Are You Ready to Quit?

Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression. Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression. Most statistics say that 60% to 80% of those who enter the ministry will not still be in it 10 years later, and only a fraction will stay in it as a lifetime career. Most statistics say that 60% to 80% of those who enter the ministry will not still be in it 10 years later, and only a fraction will stay in it as a lifetime career.

10 For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.” 2 Corinthians 10:10 (NIV84)

7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? 2 Corinthians 11:7 (NIV84)

13 How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong! 2 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV84)

6 I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. 2 Corinthians 11:6–7 (NIV84)

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever- increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:17–4:18 (NIV84)

God’s spirit in the pastor produces freedom.

We are becoming great leaders and lousy men and women of God. We all face the temptation to join the fellowship of the successful and lose the fellowship of the called.

6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6–8 (NIV84)

He was doing the work of the ministry at a pace that was destroying the work of the Lord in him.

God’s mercy for the pastor lies in his or her calling.

Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart.

The minister of the gospel is frightened by the magnitude of his assignment until he discovers the Presence at his side. Milo Arnold

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all- surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.