Written by Jesse T. Jackson |
Thursday, September 23, 2021
A professor from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Christopher B. James, gave his thoughts as to why he believes the trend of pastors leaving ministry is occurring. James said, “In addition to being a hard job with mediocre pay, many pastors don’t think it’s worth it to try to maintain dying churches and are curious what Christian life & leadership might look like outside the clergy role. It’s part of a wider unraveling and reconfiguration of church.” White replied to Prof. James, “I think you’re on to something.”

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.
A professor from the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, Christopher B. James, gave his thoughts as to why he believes the trend of pastors leaving ministry is occurring. James said, “In addition to being a hard job with mediocre pay, many pastors don’t think it’s worth it to try to maintain dying churches and are curious what Christian life & leadership might look like outside the clergy role. It’s part of a wider unraveling and reconfiguration of church.” White replied to Prof. James, “I think you’re on to something.”
The active Twitter thread contains a handful of pastors currently in ministry and some who have left the ministry. One pastor told White, “As a minister struggling with whether to stay in parish ministry, I’m so hurt by all the replies that blame clergy for quitting. I’ve given my life to the Church, asked my family to sacrifice & ended up with my a** kicked. American church is broken.”
A former pastor of 30 years also wrote, “I’m one of those. After 30 years I felt God was calling me out of paid ministry into the marketplace. I’m convinced that many, many pastors have lost the ability to speak the same language of those outside of the church.”
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The mere desire of wanting that which is not yours, and entertaining that desire with any delight and approval and yearning, is itself rebellion against God, even if you have not outwardly acted on that desire. You may not have made the choice to take any action at all in taking away your neighbor’s wife from him, but the thought, the desire, still condemns you before God’s holy law.

The Law, though written on tablets of stone, is still able to condemningly penetrate into the depths of our hearts, and the last Commandment leaves us all with our “mouths stopped”, as Paul argues (Romans 3:19), that in our own strength we are unable to love the Lord our God with all our heart. Which is the tenth commandment? The tenth commandment is, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17).
To covet (in the Hebrew khamad) is to desire and in and of itself the word does not alone denote anything evil or wrong. The word is used for legitimate desires as it’s used in Psalm 19:10, “More to be desired are [God’s word] than gold, even much fine gold.”[1] What makes coveteous desire wrong is the object of that desire, namely, if it what you’re desiring does not belong to you because it already belongs to someone else. Hence the repeated emphasis of thy neighbor’s house, neighbor’s wife, neighbor’s ox, etc. This is the sin of envy. Seeing something or someone that belongs relationally or legally to someone else and wanting – desiring – that person or thing. And therein lies the penetrating depth of this commandment.
It’s not merely acting on the desire that’s sinful. It is the desire itself that is sinful. That is, the mere desire of wanting that which is not yours, and entertaining that desire with any delight and approval and yearning, is itself rebellion against God, even if you have not outwardly acted on that desire. You may not have made the choice to take any action at all in taking away your neighbor’s wife from him, but the thought, the desire, still condemns you before God’s holy law. Does not Jesus himself strike this same note when he says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28)?
Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley are absolutely right when they say that “the desire for evil is evil and arises from a sinful heart.”[2] There’s much to ponder here, especially in our current climate where many folks, even from within the church, argue that desire – any desire at all – is not evil or wrong, but only acting on those desires. Not so, according to the tenth commandment.
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In these difficult last days, when the moonscape of our present evil world abounds with so many deadly counterfeits, let’s listen hard to what the apostle had to say. Let’s not allow ourselves to think of our faith simply as a religion, a world-view, or a set of morals. Let’s remember the deep reason for which God sent his Son into the world: so that through him we might live.

In this the love of God was manifested toward us,that He sent His uniquely-begotten Son into the worldso that we might live through Him.1 John 4:9

It’s morning on the moon, and you’re liking it less and less.
When the crackling voice on the radio woke you up, you somehow expected to see a tide of golden sunlight pouring onto carpets of green grass. Instinctively, you listened for birds, water rushing over rocks, saws or cars or kids. Immersed in a childhood memory, you even thought you caught the scent of bacon, cold cantaloupe, pancakes, maple syrup, and hot coffee.
But now, as you look out the window of your module, you see no movement at all. As you listen for sounds and voices, you hear only silence. As your mind imagines colors, your eyes meet only black and white. A little flurry of panic hits you as you realize the stark truth: This place is dead.
Almost frantically, you search for mother Earth.
Ah yes, there she is: the blue seas, the great swirls of white clouds, the shapely continents of land. Family and friends. Hopes and dreams. Life.
It will be good be home.
The Fight of His Life
The plight of our imaginary astronaut reveals something intriguing about “life”: We are so completely immersed in it that we can barely see it! We live it, enjoy it, and daily seek more of it. Yet it’s not until we take a trip to Death Valley, or Antarctica, or maybe even the moon, that we really begin to think about life, and to realize how strange, amazing, and precious it is.
And as in the natural, so in the spiritual: It is usually a brush with death that makes believers in Christ appreciate the true riches of his gift of eternal life.
We see this clearly in John’s first epistle. Writing to the churches in Asia, the apostle was going toe to toe with a heresy called Gnosticism, a teaching that denied both the deity and the true humanity of Christ, licensed immorality, and encouraged a loveless pride based on mystical “revelations” from a vaguely defined world above.
Many of John’s dear friends had been taken in, or at least shaken. Error, fear, and temptations to sin had arisen in their midst. Death was stalking the camp of the saints. So he wrote—passionately—to confront the heretics and call the faithful back to the true gift of God: eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
But what exactly is this “life” that God is so eager to grant his people; this life that moved him to send us his uniquely begotten Son; this life that demons, heretics, and sinful flesh all hate and oppose; this life that the apostle rose boldly to protect and defend?
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