We hear the news 'Pastor so-and-so is leaving his church', and another small evangelical church begins to face up to the prospect of having to find a replacement for their faithful long-serving pastor.
But why is he leaving? Has he reached the end of his usefulness as he indicated when telling the church: 'I think I have fulfilled the task that the Lord gave me to do in this church'?
There is no question that the time will come for every pastorate to be concluded, and for the Lord (hopefully) to bring a replacement for the next phase of the life of the church. But is it true that every pastor who moves on is doing so because he has 'fulfilled the task'?
