I think it is my time to GO - said the Pastor
The Go markers when asking the stay and go question
This is part 2 of the Stay or Go series.
~766 words - less than 3 minutes
Should you go?
First, this mainly concerns the component of the Leader’s Future area that I call Resourceful Role formulation.
Leaders have to lead something. It is infrequent for me to counsel a pathbreaker pastor who wants to totally retire from leading. If leaders have nothing to lead, that twists them up inside. This is an identity issue for their heart and soul. It destabilizes their internal gyroscope to go from leading a large church to nothing.
What I mean by go or stay – Go means leaving the current church to endeavor into another ministry or leadership calling. Stay means remaining at the current church in some new role at some level.
Here are the “Go” Markers and questions to consider:
Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash
Go - Markers
Do you feel called to another ministry?
This happens in several ways. Some clients have long served alongside other ministries, including local social outreach, missionary enterprise, teaching endeavors, and other causes. In rare cases, long-serving pastors enter denominational work for a short season to minister to other pastors. Sometimes, this is a part-time endeavor, but keeps them connected to pastoral concerns.
Over time that can capture more of one’s heart and soul. That is a good “go marker” that indicates God’s release to the kingdom assignment.
Are you NOT the founder?
As you will see in part three, founders often must stay for the next chapter for at least a season.
But if you are an honored, long-term leader, it is often more likely that your and the church’s expectations are “go.”
What are your spouse and family considerations?
With lengthening lifespans, many confront the sandwich issues of their parent’s care and desire to be close to their children and grandchildren.
Additionally, I have seen spouses desire to be closer to their family of origin that live elsewhere and/or the need to care for their kinfolk in the next season.
Finally, I have met with spouses who say – “As long as we leave this area, I will be fine.” For some, that is the desired relief from the fishbowl. For others, that is “get me to someplace with a better climate!”
(In my experience, it is cold weather climate folks are more likely to move south. A few southern serving clients will go “back home” towards the north, but often only on a part-time basis.)
In a few cases, the desire to be near children and grandchildren in another part of the country is also a strong reason for the couple to move in that direction.
Three more after the ad….
12, no 13 Questions To Guide Your Succession Thinking
After working with over 400 churches – churches in transition, pastors that led through succession planning, and successor pastors – I have found 13 critical questions that must be asked and answered by every larger church in this process.
On September 7, at noon ET, I will share those with everyone attending a unique, registration-only webinar.
Whether you are five years or five months away from this crucible moment at your church, you need to understand the right questions to develop the answers that fit your church and situation.
Assorted freebies for attenders after the session.
Story continues….
What is your tenure at this ministry and role?
Numerous clients started in one role and eventually became senior/lead pastors and now have multidecade tenures.
The basic rule of thumb is “the longer the tenure, the more likely to stay.”
My markers are 20 years. You are likelier to stick around if you have been the lead/senior pastor for over 20 years. Thirty years? It's almost a certainty.
What is the state of your physical health? Or your spouse?
Most of my clients are in decent physical shape, and there are no hindrances on this front. But in a few cases, there are chronic illnesses or clear health reasons why they need to step out of any role and any leadership.
As one person told me: “My cancer diagnosis shook me up and made me realize there were other things I wanted to do in my life besides working and leading.”
Another common reason for leaving leadership and work is the same desire for their spouse after a negative health diagnosis.
In a few cases where the pastor has a negative diagnosis, I have seen churches develop limited roles to allow that leader to continue health benefits until reaching Medicare age.
Financial Shakiness
Most long-term, pathbreaking pastors have been provisioned well in their current work and their retirement planning. But a few have not or have made poor financial decisions in the past that have been detrimental to their financial future.
Some desire to go into a more lucrative field for a season or seek a different path that will allow them to continue working AND enable the church to seek a new leader for its best future. That is to be applauded.
In a few cases, some pastors still opted out of Social Security system benefits years ago and need secular employment quarters to qualify for these benefits financially. While the benefit might be low at this point in their life, it does carry forward and provides some spousal financial security as well.
I will discuss the “STAY” markers in part three of this series. That will come out next week, September 6.