Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 05:1 (Fall 1987)
Article: Is It Time To Move?
Author: Paula Clayton Dempsey

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FM 5:1 (Fall 1987) p. 4

Is It Time To Move?

Paula Clayton Dempsey

Pastor of the Oak Chapel Baptist Church
Orange, VA

It seemed that I had been lying there for hours when I glanced at the clock one more time. Very seldom do I have sleepless nights, but this was one of them. I could not dismiss the decision I was facing. It seemed to be one of the most difficult choices I had ever encountered. The decision to accept my first pastorate six years earlier seemed fairly simple. The decisions to marry and move to Trinity Church as pastor were made with clear indications that those were the right things to do. Now I was faced with an invitation to move again, and this time the indicators were not quite so clear. It was hard to hear the voice of God amidst all the voices that were speaking to me.

As the night slipped away with the flicker of numbers on the clock, my mind was racing over the events of the past few weeks. It had all started when a friend of mine resigned from Salem Church where he had been pastor for five years. He mentioned to me in the support group of which we were both members that his church would be a good opportunity for a woman to be the pastor. He also said that some members of the congregation had even asked him if he thought I would be interested in moving to Salem. “Would you be interested in considering the Salem Church as pastor?” he asked. All the other members of our group thought the church was healthy and would be a good opportunity for me professionally. They encouraged me to consider seriously the possibility.

My husband and I had not really thought of moving. We were hardly more than getting settled in at Trinity. I had just begun to feel that I had established trust, authority, and credibility among the members of the church. We had bought a home, welcomed the birth of a son, and just gotten our feet on the ground. Another change seemed like the last thing that we needed.

Could I leave the church that had provided me an opportunity such as this one? Theirs had been a courageous, even a revolutionary decision when they voted to call a woman as pastor. Furthermore, moving to Trinity had been an increased responsibility for me from the bi-vocational pastorate I served for three years prior to this full-time pastorate. Also, the church had seen us through the birth of our son. Would it be fair to them to think of leaving after three years? It felt like betrayal for me even to consider moving.

How could I tell if it was time to leave? Was my ministry at Trinity over, or had it just begun? Was it better to leave when things were going well? Professionally, I felt that it would be advantageous for me to be in a situation where I would wear fewer “hats.” At Trinity I was so busy directing the adu...

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