Alistair Begg Announces 2025 Retirement From Parkside Church Pulpit
The pastor, author and radio host will continue work with Truth For Life ministry
Months after drawing rebukes from Christian leaders for advising a woman to attend her grandson’s transgender wedding, Truth for Life radio Bible teacher Alistair Begg announced his retirement as senior pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.
Alistair Begg / Video screenshot
Begg, 72, broke the news to his congregation Sunday, Sept. 8, giving a projected end date of Sept. 14, 2025.
The Scottish-born evangelical, well known for his radio broadcasts syndicated on over 1,800 networks across North America, explained the early announcement is intended “to make it clear [it] is not precipitous.” He also said the advance notice will help his “ambition to pass the baton safely into the hands of my successor” and will give the church “time to adjust to the prospect of and to prepare in a timely way for what this transition will mean.”
Begg also explained the significance of the chosen date.
“That particular day will be 50 years since I began with Derek Prime at Charlotte Chapel. It will be 49 years since I was ordained to the gospel ministry,” he said, “and it will be 42 years from the time that [my wife] Sue and I had the privilege of beginning ministry here at what was then the chapel in Beechwood.”
Begg said the thought of no longer preaching from the Parkland pulpit seems “strange,” but insisted his work in Christian ministry is not ending.
“I will have opportunities as time and interest and health [enable] me to be involved in various places and things, certainly to be more committed and more involved at Truth For Life when I don’t have the responsibilities and privileges here,” Begg said.
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A statement on Parkside Church’s website confirmed that after he retires from the pastorate, Begg “will continue his pastoral and ministry work at Truth For Life,” which he co-founded and has served as the voice of since it aired its first broadcast on Feb. 27, 1995.
Begg has authored multiple devotionals and other books, including the recently published “Christian Manifesto: Jesus’ Life-Changing Words from the Sermon on the Plain.” He is known for his memorable presentation of the gospel, in which he imagined the thief on the cross walking to the gates of heaven. More recently, however, his name has come to be associated with an in-house debate among evangelical Christians on how to relate to those who identify as LGBTQ.
Begg has doubled down on his controversial wedding advice. However, the conservative Calvinistic pastor opposes same-sex weddings and continues to affirm a biblical view of marriage and sexuality.
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