Should I Leave Vocational Ministry? Discernment Tools for Pastors Considering a Career Change
Sep 19, 2025
Read Time: 4 minutes
Todd Linder
Founder & Head Coach
Overview
Welcome to the Ministry To Marketplace Minute! Today, we’re going to talk about if you don’t want to be in ministry anymore, how you can get more discernment on what to do. We’ll cover transitioning from ministry, why you might choose to do it, and how to have more confidence and clarity in your decision. So let’s dive in.
Today's Ministry To Marketplace Minute:
Mindset Shift: Frustration in your ministry transition.
Strategy Shift: Discernment for the next step of your career post ministry.
Do This Right Now: Get clear on what to do next about your transition from vocational ministry.
Who Will Hire Me?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
🧠 MINDSET SHIFT: Frustration in your ministry transition.
Everyone gets frustrated at work at some point. Can I tell you a personal story?
I was very frustrated at my church job.
Decisions leaders made, meetings I was in (and wasn’t in), even people’s voices…
I found myself wondering, “What was I even doing there?” or thinking, “I think that decision is so dumb.”
After years of this, I had a professor in my Master’s of Organizational Leadership program explain my frustration to me simply:
He said, “Your frustration is not with the people; it is a result of the misalignment of your values with theirs. And they aren’t changing their core values no matter how hard you try.”
I learned that the important thing for me to do was to get clear on what was actually important to me about work.
My professor pointed me to a personal values assessment and… boy, were my eyes opened.
Of the top 10 values that I got, not a single one aligned with the 13 stated values of the church.
Not. A. Single. One.
No wonder.
That didn’t make them wrong, or dumb, or ungodly.
It revealed a difference in value and importance.
♟️ STRATEGY SHIFT: Discernment for the next step of your career post ministry.
We need to get clear on what is important to you about work.
AKA: your personal values (as they relate to work).
Here’s how we define “your personal values” in the Interview Accelerator:
Your values are the characteristics that you deem important in yourself, in others, and in the environment. These are your personal convictions and ideals. They are a litmus test for whether you are going to be aligned with a job and the work environment.
Likely, if you are transitioning from ministry, at some point, you have experienced a misalignment of your values with the values of the organization.
So to determine, “is this the right place for me to work (or even stay in ministry completely),” here’s what we do:
Discover your personal values. Identify your top 5-10 and be able to verbalize them.
Investigate your organization’s values. Not just the values they say out loud, but the unspoken rules of engagement in the office as well. These will be shared by those at the top of the organization.
Write them down next to each other on a piece of paper and see where there is alignment and where there isn’t.
Now, you can answer the question, “What is my tolerance for misalignment?”
If something isn’t that big of a deal, that is an experience you might be creating for yourself.
If a value misalignment (or multiple) is large enough for you to make a transition for, ask yourself, are there other alternatives besides transitioning from ministry? A new team? A different organization?
If you determine that there is misalignment in all of the potential opportunities, then you can begin to ask: Is ministry right for me (and my family) as a career or not?
This is just one step in the discernment process, but it will also be incredibly useful as you look at new jobs and the organizations you would work for in the future.
Understanding your values can help you to interview the companies as you are in their interview process!
As my gift to you, you can use our personal values assessment that we do as a part of our Job Clarity Intensive. Access that here: Personal Values Assessment.
Important Note: This was not the only step in my discernment process when deciding to transition from my ministry job into the marketplace. This was one data point of many, and I suggest you treat it like that, too!
✅ DO THIS RIGHT NOW: Practice this right now.
Download and take the Personal Values Assessment.
Discover your organization’s values.
Write them down on a piece of paper and note if there is alignment or misalignment.
🚀 FROM THE COACHING GROUP
I am excited to share that I have accepted a new position… If I can continue to help the LP community in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out. Oh, it was also fun to be number 100!
🤝 WHO WILL HIRE ME?: 5 ministry friendly organizations with jobs for ex-pastors.
Because of the time sensitive nature of job postings, we post these in the email newsletter only.
Get the newsletter, along with 860+ others, every Friday morning.
How we can help you:
FREE Ultimate Guide To Your Ministry To Marketplace Transition Our entire process in a free (yes, FREE) guide that walks you step-by-step through the essentials of landing a marketplace job that you'll enjoy, and supports your family. Each section builds on the next: clarity, translation, resume, and LinkedIn connections… everything you need to start seeing traction in your search. You can sign up here >>> Sign up for the Ultimate Guide.
The Ministry To Marketplace Interview Accelerator Join 119+ others who have successfully transitioned from ministry into marketplace jobs that value their experience. The Interview Accelerator will give you our proven step-by-step process, coaching, and community for getting more interviews for jobs that value your ministry experience and support your family. Let's hop on a call!
Was this forwarded to you? Get this newsletter into your inbox, along with 933+ others, every Friday morning. Subscribe here.