Divorced pastors

[Asia Joe]

There is something I would like to see change.  I have seen pastors get fired because their wife divorced them. We are living in 2025. Women are divorcing at record rates. I know pastors who did not want to get married because of this. Imagine the power the woman has in this type of relationship !

We need to recognize that divorces happen and not destroy the career of a pastor.

[Gregory Matthews]

A basic issue in this relates to how the congregation reacted to the divorce.    Pastors who are not accepted by a congregation are simply hard to employ.

I am divorced.  At the time of my divorce, I was a military chaplain, so no congregation was involved.  No other person was involved in the divorce.  So, the General Conference allowed me to continue as a military chaplain.

About five years later, I remarried.  Together we worked with my ex-wife to raise two children. That relationship has continued to this day. as my ex-wife lives with our oldest son.  We as adults have simply had to put behind us past hurts and relate to each other, more than 40 years after the divorce.

[Asia Joe]

Well, I think that is great.  

I have seen it where the pastor goes to the conference office and informs them, and is fired that day.

Possibly things have changed.

I hope so.

[Gregory Matthews]

My divorce became final in 1980.  That is not recent.