This topic contains 42 replies, has 16 voices, and was last updated by 
David Hayward 1 year, 3 months ago.
-
Posts
-
Anonymous
AnonymousHey David,
Ex-Pastor here…
well nice to meet you. welcome!!
AnonymousThanks. I dare say that it was not a choice I made in isolation but in community. I stepped down as copastor along with my five copastors as well as my whole community. We decided to all just be friends and forget trying to DO church. It hit home a few weeks ago when my daughter’s friends asked me if I could officiate their wedding and I had to tell them no. Nice meeting you as well. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I know you only from your intelligent cartoonage.
Haha jaymar. well… that isn’t a totally unacceptable way to know me. that’s how i’m most known. but people get to see my softer side here. that sounds really really interesting what you guys did. wow.
AnonymousI’m a refusing to be ex-lay-pastor. I guess it’s the “preisthood of believers” thing that was drilled into me. As I live and breathe, I am called to love my neighbour. I to had a painful ass-kicking to the curb experience. Then I had this weird promotion to weirdness and then a final slam dunk at the curb. Growing up I was never the kid who was picked last, I was second to last. At the age of 42 I walked away from a DIY career in graphic design, to join the ministry. At 50 I was burnt toast. I scraped the black off and limped back into the game. Then I got a call, one of the biggest Jesus for the Poor agencies in Canada was interested in hiring me as an Executive Director. They picked me, imagine that. Well it turned out to be a joke and the joke was on me. While moving into my office, cleaning out the filing cabinet, I discovered a report, written at the time of my hiring, that indicated that the program I was directing was not a fit with their new strategy and it would be shut down. I found this in the bottom drawer, not in my briefing. Sure enough, a few months later I was offered a different position, with a different title and a different paycheque. I walked. That was the right move, because less than a year later the entire executive level was swept out the door. Since then we’ve sold our house and moved to the country, still feeling called to love the poor and wounded. We are making our home our ministry, a spiritual retreat (see Rumsby Riverside Retreat FB).
Wow @wayner! So glad you are with us. Practice your pastoral arts here on us. We need it
AnonymousEx youth pastor who is living out her calling in the public school system now. I am no longer concerned with conversion as was the prime directive in church, but now my mandate is to promote healthy (drug and alcohol free) lifestyles. We now have bio-psycho-social-spiritual evidence, that is scientifically qualified, that humans need connection with something greater in life…. A higher power. I get to help the kids understand why meaning in life is so crucial, how sick people get when they don’t have that meaning in life, and that in order to have meaning in life, one needs to have a connection to something greater. Some people call ‘it’ Love, some call it Life, some call it God, some call it the Universe. My favorite name for ‘it’ is The Great Mystery. But it doesn’t matter what anybody else calls ‘it’, what’s important is to figure out how you’re connected to ‘it’ and you’re the only person who can do it. So I still feel like I’m living out my calling…. Just free from the ego of the church.
i can’t believe this community exists. When my son was born 2 years ago, I wanted to get back into a church community to raise him in. I found an evangelical church that had a moms group that weren’t afraid to drop the f bomb, and talk reality, so I immersed myself in their community, but all the usual evangelical baggage has ensued. Now I only show up on the days I’m scheduled to be in the nursery because i’ve found the sermons so spiritually immature, like about watching your language to be a good witness to others, or raising your kids the Focus On The Family way. I feel like I took a BIG risk trying to get back into church, only to be further nauseated and defeated. So it’s blown my mind to come across Lasting Supper.
Hey Karen (@kontemplation)
Hey there! Glad to connect with all of you. I too am an ex-pastor…like, really EX. You will probably read about me elsewhere in the community, but I did want to pose a question. My biggest struggle in leaving the church, and part of the reason I stayed until the elder board turned on us, has been finding quality employment. I have employment, but not quality employment. I am an author, and have published one book, but I am still just beginning this phase of my life. What advice would you have for quality employment?
I wrote a post a while ago about this that you might find helpful: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nakedpastor/2012/06/vocational-advice-for-ex-pastors/
Hi David, thanks. I kind of feel silly because I saw your post earlier on this thread about vocational advice, after I made this reply. Thanks again.
Hey that’s no problem Charles. There’s a lot on here.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.