Lessons for Clergy Preparing to Leave a Congregation
by Lawrence W. Farris

Good endings to pastorates open the door, for both pastor and congregation, to promising futures of new faithfulness to God's work in the world. Abbreviated, curt, lack-of-closure endings, on the other hand, encumber both pas­tor and congregation with unnecessary burdens that will impair new beginnings. In the best of circumstances, leaving a pastorate can be an occasion for celebration and gratitude. The ministry created and brought to fruition through the pastor's relationship with a congregation can be celebrated as God is praised for what has been accomplished during the pastor's tenure. The pastor can be thanked for the leadership offered; the congregation can be thanked for the responsiveness they have shown. Both pastor and people can rejoice in growth in faith; both can laugh at lessons learned through folly; both can weep for sorrows shared. Even at the close of a good pastorate, however, there are other feelings to be acknowledged. And there is work to be done in order for both pastor and congregation to be free to embrace the future gladly and expectantly.

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BOOK REVIEW

Ten Commandments for Pastors Leaving a Congregation by Lawrence W. Farris, Eerdmans, 2006, $12

Review by Lovett H. Weems, Jr.

Lawrence W. Farris has written a superb book to help pastors who are approaching the time of leaving ministry in a particular place. Using the model he applied to his earlier book for pastors who are new in a congregation, he explores “ten commandments” for pastors preparing to leave. The topics are right, and the chapters are consistently filled with wisdom. This is the best book I have read on the subject of pastoral leaving.

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Leaders do not need answers.
Leaders must have the right questions.

Dan Aleshire, the executive director of the Association of Theological Schools in the U.S. and Canada, tells about a layperson who listed his congregation’s criteria for good clergy by using three questions:

Does this person love God?

Does this person love me?

Can this person do the job that needs to be done
in this congregation?

Editors:  .Lovett H. Weems, Jr. and Ann A. Michel
Production and distribution:  Joe Arnold

Copyright © 2007 by the G. Douglass Lewis Center for Church Leadership. Leading Ideas material may be freely distributed with attribution (exclusive of material protected by separate copyright).