A couple weeks ago, we talked here about reasons you'll want to leave a ministry position but shouldn't. Today we're publishing a condensed version of an article, excerpted from When It's Time to Leave, that takes the opposite approach: when you should leave, or at least consider it. If you want to see the full version of this piece, and several related articles, download our training tool here.

1. Incompatibility.

Good church, good pastor, but a bad fit. The congregation needs a form of pastoral leadership that the sitting pastor does not possess. Take, for example, the pastor who is entrepreneurial by instinct (read "visionary" or "passionate for growth"). The congregation, on the other hand, seeks a pause in the outward look. They want to build their sense of community and concentrate on spiritual development for a while (not always an inappropriate decision). Both pastor and congregation develop a suspicion of the other's agenda, and no amount of mutual reflection brings about convergence. ...