Farewell, pastor and family..

Its hard to imagine that four pastors have left our church in the past ten years. All of us should reflect why this is the case. Maybe our church has a whole has become too critical and judgemental, instead of showing compassion and appreciation for what our pastors have done. We failed in the lesson of submission, not allowing our pastors to lead our church, and reducing his role to a speaker and administrator.

Our current pastor and his family have just left our church. Its hard when you have developed a personal relationship with each member of the pastor's family. I guess its not like that I will never see them again. They are just a phone call or email away. But I guess the relationship is different now. I guess there used to be two levels of relationships with them - friendship as well as a relationship of being fellow workers in Christ. It is inevitable that both relationships will be lost, as we become busy with our own lives and serving in our own way.

Should I be angry at their departure, for not hanging in there and be more persistent? I don't know. But maybe I should have supported them more in times when they needed support. I don't know. Maybe all of us have a role to play in their departure and we don't realise it.

I guess noone is perfect, and that applies to that pastor and his family. But our pastor is God's annoited one and we should treat him as such. Respect. Love.

Is it ever right for a pastor to leave the church? I used to think it is right if the pastor was a church planter or when the pastor receives another calling from God. But thinking deeper, who are we to judge what is right or wrong? I guess we should trust God when a pastor leaves and trust on His provision.

Is it ever right for us to leave the church for another church? Maybe this can be a topic for discussion on another day!