This study inquires into the processes whereby conservative and committed sectarian pastors began to entertain doubts concerning the sectarian cause, questioned their occupational 'calling' and commitment to ministry. Using the data gathered from unstructured in-depth interviews with 43 expastors and from other sources, detailed case study profiles are developed which highlight at what points in their careers expastors had begun contemplating leaving ministry and the types of experiences they associate with exit.

More than 180 pastors exited the Seventh-day Adventist ministry in Australia and New Zealand between 1980 and 1988. The loss is equivalent to an astonishing 40 per cent of the total Adventist ministerial workforce in these two countries, a statistic without precedent in the Adventist church at any other time or in any other place.