Why pastors are often fired or leave their positions after 3-5 years.
Depending on your sources, you will find that the average tenure for a pastor in a local church is somewhere between 3-4 years with others saying 5-7 years. Somewhere between year 3 and year 7, something happens which results in the pastor leaving the church or getting fired.
This is not to say that there is a singular reason or to ignore that there may be lots of reasons this happens. It’s simply acknowledging that there is a pattern. I was participating in a leadership coaching cohort for pastors when I came across one explanation. The leader who was explaining this model was the leader of a congregation of around 20,000 people. He had been in ministry for 30 years and had mentored lots of pastors over the years.
As I listened, I found myself both surprised that I had never heard anyone talk about this as well as comforted that many of the things I was seeing and experiencing were common. In other words, it’s nice to realize you’re not “as crazy” as you were feeling. He used Rick Warren’s levels of commitment to help explain what happens in a church when it has a leadership transition.
Levels of commitment
Rick Warren explained that in every church context, there are 5 main groups.
The community: The community is comprised of the people who are aware of the church and who may have relationships with people who are connected with the church. However, the community members are not directly engaged in any activities that the church offers.
The crowd: The crowd is made up of those who participate occasionally in the life of the church. Maybe there is an outreach like VBS, a fair, or some other activity that doesn’t require high commitment. They like the church but haven’t taken steps to really become part of the community.
The congregation: The congregation is where we see people who are more deeply connected in relationships. They attend Sunday worship frequently. They like what they’re experiencing and are the ones most likely to invite their friends to come check things out.
The committed: The committed are those who believe deeply in what the church stands for. They are not only worshipping frequently, but they are usually stepping into roles of service. They have a high level of buy-in and will sacrifice their time, talents, and resources for the mission of the church.
The core: The core are those people who have long-term investment in the life and mission of the church. They have often served in multiple roles and have been recognized as people with authority. Many times, these people are in positions of leadership such as elders, deacons, and other roles. There are also “unofficial” leaders who are consulted on their opinions even though they are not serving in an official capacity. They are people of influence even if they are not serving in a recognized role.
The shift from the outside -> in
The community
When a new pastor is called to a church, there are always people who have been on the outside edges who have been paying attention to what’s going on in the church.
People who are part of the community may see an announcement on facebook. In smaller towns, they may read the announcement in the local newspaper. Maybe they find themselves in a season of life where they’re curious about faith and decide to go check out the new guy. They attend a few times and find themselves resonating with his preaching style. They feel more comfortable than they thought they would and they decide to come back from time to time.
From the community to the crowd.
There are those who have not been attending for a while who are part of the crowd who hear the news of a new pastor, and they decide to come back. Once they are back, they really enjoy the way things feel. It feels different than the last time they were at church and they like it. So they decide to maybe start coming more often. They begin attending a couple times a month.
From the crowd to the congregation.
Additionally, there are those who are part of the congregation who have been waiting around to see what the new pastor is like before they decide whether they are going to stay or leave. After about 2-3 months of seeing what the new leader is like, they double down and decide to not only stay, but become more involved. They like where things are headed.
From the congregation to the committed.
Then there are those who have been committed to the church and more than likely were included in the search process for the next pastor. They didn’t make the final call, but they agreed with the core leaders. They are getting really excited and are looking for ways to be part of what God may be doing in even deeper ways.
From the committed to the core.
Finally, we have the core group who has spent months, maybe even years navigating the last pastor leaving and being involved in the process of finding another pastor. They’re excited to finally be starting a new chapter, but they are likely also pretty tired. They’re looking forward to the new guy providing direction and help.
What the church is experiencing is a shift where people from the outside begin to move toward greater commitment and relationship with the church. This is always exciting because it is usually a time of growth and new ministry initiatives.
The shift from the inside -> out
While there is excitement building over the first couple of years of the new pastor’s leadership, there is also another shift happening at the same time. There is a shift from the inside toward the outside. A sense of commitment begins to shift, and relationships change for those who have been part of the church in earlier years.
As I mentioned earlier, those who have been part of the core have dealt with the consequences of the previous pastor leaving. Even under the best of circumstances, loss and change of relationship is difficult. The people who have been leading have accumulated relational and emotional fatigue. They’ve been managing the ongoing needs of the church in the period between pastors. If they are unpaid or volunteer leaders, this church work is on top of their normal responsibilities and can be incredibly tiring.
Not to mention the process of writing a job description, posting job openings, reviewing resumes, and tons of extra church meetings. Suffice it to say, by the time a new pastor comes on, many leaders are spent. They’re excited to have people who are ready to jump in and lead so they can take a break.
As the committed group transitions into core roles, people who have been core leaders take steps back and move into the committed group space.
There are also those who have been committed who take a step back. Maybe there is a need to revamp ministries or start new ones. Some people find that what they’re passionate about isn’t what the new leaders or other new people in the church are passionate about. They themselves might not be as excited about serving as they once were. Again, maybe they’ve been serving for years and are simply tired and want to rest. Maybe their season of life has changed and they aren’t a good fit for student ministry, etc. They want to travel more or have lots of family responsibilities that start to demand more time.
As people from the congregation begin stepping up and moving into committed roles, there are others who are stepping back. Instead of leading, they become primarily attenders.
Then there are those who are part of the congregation who waited around to see what the new leader was like and how the church would change before they decided whether to stay or leave. After a year or two, they’ve decided they’re not excited about or very engaged in the church. Some leave and go to another church and become part of the outside-in process. Others become part of the crowd that shows up for special Sundays or events. They don’t leave entirely. They just stay loosely attached to the church.
The drift from congregation to crowd happens as people become less committed or connected.
“This shift will be most noticeable usually around year 3-5. Which is usually when many pastors are fired or leave.”
Consequences of the shift
I’m not saying that this dynamic is wrong or right. It simply happens and it’s wise to know that this pattern exists. There are some common dynamics that show up as a result of the shift from outside-in and inside-out.
Those who used to be the leaders of the core group notice that people they know and love are less involved or gone from the church. They’ll be aware of the reasons why people left. Some people didn’t like the direction the church was taking, others felt disconnected, and still others couldn’t put their finger on why, but the church just didn’t feel like “their church” or like “home” anymore. So they slowly drifted away. The former leaders love those people, miss them, and want them to come back.
There have been significant shifts in what the church looks like and focuses on because there are newer people leading. The people who have moved into the committed and core groups are making more and more major decisions without the same framework and perspective of those who came before them.
Relational tension builds between former leaders, current leaders, and the pastor.
The former leaders miss their friends and want them to come back because the church has changed enough to not feel the same. They begin wondering, “How do we get back to the good old days before the new pastor came?” Some former leaders will decide they need to get back into the core decision-making group to bring things back to the way they “should be.”
The current leaders spend more time listening to people who are upset or hurt about feeling left behind or unvalued. The result is that the current leaders spend less time on mission and vision. This leads to the church becoming primarily inward focused and they begin to not reach newer people as they had been doing previously. Often this leads to stagnation and eventually, decline.
The pastor becomes the lightning rod that much of the energy of conflict moves toward. The pastor feels pressure to try to make everyone happy. He finds himself in constant meetings with unhappy people and begins to take on a crushing weight of worry and anxiety. Or he gets so tired that he starts responding in anger and simply tries to drive away or dismiss people. Eventually he gets so worn out by his own mental and emotional struggles that he decides to move on.
Side note: Please note the effect that this has on a pastor’s family as well. How many children grow up completely opposed to considering serving as a pastor because they saw the effect it had on their parents?
Conclusions
It’s my deep desire to bring this cycle to light for one major reason. There are a large number of churches looking for pastors, and far fewer pastors looking for positions in churches.
In the past, when a church was looking for a new pastor, they would advertise the position on a church job website or in the major print publications of their denomination or organization. They would often receive hundreds of resumes in response to their advertisement. That’s just not the case today. We have lots of older pastors retiring, Bible colleges shrinking and closing, and a growing number of people who simply don’t want to work as paid pastors anymore. The reality is that churches these days are having a much harder time finding a pastor for their church.
This cycle has contributed to the problem. When pastors are more plentiful, many churches have been able to avoid taking responsibility for their part in influencing a string of former pastors to quit ministering to them and eventually leaving vocational ministry altogether. Many pastors have been unaware of what was happening and were unable to see the dynamics at play well enough to address them. Some pastors have been so focused on those on the outside that they have missed out on caring for those on the inside.
Where do we go from here?
Get the cycle out in the open: I wish I had known about this way of seeing the way leadership changes affect a church before I ever became the preaching pastor of a church. It would have given me a paradigm for thinking about how people who are currently part of each church are going to experience the changes that are coming. It would have helped me have more empathy for the way people would start to feel disconnected or mourning the loss of what “used to be” instead of being frustrated or defensive. I think this wisdom could have been helpful in seeing that there is a natural progression where some people were never really committed. These people would often move on to another church. I would not have spent so much time mourning every person who left the church, and I would have spent less time second guessing my decisions. Having this cycle to look at can be extremely helpful for churches to examine where they are currently and anticipate upcoming relational dynamics.
As a leadership, use this model to ask, “Where are we? How do we make sure to love those on the inside, while not sacrificing those on the outside? How do we balance pastorally caring for people and pursuing them while at the same time giving them the dignity of choice in how committed they are to the mission of Jesus?”
Examine motives and get help: There needs to be a process where we listen with curiosity to those who are feeling lost, disconnected, and frustrated. We are also called to be discerning of what we hear. Are people longing for nostalgia? Are they simply wanting their preferences met? Are they willing to embrace new things for the sake of the lost and for building new relationships? Deeper still, leaders, both paid and unpaid, need to be brutally honest about uncovering our own motives. Pastors, are we justifying our actions, agendas, and preferences and abusing our authority? Leaders, are you seeking to appease people, or do you just want power so you can solve the problem of an out of control pastor? The enemy wants to use misunderstanding, miscommunication, division, and sinful desires to be served and take power to destroy churches and pastors.
If you’re a pastor and need help navigating some of these dynamics, I would highly recommend getting a counselor and a spiritual director in this season. The counselor is a safe space for you to express what you’re feeling and to explore the inner dynamics that are at play that may be sabotaging your leadership. A spiritual director can help you engage with God and listen for his voice in ways that often seem extremely hard during times of conflict and pressure.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
The Dangerous Third Year of Pastoral Tenure by Thom Ranier.
The Myth of the Church-Hopping Pastor by Trevin Wax.
The Life Cycle of a Pastor by Thom Ranier.
Your First Five Years by Caleb Duncan.
