(ChurchLeaders) Dan White Jr., pastors’ coach and co-founder of The KINEO Center, a retreat and counseling center for spiritual leaders, shared with his Twitter followers on Thursday that he speaks to many pastors who are discouraged and burning out from constant criticism. Many of his followers expressed their ability to relate.
“I am meeting Pastor after Pastor that (sic) is considering resigning, not because they don’t love the Church,” White tweeted. “They are considering this because their role has become unliveable. The critics and contrarians are dominating their bandwidth and there’s no reprieve. They can’t get any air.”
A number of pastors and former pastors were quick to affirm White’s statement by sharing their own experiences.
“I’ve been a pastor in the UK for 37 years and definitely the toughest past 2 years. Polarisation seems to affect us and tough to live the radical middle without upsetting someone,” one response read.
Another wrote, “Exactly why I left working for a church. I’m still called to pastor. Just don’t want to pastor in a church…I think seminary gave me this passion to revolutionize a church. Then when I worked for one I realized not only could I not revolutionize it but also it was deforming me. My vocation is elsewhere but my calling is to pastor.”