by: Jim Schlottman
8/1/2007

In a recent phone conversation, a pastor shared with me that his church had been working to develop a Strategic Long Range Plan. Unbeknown to him, after serving his church for many years, he is not part of that Strategic Long Range Plan. Obviously he was caught off guard.

Are you going to be caught off guard? Do you know if you are at-risk of a forced resignation, like this pastor? So how do you know? Can you see it coming?

One of our ministry partners, Pastor-in-Residence can help you get a heads up. Go to their website at www.pastorinresidence.org and take the Pastor-in-Residence At-Risk Pastor Profile which is designed to evaluate a pastor's risk of forced resignation from the church he/she now serves. Upon completion, you will receive an immediate response with your score and evaluation.

Several years ago, I had the pastors attending one of my presentation take the At-Risk Pastor Profile and hand it into me anonymously. I suggested that if their score indicated they were at-risk, they should come and talk to me. In reviewing the scores, I determined that twenty percent of those attending had such scores. Take a guess at how many came to see me? You guessed it, not one of those pastors came forward. I wondered if they were unwilling to admit they were at-risk, and were in denial, or if they were going to take other action to address the pending termination.

Denial is a common reaction of all of us to unpleasant predicaments. We would rather go on hoping it just isn't true. And then the other shoe drops and we are caught as if we were unaware.

I challenge you to take the Profile, unless you are in so much denial that you're afraid to take it. Instead of being in denial, do you really think that no one in your church would even think of asking you to resign? John LaRue of Christianity Today concluded that 23% of all pastors suffer a forced resignation at some time during their ministry years, 29% of these take 10-15 months to return to ministry while nearly 40% of them never return.

If you are willing to take the Profile, what are you going to do if it indicates that you are at-risk?

It would be simplistic to say you just need to come to Quiet Waters, although that is one of my suggestions. I would like to make three other suggestions.

First, you should reevaluate your situation and see the profile as a wake up call. Second, begin to take preventive action. One of those preventive actions is to tell yourself the truth. Our God is a God of truth, so why do we find it so hard to tell ourselves the truth about ourselves? Third, make any changes that seem appropriate. In this process I'm not telling you to feel all kinds of guilt. That would be counter productive. Others will try to place enough guilt upon you. What I am saying is that you are not in a position to do nothing.

In taking these measures it is important to seek help from a trusted friend. Although I hope you consider your spouse your best friend, he/she is too close to the situation to be that friend. This person needs to be far enough away from what is going on to give you a clear perspective. First, have this person help in evaluating your as-risk position. How at-risk does this person think you really are? Second, have this person review your plan of action. This step could save you a lot of emotional pain. You may be proposing too radical an action and your friend can guide you to what is really necessary and appropriate. Third, after every action of prevention have a friend help you evaluate its success.

If the Pastor-in-Residence At-Risk Pastor Profile says you're not at risk, congratulation you are among the 77 %. However, you still may want to take a look at a little prevention.

Either way, remember God has called you to this wonderful and exciting ministry with all of its difficulties. As one pastor said, "I wouldn't put up with all this crud if I weren't called."