How the Church Can Help Restore and Reinvigorate Expastors

As our little, yellow truck rolled to a stop in the driveway of our new home, with its tired engine spitting sheets of grey in the evening breeze, I could think of only one thing: how unemployed I was. It hadn’t yet been an entire day since my current state of unemployedness began but already my thoughts were flooded with its presence.

Building my portfolio outside of ministry was never on my radar, as being a pastor had been the only thing I had known for many years. But now, sitting in the truck as it idled clumsily in our new driveway, the reality of my situation began to weigh heavy on my heart.

“I am no longer a pastor,” I thought. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

After we unpacked what meager belongings we had from that little, yellow truck, we sat at our kitchen table and considered our next step. Where would I work? Where would our family go to church?

After visiting a dozen churches seeking a place we could belong to, we finally landed at a great community of believers. We loved that church. We still do. It became an oasis for us, especially for me, during a very dry and lonely season.

It was a large church, one of the biggest in our area, and though my wife and I were involved in little things from time to time, we appreciated the amount of anonymity that came from a large church setting. The pastor was healthy, the staff unified, the vision tangible. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t leading others to experience Jesus; others were leading me to experience Jesus. That’s undoubtedly a blessing for someone trying to find his or her way back into a relationship with the church and back into the arms of Christ.

Not all individuals who serve the church as a spiritual leader have a healthy relationship with Christ. Some, I’d argue, may never have had a relationship with Jesus at all. And many individuals who have left the church after serving in a leadership capacity for an extended period of time may have a damaged perception of Christ, more of a disheartened opinion of the church. Some may have departed from their faith all together. For these individuals, anonymity allows room to explore what they truly believe.

Anonymity also relieves the pressure of getting involved. This pressure of jumping back in can easily push the expastor away for good. Anonymity is something that any expastor needs, regardless if they may know it or not. But, if you could peer into the soul of most expastors, you’d see that, in most cases, the desire to rush back into ministry is immeasurable, especially for those who’ve experienced little outside of pastoring.

If we take a look at anonymity in a work setting, you might see a traditional suggestion box set up for the employee to leave anonymous feedback. Or, a secure website or forum might be set up for the employee to leave anonymous comments or feedback or ideas and suggestions on how to improve their workplace. All with the intention of respecting the privacy of the employee.

Alcoholics Anonymous believes in anonymity, strongly, which is the foundation of the organization’s existence. Anonymity is “often referred to as the greatest single protection the Fellowship [of Alcoholics Anonymous] has to assure its continued existence and growth.”

“Without [anonymity], many would never attend their first meeting. Although the stigma has lessened to some degree, most newcomers still find admission of their alcoholism so painful that it is possible only in a protected environment. Anonymity is essential for this atmosphere of trust and openness.”

If we’re asking ourselves the question, “What are some things me and you and church leadership can do to help come alongside, restore, and reinvigorate expastors within our congregations?” then we must understand the importance of providing anonymity to those who have left the church. Many are looking for a place to belong and, more important, a place to heal. Encouraging and providing an atmosphere of anonymity in our churches can very well be the birthplace of healing in the expastors life.

This was the case for me.

Anonymity, however, isn’t supposed to last forever. Church leadership should discern and determine how best to assign small ministry tasks during this time, if the expastor appears receptive and able. This fine balance of anonymity and the slow reemergence back into ministry, if prayerfully executed, can renew the expastor’s desire to be restored to ministry once again.