A change of field is doubtless sometimes the duty of a pastor, and the
providence and Spirit of God, which guided him in forming the pastoral
relation, will make equally plain the obligation to dissolve it. Some
of the reasons which may require a change are the following: 1. Growth
in pulpit and pastoral power beyond the scope of the field. A young man
has settled, perhaps, in a circumscribed field. Fidelity in study and
labor has developed him, so that his capacity plainly fits him for a
wider sphere. If this is made evident by the judgment of his brethren
and the providence of God, he is required by duty, alike to his own
life-usefulness and to the cause of Christ, to enter the wider field
opened before him. 2. The necessities of health in himself or family.
The severity of the draft made in this age on the intellect and nerves
of the minister may sometimes compel change so as to obtain relief by
the more free use of previous pulpit preparations. This, though
unfortunate for the intellectual growth of the minister, is still to be
chosen rather than broken health. Or the climate may prove unfavorable,
and on this account a change be demanded. 3. Inadequate salary. The
pecuniary support may be insufficient for the growing needs of the
pastor, and a new post with larger salary may be opened to him. Here,
however, great care must be taken in scrutinizing motives, for a
wealthy church and a large salary have glittering attraction and appeal
strongly to mere selfishness. The need of a larger income must be real,
not fancied. 4. Permanent discomfort and embarrassment in his work. A
minister, even after the most conscientious discharge of his duties,
will sometimes find controlling influences in the church arrayed
against him, or his cherished plans of church work defeated by
counter-counsels; so that the pastor and permanent and influential
members of the church are in relations wholly incompatible with comfort
or efficiency. Now, if these relations cannot be altered, it would seem
clearly his duty to leave, and to enter a field where his relations
will be congenial and his labors unobstructed.
Finally, I suggest: A pastor must expect trials in any church, and
commonly, in a change of place, he will only find a change in the form
of trial. It is a serious question whether in most instances of change
a simple faith in God, a patient forbearance, and a persistence in
faithful work would not have avoided the necessity and added much to
the strength of the pastor in the higher development of all the forces
of his intellectual, moral, and spiritual nature, and in the
enlargement of his influence as a minister of Christ. Certainly, the
unrest so widely seen now in the ministry argues a great wrong
somewhere, either in pastors or in churches, and is serving to
deteriorate the character and weaken the influence of both.
+SECTION XVI.+