Thom Rainer and Church Answers have revised the pastoral life cycle:

 

https://churchanswers.com/blog/the-life-cycle-of-a-pastor-updated/

 

Honeymoon: 0 to 6 months. 

Challenges and conflict: 6 months to 4 years. 

Acceptance and stability: Year 4 to year 7. 

Inflection point: Year 7 to year 10. 

Mystery: After year 10

 

Some reactions to this:

 

Honeymoons are shorter and might not even exist

bad processes in finding a pastor

unhealthy pastors moving from church to church

distrust of organizational leaders

Inflection points

will the church move in a positive or negative direction

connection to other pastors

willingness to re-evaluate one's own leadership

habits of personal spiritual health

Mystery of the long tenure

no pattern

larger church versus smaller church

rural versus urban versus suburban

"fire in the belly" or "just hanging on"

Must re-establish your leadership every 2-3 years rather than every 4-5 years

Everything is sped up.

 

Contact Alan: [email protected]

Contact Trent: [email protected]

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