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High numbers of pastors leaving ministry are an an exodus that’s concerning to pastors‘ coach and co-founder Dan White Jr. of The KINEO Center, a place focused on offering healing for tired and traumatized leaders. On May 3, 2021, White posted on Twitter that he knows 28 pastor friends who have resigned this year, most of whom are leaving pastoral ministry altogether. White coaches approximately 70 to 80 pastors a year in his circle of about 500 or so.

Why Are Pastors Leaving Ministry?

White, a former pastor himself, asked “What is occurring?”
It doesn’t seem to be in any particular denomination as White shared that his friends come from a mix of denominations including Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Anglican, Methodist, Mennonite, and Christian Reformed. Only nine of them were Evangelical pastors and just 10 out of the 28 he mentioned were bi-vocational.
“I’ve been coaching for about 10 years, never seen this kind of disruption.”- Dan White Jr.
White replied to a follower’s question about the average age and lifestyle of those he has seen transitioning out of pastoral ministry, saying in his experience they’ve been between the ages of 35 to 50. Some have served as many as 25 years in the pastoral ministry. “I do think it’s some kind of inner crisis with ‘what are my desires, really?’ coupled with a pain threshold ‘the attacks and loss are just too much; I’m miserable,’” he wrote.
He revealed that about half the 28 pastors he referred to were “People of Color” when someone asked if the majority of those who have left the ministry were African American pastors. He also stated that all of the 28 left by their choice; they weren’t forced out or fired.
Back in the day, I was a pastor at the largest church in North America. Eventually I walked away from it all because I could not teach beliefs and doctrines that I myself no longer accepted. No person taught evangelical theology with the devotion and passion that I did, but one day I realized this did not produce true and lasting change in others lives or my own.
Looking back, I can see I made at least these mistakes as a megachurch pastor:
Putting church over community Putting orthodoxy over love. Putting certainty over wonder. Putting teaching over conversation. Putting polished over real. Putting explanations over empathy. Putting answers over questions. Putting membership over friendship. Putting prayer over action. Putting services over self-care. Putting style over substance. Putting appearance over authenticity. Putting functionality over beauty. Putting religion over spirituality. Putting numbers over faces. Putting holiness over humanity. Putting accountability over acceptance. Putting heaven over earth. Putting meetings over relationships. Putting reputation over risk. Putting superiority over humility. Putting charisma over compassion. Putting the afterlife over the herelife. Putting doctrine over reason. Putting hierarchy over equality.
- Jim Palmer
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