Why Pastors Leave the Ministry
by Fuller Institute, George Barna and Pastoral Care Inc.
* 90% of the pastors report working between 55 to 75 hours per week.
* 80% believe pastoral ministry has negatively affected their families. Many pastor's children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
* 33% state that being in the ministry is an outright hazard to their family.
* 75% report significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
* 90% feel they are inadequately trained to cope with the ministry demands.
* 50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.
* 70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they first started.
* 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
* 40% report serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.
* 33% confess having involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church .
* 50% have considered leaving the ministry in the last months.
* 50% of the ministers starting out will not last 5 years.
* 1 out of every 10 ministers will actually retire as a minister in some form.
* 94% of clergy families feel the pressures of the pastor's ministry.
* 66% of church members expect a minister and family to live at a higher moral standard than themselves.
* Moral values of a Christian is no different than those who consider themselves as non-Christians.
* The average American will tell 23 lies a day.
* The profession of "Pastor" is near the bottom of a survey of the most-respected professions, just above "car salesman".
* Over 4,000 churches closed in America last year.
* Over 1,700 pastors left the ministry every month last year.
* Over 1,300 pastors were terminated by the local church each month , many without cause.
* Over 3,500 people a day left the church last year.
* Many denominations report an "empty pulpit crisis". They cannot find ministers willing to fill positions.
#1 reason pastors leave the ministry - Church people are not willing to go the same direction and goal of the pastor. Pastor's believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.
Statistics provided by The Fuller Institute, George Barna, and Pastoral Care Inc.
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This is dire. I would say that the No.1 reason pastors leave the ministry is due to relational breakdown, and not having different goals and vision. But can we argue with statistics? I think so.
It's an impossible position because what we expect from pastors today has nothing to do with what God intended. It's a man made position.
I did the pastor thing for about 5 years. My people were wonderful. They did expect me to be more spiritual and together than they were, but they were very loving. I still know most of them today.
There is only one thing that ultimately keeps me in full-time pastoral ministry: the call of God. Christ says to me, "Come here, my beloved; I have something I want you to do. Shepherd these people like I would if I was there. In fact, walk closely with Me and I will shepherd them through you." What am I going to do? Tell the Almighty, "No,"?! Sure, I wonder what in the world he was thinking, but He who captured my heart with His love and can do me no wrong has called me to shepherd some of His people, so I do it as He gives me strength - hopefully with genuine love and humble service empowered by His Spirit. Love 'em; teach 'em; lead 'em. I too stubborn to quit, so I guess I'm a lifer.
Can you cite the source of these statistics? I know it says Barna-Fuller-Pastoral Care, but I can't find these stats on Barna's site, and when I google barna and fuller, I'm not seeing a published version from either group. Where did you get these, how old are they, and are they all one study or an amalgam of studies? I'd love to reference them, but not without proper sourcing. Thanks!
http://wiatoday.wordpress.com/
You can also see more stats at the tale end of this atricle.http://freebelievers.com/article/the-pastor-where-did-he-come-from
Like Leeann I thought that this survey could be many different vocations. I don't know many people who never struggle with their work. Life can be relentless. What I will say is that I don't know of many professions where the people seem to be so fixated on how hard they have it as pastoers seem to be. I grew up in the home of a pastor long ago in a land far away at least from here. My brother had a quite different experinece at that than I. This life is tough "dependence" is a great word. Surrender is another one.
I believe there’s a difference between a pastor and other vocations because being a pastor was never meant to be a vocation. It was meant to be a function that develops out of relationship. The difficulty and stress associated with the vocation is due to the fact that pastoring has over time morphed into something it was never meant to be. Those people I know who are functioning as pastors as God intended are not suffering the burnout that the professional group is experiencing.
I agree with your distinctions. The pressures of space prevented this thought, but It fits what you said and some of the others. The way we have been training pastors for generations seeks to creat the local super scholor, not that theology is unimportant. As a result they are sadly lacking in readiness for relational ministry. One of the other posts asserted this area of failure. That is not meant to point fingers at them personally, rather at the system. It exhibits a lack of understanding about ministry. Working with/in the lives of people is messy. Relationships are messy. There is certainly a tension created, because ignorance of scripture also creates a mess.
If we have been called to live under the law of love, John 13:34-35, then discipleship should be about loving people. I find interesting that stat about the pastor, the chief disciple maker, that 70% of them don't have any close friends. That by the way, is a stat that my experience finds easy to believe, pastors are lonely people. I know, I'm one. But if the pastor has trouble making friends, then this means that we don't have a good grasp of our most basic function, loving people and helping them love others. That may well help explain the dissatisfaction and overall hassle that most pastors find the ministry to be.
As I a pastor myself I am surpised none of you including Darrin talk about God's strength in a person's life. If a believer in North Korea can sustain persecution in jail than I as a pastor can sustain some of the pressures. Plus, I don't have to take responsibility for the pressures either. The institution of "church" cannot crush me as a pastor because my relationship is not with "it" but ultimately with God.
I'm going to be brief. The reasons are many but if the Pastor is online with God's purpose and will and the church does not submit to the God's and His service authority, the church will not have no direction. If a church wants to be under the grace and glory of God, we must become the same church as outlined in Acts chapters 2 and so forth. Either we want to become our church or become God's church. It will depend on us and we will be accountable unto God for this. Also the church must return to living on God's first love and live under the direction and submit to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We must cover and assist our pastors in prayer.
I mentor pastors. And I can tell you that the situation is dire. Some of why we're here has to do with our training of pastors. We're not keeping up with the culture. We can also see that the church, the world and leadership are moving in opposite directions. Our culture is changing rapidly and few pastors are trained and ready to deal with that...not to mention unable to bring disparate factions/generations together to be able to find the vision and passion to move ahead and change. I'm busy and I could be busier. Help is available. Just think, for every pastor who drops...multiply that by the defeat of their call, their marriage and their family. Multiply that again by the number of leaders they work with...and their families...not to mention the families of the church and the observing families in the community. The effects ripple out and deep...as noted above, for generations. THERE IS HELP.
David I would like it if you would contact me personally at darinhufford@cox.net. I did not write this article but I work with pastors as well and I'd like to become friends and hear some of what you have to say. I can tell you have the same heart as I do for pastors.
As a pastor in a denominational and then non-denominational setting for just over 30 years I realize that pastors give churches too much power over their lives. They walk into settings with people and denominational structures they really don't, or perhaps shouldn't trust, who have power over them. Many church organizations say that the man of God comes first, but they run things with the clear understanding that the church comes first, because that's where the money comes from. Pastors become expendable commodities, often times because they're afraid to challenge the system or get out of it. When they don't they develop a cognitive dissonance that contributes to burn out. When it comes to allowing humanity in pulpit and pew, we all too easily set a wrong standard - perfection. The greatest tragedy is not that people and their pastors fail, but that we seem to continually sin against the remedy. Also, when we seek new people in our outreach we are also rightly asking for problems
There is no such thing as a pastor as we know it. There was never suppose to be a man standing above everyone lecturing the sheep. This guy "in charge" replaces the Holy Spirit and should not be. No man is above any other, all believers should be racing for the bottom not the top.
Hi. I was a pastor for decades, and left to become a chaplain as my marriage fell apart. Painfully, after attending churches and becoming a helper again, I continue as a hospital chaplain and pastor (very) part time a group of people facing the closure of their church. 1. some of the comments are so judgmental towards pastors. Yes, we have hurt people. I have hurt people. Somtimes out of arrogance, sometimes out of my own inadequacies. But to pastor is a calling, and it is Scriptural. Sorry about that. 2. And yes, I also have had a lot of contempt for other pastors. From the language to the clothing to the books we read to the language. I have had to repent over that and become a booster of whomever pastors me (including a bitter, retired man who was conservative and new young pastor who is revisionist). 3. I still don't trust denominational officials, including my own bishop whom I love dearly. But, as we say in the South, bless his heart, he cain't hep it! Jon
i want to quit becouse i had a youth kida at camp said i was flirting with them but i was not. this hurt i feel like every time god does something i get push back. i just cant take it anymore. am done with it
Brandon I personally don't feel you should quit for that reason. Especially if the allegations have no truth to them. I know it hurts, but I don't think it's a reason to give up. Keep trying.
I think of it this way: No other position has to lead the people who pay them directly. And also work alongside (lay-type) leaders who are actually untrained, doing it only voluntarily as an aside to "real life." And moreover, there is not the sort of clear policies and procedures that guide other workplace settings. So to ensure everything is in fact done in order. No wonder pastors often feel as though they are aliens caught up in an alternate reality. Because....they are! Thus, I feel the largest issue is polity. Of course, I know I'm going against the grain when I say this. But, until structures are more rational, practically as well as theologically thought out, little is going to improve.
Hmmm ... still would like to see where these stats are gleaned from -- followed the above links and got nowhere, really, other than back to here -- too bad those sources will not post their tools so that the questions can be examined for their wording -- over 20,000 pastors leaving ministry in one year really is a cry for closer examination
THis article was pulled from a book called "Pagan Christianity." They list all sources there. You can to to George Barna's websie (The Barna Research Institute) to find these statistics. YES, you're right, it's a call for closer examination. I suspect that the numbers today are even higher.