Mawhinney on Pastors Who Quit

Bruce Mawhinney on pastors who quit their post to move to another church:

A few years out of seminary, [a pastor’s] reservoir runs dry, usually about the same time the enthusiasm for the ministry starts to wane. It’s a deadly combination, leaving the preacher with little left to say and even less desire to say it. So he starts to struggle with whether it’s time to leave…

The minister [gets] a call to another congregation…

And when he gets to the new church he’s enthusiastic and they’re enthusiastic. His preaching is fresh and new to them, not like the preacher’s that just left. But what they don’t know is that the new minister is not saying anything new and fresh at all; he’s merely repeating himself from his prior ministry. He’s being very repetitious, but they haven’t been around long enough to hear the repetition yet.

So for awhile the ministry is new and fun again, then the same pattern repeats itself…

That’s why you must break the vicious circle here and now, right where you are- not just for your sake, but for the people too, and especially for the glory of God. For too long the church has been plagued with ministers who repeat their three-year ministries six times in six different churches. Instead of 18 years of experience in the ministry, they really only have three years repeated six times. It’s a terrible problem that has greatly harmed the cause of Christ in the world. It has to be stopped. In your life it has to be stopped.