Is it a good idea? Or does it just leave all too much room for trouble? Should we still be in touch with those who we have been intimately 
involved with in the past? Should we keep connected with those who have been there with us in the most important moments of our lives? Even if the breakup was amenable to both parties?
It is always hard to deal with an ex when they still live in your town. It is so hard to figure out how that relationship should look. But now with Facebook, not to mention a myriad of other ways to easily communicate with people out of your area, these old relationships can always be maintained at some level. But should they be? Especially if you are involved in a new relationship?
Seriously, should you be in touch with former pastors? What? What did you think I was talking about? I thought you would know on a theological blog that I was talking about pastors. Either that or I enjoy messing with people.
Seriously, the relationship a person has with a their former pastor is one that should be thought about. Not for the sake of the the former pastor or the member, but for the sake of the current pastor. And not even truly for them, but for the office they fill, the work they have been called to do.
It is nearly always hard for a new pastor who comes to town to find an ex pastor lingering around in town. There is always that possibility that the people will still go to their old pastor for counsel and for absolution. There is the real likelihood that every funeral will come with the request to have the ex pastor preform the funeral. And any of those things can make it very hard for the new pastor to truly do the work he has been called there to do.
But in our modern day, keeping ties with former pastors is much easier even when they are not around. And quite frankly, going to them on facebook chat or something like that can be much easier than sitting face to face with the man God has called to watch over your soul. But it should not be that way.
I have no problem with people staying in contact with former pastors. Many of my members stay in contact with former pastors, and they do so in appropriate ways.  I have been happy to receive them back to preach at weddings and the like. It is fine to be in contact with exes so long as one remembers that the exes are no longer their pastor. Go to your pastor for counsel, care, and absolution. Listen to the words he brings from the pulpit and receive the sacraments from his hand. Give them the honor of being involved with your wedding and one day your funeral.
So should you your friend that ex (pastor)? Sure. As long as they remain an ex and you entrust the care of your soul to the one God has sent to you for that very purpose.
This is a very interesting article. In my 82 years on this earth I have personally had 8 Pastors in the two Congregations that I was a member of. My home church where I was baptized, confirmed and a member till I married 59 years ago. The Pastor of my wife’s church was a neigbor, he lived across the street, a friend, our child grew up with his. A confessor, and a TRUE COUNSELOR, in the difficult times in our life he was there for us, including the time when our only son was dying of Cancer. Today, although he has received his eternal reward, his wife is still a member of our family. Of the others who have not gone on to glory, two left the Ministry. One was forced out because of his conservative nature, but we are still close friends. We also have 8 Pastors in our close family, relatives and friends, our nephew is LCMS, we have 2 ELCA and 5 Wisconsin Synod, including the former District President, it will be a difficult choice to choose, who will conduct my funeral.