The 24-7 realities of a pastor’s life also took their toll on the 38-year-old Onwuchekwa, who began working as a minister in his early 20s. He loved preaching and teaching, saying that “I could do that all day, every day, for free.”
But what he called the “latent responsibility” of a pastor came with a heavy load.
“One phone call can change everything,” he said.
A turning point for Onwuchekwa came this summer, after doing the funeral for a church member who took their own life. That event rocked Onwuchekwa. He ended up taking some time away and began considering leaving the church.
The 2020 pandemic and the realities of the decline of local congregations — the average church in the United States now has only about 65 people, down from 137 two decades ago — have caused a number of pastors to rethink their calling.
One challenge in leaving the pastorate, said Onwuchekwa, was finding a blueprint for handling such a transition — both for himself and for the church. The church is doing well and at least from the outside, Onwuchekwa’s ministry is thriving. He’s a popular speaker and coach and has a new book out this year called “We Go On.”
“If I had been pastoring for 40 years and left,” he said, “we would have had a blueprint for what to do. If I had a moral failing, our church would have had a blueprint on what to do. If I was burned out, our church would have a blueprint.”
Leaving when things are going well was new territory, especially since Onwuchekwa isn’t going to pastor a different church or start another new job.
Instead, he’ll focus on speaking and coaching and helping lead the Crete Collective to plant new churches. He’ll also work with Portrait Coffee, a coffee roasting company he and some colleagues started in Atlanta’s West End.
Portrait was recently named the best coffee roaster in Georgia by Food and Wine magazine.
For years, Onwuchekwa said, he preached sermons telling people to build their identity on their relationship with God — not on what they do. Now he finds himself trying to live out that advice — with the help of his family and a therapist.
