Why do some long-term pastorates fail?

Thom Rainer Dec. 6, 2018

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Please hear me clearly: I am a strong proponent of longer-term pastorates. I love hearing about pastors passing tenure thresholds of five, 10 and 15 years. All other things being equal, I would much rather see a pastor have a long and satisfying tenure in a given church than not.

However, recently a member of my readership community challenged me. He is a longer-term pastor himself, and he candidly and transparently shared some of his struggles of serving so many years at one church. 

Common struggles 

I took his admonition to heart and reviewed several long-term pastorates that did not turn out well. In doing so, I saw five common themes in their struggles:

1. The pastor can coast. Because longer-term pastors have earned the trust of members over many years, it can be tempting for them to simply go through the motions of ministry and leadership. They may also be weary of the ministry and, thus, have little desire or energy to lead the church to a new level.

2. There can be too much familiarity among the staff. It is not unusual for longer-term pastors to have longer-term staff. It is possible this staff becomes too comfortable with the pastor and the pastor’s leadership. Simply stated, they no longer look at the pastor as their leader as much as they view the pastor as their friend.

3. The pastor can stay for the wrong reasons.  In some cases, the longer-term pastor hangs on for financial security, or fear of finding another place of ministry. The call to ministry thus becomes a defensive call rather than a proactive, vision-laden call.

4. Church members can get too comfortable.  The longer-term pastor becomes a source of routine and tradition for the members. The pastor becomes a symbol of longevity, stability and change aversion.

5. The pastor can stop learning.  Longer-term pastors must be highly intentional to learn about the world outside of their own churches. Because they have been at one church for so long, they can see their particular experiences as normative. One pastor shared with us, “After 12 years at my church, I started learning about other churches, even visiting a new church once a quarter. I was amazed to learn how much had changed in church practices that I had missed the past several years.”

Meeting the challenge

For certain, longer-term pastorates have great advantages. I have written about those advantages and spoken about them on my podcasts several times. But it is possible for a longer-term pastorate to have its own challenges. 

It seems that those longer-term pastors who avoided these problems were highly intentional in moving in a positive direction. 

So, check yourself, long-term pastors. Are you still headed in a positive direction? Or have you reached a plateau? If it’s the latter, maybe it’s time to meet with a mentor or trusted advisor to see what action steps you can implement to climb out of your rut.

Photo source: istock 

my saved content

VIEW AS
A PDF

Thom S. Rainer is the founder and CEO of Church Answers, and online community and resource for church leaders. Prior to founding Church Answers, Rainer served as president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Before coming to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Learn More »

• A multicultural church avoids intracultural leadership (by Bob Whitesel)
• 5 church communication resolutions (by Mark MacDonald)
• Eight unforced errors churches make (by Thom Rainer)
• Do you speak ‘guest’? Learning to speak community lingo (by Mark MacDonald)

Free eBook

Steps to Launching Your Personal Workplace Ministry

Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.

Download Now