Leaving the Adventist Ministry: A Study of the Process of Exiting

(Hardback)

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Description

More than 180 pastors exited the Seventh-Day Adventist ministry in Australia and New Zealand between 1980 and 1988a loss that is equivalent to 40 percent of the total annual Adventist ministerial workforce in those two countries. This volume examines the processes whereby conservative and committed sectarian pastors began to entertain doubts concerning the sectarian cause, questioned their occupational calling, and turned their backs on the ministry. Using the data gathered from in-depth interviews with 43 expastors and from other sources, the author develops detailed case study profiles, which highlight the personal, organizational, and social factors involved in their decision, and the types of experiences they associate with leaving the ministry. The first study of clergy fallout from a sectarian community, this volume makes a significant contribution to our understanding of exiting.

Reviews

"This book is much more than a study of resignations from the Seventh-Day Adventist ministry in Australia and New Zealand....The combination of careful empirical research, sophisticated theory and clear writing make the book essential reading not only for specialists in the study of sectarian organizations but also for readers who are intrigued by the chequered history of Adventism."-Jim Beckford Department of Sociology University of Warwick
"This deeply moving study of disillusioned Seventh-day Adventist ministers (and their wives) who lost their careers, and often their spiritual and social moorings as well, represents the academic study of religion at its best. It creatively combines sociological theory and meticulous research with personal understanding and heartfelt empathy."-Ronald L. Numbers University of Wisconsin-Madison President American Society of Church History
[T]he book will be of great interest to both scholars of religion and those interested in applications of role exit theory.-Social Forces
Leaving the Adventist Ministry begins with one of the most concise historical overviews of Adventism we have seen to date.-Apologia Report
Leaving the Adventist Ministry sets forth some powerful arguments and provides some very helpful analysis. Ballis enables the reader to begin to see the complexity of emotions, ideas, and relationships that enter into exiting decisions. All in all, it is important reading for administrators, theological educators, concerned pastors, and sociologists investigating the process of exiting....The church both inside and outside of Adventism can profitably learn important lessons from Leaving the Adventist Ministry.-Seminary Studies
"The book will be of great interest to both scholars of religion and those interested in applications of role exit theory."-Social Forces
"[T]he book will be of great interest to both scholars of religion and those interested in applications of role exit theory."-Social Forces
"Leaving the Adventist Ministry begins with one of the most concise historical overviews of Adventism we have seen to date."-Apologia Report
"Leaving the Adventist Ministry sets forth some powerful arguments and provides some very helpful analysis. Ballis enables the reader to begin to see the complexity of emotions, ideas, and relationships that enter into exiting decisions. All in all, it is important reading for administrators, theological educators, concerned pastors, and sociologists investigating the process of exiting....The church both inside and outside of Adventism can profitably learn important lessons from Leaving the Adventist Ministry."-Seminary Studies

Author Bio

PETER H. BALLIS is Senior Lecturer and Head of Sociology and Social Research in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Monash University, Gippsland Campus./e He is the editor of In and Out of the World: Seventh-Day Adventists in New Zealand (1985) and the author of numerous journal articles and book chapters on Adventist history.