the early believers wanted to sit in places of honor and privilege (cf. Matt 20:21-24; Jas 2:1-13), and receive recognition for their leadership role within the church. This seems to have been a problem in Corinth also, as Paul had to remind the believers there that the church has only one head, Jesus Christ.

Many of the early Christians came out of Judaism and pagan religions where a class of clerics and priests ruled and dominated other people in all things spiritual. So also, the concept of the man as the head of the household carried over into the idea that the pastor was the head of the church, especially since early churches often met in houses.

Scripture argues against a single, authoritarian leader in a church, and taught instead that all were equal in Jesus, that spiritual gifts were given to all for the benefit of all, that we are all priests with Jesus as the High Priest (cf. Matt 26:6-11; 1 Pet 2:5, 9; Heb 4-5).

Ultimately, the cure for wanting to be the man in charge is to see Jesus as the sole Head of the church. There are no sub-heads in the church, nor are Jesus and pastors conjoined twins. We do not share headship over one body. Jesus is the head, and the pastor is part of that body.

When we view ourselves this way, we begin to see that our role in the church is the same as everybody else’s: to serve the other members of the body.

One of the big pitfalls in pastoral ministry is the lure of pastoral power. We want people to respect our position of authority, listen to our ideas, and follow our instructions. While there is a certain amount of authority inherent within the pastoral position, it is, like any other form of power, easy to abuse, and while pastors are spiritual leaders, this does not make us immune to the lust for power, but to the contrary, often seems to amplify it. After all, we’re doing “the Lord’s work.”

Furthermore, just as history is written by the victors, it is also true that the rules are created by those in power. Pastors are no exception. We are experts in using Scripture and theology to reinforce their power. We use our knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, our sense of spiritual calling, our ordination, the seminary degrees, leadership skills, and charismatic personalities to convince people that they must follow and obey.

If you have been around church for any length of time, you know how damaging and destructive this can be, not only on the congregations, but also in the pastor’s life and family.

One way to begin to free ourselves from the bondage of power that we put on others and put upon ourselves is to unravel the theology and Scripture texts which have been used to support our claim to power and authority. There are dozens of these, but in the next couple of posts, I will look at some of the more prominent.
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Would you rather be given $1 million, OR start off with a penny, and every day for thirty days, have twice as much given to you each day? So on day 1, you get a penny. On day two, two pennies. On day three, four pennies. Which would you choose?

I hope you choose the second option, becaues it would give you $1.07 million. This is the power of exponential growth.

And lots of people say that this is how we should focus on church growth. Rather than focus on church addition, we should focus on church exponential multiplication.

In other words, most churches try to add a few people per year. Let’s say they start with 100, and want to add 5. The next year, they want to add another 5. And the year after that, 5 again. At the end of 3 years, they (hopefully) are now at 115 people. This is growth by addition.

Growth by exponential multiplication is starting with 100, and then multiplying by 2. And the next year, multiply by 2 again. And the year after that, mutiply by 2 again. At the end of three years, that congregation of 100 has grown from 100 to 800.

It is a different way of looking at things, which leads to a different set of questions, which provide different directions, values, and systems for a church that wants to grow by multiplication rather than addition. And according to some, this way of church growth seems to be defended by Scripture.
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