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I will be honest this is a hard question to me. It has been ingrained in me even back from my childhood to not be a quitter. You always finish what you start. On the other side when speaking to a fellow Pastor who feels or decided that He is going to quit it is a different circumstance. For a person to get to the point of wanting to quit and then telling you about it you have to know that person has gone through this a thousand times in their mind. Making this kind of decisions usually takes hundreds of hours thinking about it. If they have then chosen to come to you I don’t think it is for advice on what they should do it is almost to get your approval on the decision they have already made.

In the case of a fellow Pastor being “done” I think I would focus more on their call to be in the ministry than I would try to keep them at their current Church. I do believe that God moves us to different works and uses certain ministries as teaching grounds for different ministries opportunities we will have in the future. I believe that a Pastors call is a lifetime call not just for the good times but also for the bad times.

I love the quote given by Dr. Will Houghton and referenced in the book Liberating Ministry from the success syndrome, “The preacher does not select his vocation. It is selected for him by the One who said, “you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” and he is commissioned and sent forth in the power of the Person of whom it was said, “He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.” Sadly this type of thing isn’t just about not being a quitter it is a spiritual problem that needs compassion and a listening ear. I would hate to convince a fellow Pastor to stay in the ministry or at a certain church just because of their duty. It is their call and conviction that should do that.