If I went by the conversations I have heard at associational pastors conferences, state and national conventions and conferences, and now various online sites, I would have concluded that my ministerial colleagues are not only under intense pressure and stress but that the brethren are leaving the ministry in great numbers.
Not so according to a recent LifeWay study: Research finds few pastors give up on ministry
Though pastors are stressed about money
and overwhelming ministry demands,
only one percent abandon the pulpit each year,
LifeWay Research finds.
This is the first time the matter has been studied. Whatever anecdotes we like to relate, whatever we have heard in the past, whatever we think and feel about pastors quitting the data show that about one out of one hundred leave the ministry in a given year for reasons other than death or retirement.
Other interesting results include,
- 65% of senior pastors have been at their present church for longer than five years.
- 44% of senior pastor were at the same church ten years ago.
- Only 8% of pastors surveyed said they they left their previous church because they had been asked to leave.
- Only 21% of pastors said that their church had “unrealistic expectations” of them.
- 92% of pastors agreed that their church “regularly provides [them] and [their] family with genuine encouragement.”
- About half of pastors said that “they often feel that the demands of ministry are more than [they] can handle.”
Every pastor ought to have a venue for the typical gripe session about churches, lack of financial support, obstreperous deacons, pressures on wife and kids, loneliness, stress, pressure for growth in church membership and giving. But sometimes these gripe sessions achieve critical mass and become emotionally unhealthy. A little perspective is always good.
- Most pastors are in a stable situation. They have been at their present church for a good, long stretch.
- Most pastors don’t feel beleaguered to the point that they are serious thinking of quitting.
- Very few pastors are forced to resign.
- The overwhelming proportion of pastors feel encouraged by their church.
But some do feel heavily beleaguered, hopeless, hapless, ineffective, and pressured.
These deserve a hearing, a heavy dose of sympathy, some concrete help, and serious prayers.
These also deserve a candid assessment by a trusted colleague or counselor:
- “You sound pretty depressed. Have you considered seeing a physician or counselor?”
- “You are in a tough church situation. It may not improve. Have you assessed the possibility of relocating? How can I help you?”
- “While I sympathize with you, do you think you have unrealistic expectations of both your church and what constitutes success as a pastor?”
- “Have you considered that you might do X and Y differently and have more success and more satisfaction?”
I served only three congregations for roughly five, ten, and fifteen year tenures. There were pressures in each. There were problem people in each one. There were successes and failures in each one. I did some things right and some things wrong in each. I did appallingly stupid things in each, though less so as time passed. In the begining I had unrealistic expectations, a fantasy picture of the role of a pastor, and I had no clue about some things that were expected of me. But God was gracious and the congregation was loving and supportive sufficient that I thank God for each of them.
A few things that helped were:
- God was always sufficient. While I didn’t always see it, I never doubted it.
- There were always folks in each church who looked respectfully to their pastor and who supported him and tried to help him succeed. Most of the active congregation was like this.
- In every church there were people who were particularly helpful and whom God used, unknowingly to them, to provide encouragement of opportune occasions.
- There were people in each church who had an understanding of unique pressures on the pastor’s wife and who were stalwart encouragers of my wife, and family.
- There was always a wise, usually older, man who knew just how to have that delicate conversation with me about some problem or deficiency in my work. I learned that such occasions were golden and such people were invaluable.
- I figured out early on that I wasn’t on the megachurch track, so I might as well do the best I could where I was.
- I learned that I was totally incapable of pastoring three churches at once: the one I had, the one I left, and the one was was dreaming about. One church at a time was best suited to my gifts and calling.
But what about that one percent who does quit? Over the course of a decade, that means one of ten. Over the course of a 40 year working lifetime, that approaches half. We should do more, do better, to avoid any attrition.
My conjecture is that there is far more support available to the pastor who thinks he is in a black hole than the hard-pressed brother is aware of or thinks. Sometimes you have to ask.
Amen, William. Outstanding and encouraging article.
“If you want to make a lasting difference, you had better make the commitment to endure.” (Mohler, The Conviction To Lead, p. 193)
William, I also wonder what part of that 1 of 100 were in a church that was troubled. We have a church in my area that runs thru a pastor about every three years. Those churches, in my mind, are what contribute to the narrative of the beleaguered pastor under fire.
There are toxic churches and congregations that do great damage. But they are the exception not the rule.
The design of the survey did not include locating those pastors who had quit but did ask their successors why the previous pastor left. 26% were due to conflict.
Follow the link. There are some interesting results.
Ryan, 69% of senior pastors said that the search committee accurately described the church to them prior to their accepting the call. A prospective pastor has to have some savvy to avoid being misled. Many of the brethren, I think, are not savvy.
Like Ryan, I am glad the numbers are so low. However, there are toxic and troubled churches, and I have served several of them. One literally bragged that, “We either make ’em or break ’em,” and since 1960 (when they left a field of three churches with one pastor), half had left the ministry after that church. At another, much larger church, they–well, didn’t exactly brag–but they had no qualms about saying that all but two ministers had either been fired or otherwise forced to resign.. Those they counted as fired/forced to resign included one who had a heart attack in the pulpit and died three weeks later, and another who was committed to a mental institution from his office in the church building. The two who were not so forced out included a youth minister who left after 2 years, and myself, who left after 4–and it would have been just a question of time for either of us.
It stands to reason,… since the Holy Spirit is truly a dependable Help! Thanks for posting these findings William.
William Thornton,
Did the LifeWay survey you read include data as to why those pastors who left the ministry did so?
Yes, as judged by the current pastor of the church the pastor who quit left:
Change in calling, 37%
Conflict, 26%
Family issues, 17%
Moral issues, 13%
Poor fit, 13%
Burnout, 10%
Finances, 8%
Illness, 5%
Lack of prep for the job, 3%
Totals more than 100% because respondents could choose multiple answers.
There is a better methodology to assess this but it would have been much more expensive to implement.
One of my successors left the ministry. If I were asked why, all I had to go on is what folks in the church said, which is highly biased in the church’s favor. The man would likely give different reasons to some extent.
Speaking as a layman, I attend a small church with a pastor that preaches through entire books of the Bible verse by verse. This is the first church I have attended where the pastor does that. We are doing the Gospel of Luke on Sunday mornings and the Epistle of 1 Corinthians on Sunday evening. We are extremely blessed to have a pastor that preaches God’s word rather than his own opinions and every member of our church knows it. If I ever have to move or leave this church for any reason, I know what I will be looking for in a pastor and I won’t stop until I find such a church.
We live in a world today where people need to hear the word of God more than ever before. The days of pastors being stand up in the pulpit and simply tell stories are over. We need and demand more from our pastors. I’ve been blessed to hear great messages from biblical text that pastors would probably never pick for a topical sermon. Going through a book verse by verse is the only way to go for me. The pastor doesn’t “cherry pick” topics for sermons and the congregation gets the complete biblical message. It’s just something for you pastors to think about.
“The days of pastors being stand up in the pulpit and simply tell stories are over.”
Bill Payne,
There never was a time when what you have described above should have “began” much less a time when it should be “over.”
In addition, what you are describing as the method of proclamation your pastor uses is that of which multitudes of pastors are using today. It is known as expository preaching.
In recent years expository preaching has become more prominent as the method used by pastors.
It is my opinion that preaching professors in SBC seminaries are doing a better job of equipping pastors in how to preach the Bible than in the past.
So, if you move, you will be able to find such a pastor, preaching in such a fashion, more easily than in the past.
CB, that’s exactly right, brother. Preaching through books is very common. And expository preaching is certainly in vouge these days in Baptist circles. The turn back to expository preaching in the SBC is largely credited to Dr. WA Criswell who preached through the entire Bible in 17 years at First Dallas.
Yes, there are “toxic” churches. Years ago I attended a conference sponsored by the Alban Institute. The speaker discussed toxic churches. He stated that a church that terminates its pastor is seven times more likely to do so in the future. When I taught at Southern Seminary, one of my students asked me to preach at his rural church for four Sundays while he was away for training as a National Guard chaplain. On the fourth Sunday the church held a business meeting and narrowly voted to fire the pastor. The primary complaint was that the pastor was bringing in too many “new” people. When my student returned, he came to see me. He told me that he spoke with the DOM. The DOM said, “I wish you had come to me before you accepted that church. They fired the previous three pastors before you.” Naturally, my student was devastated emotionally, and he did not pastor a church for some years. Eventually, he did return to pastoring, and he has done well. It is a good thing to ask around before accepting a church.
Terry,
That story reminded me of a time when I was 21 years old and youth minister at a fast growing church just outside of Midland TX. At that point, about 100 or so high school age kids. As we were ramping up some nice biblical teaching that the kids were eating up, the deacons remarked that we needed to get back to playing more basketball. Their kids were starting to ask them some question that they didn’t feel they could answer well….. so, I confronted the Pastor about the situation and he said that the deacons signed his paycheck, and it would be good to play more basketball.
I guess I’ve always been a bit brash… so, I told the Pastor he was in the wrong business. As you can imagine…he didn’t like that style of rebuke (I’ve learned to be a bit more gentle over the years 🙂 ) Definitely moved on from there a soon as I could.
It became clear to me though, that the Pastor that was cowering to the deacons was a very depressed guy. I learned a lot during that short 6 month stint that has helped me through the next 33 years in ministry.
meant “Mr. Terry” Terry sounds a little military when alone 🙂
I would add this, though. I think a lot of us can look back thru the years, all the way back to our seminary days, and think about all the Pastors we have known. And, we could all name quite a few, who are not Pastors, anymore.
Yep, and to think about that always makes me sad, because some of those very guys could preach the paint off the walls. — Thinking of one of them right now.
I’m not arguing with the esteemed Plodder, or with Ed Stetzer who has published several articles on this topic, and maybe my experience is colored by my location and other factors, but I think there is a balance here.
Has the difficulty of pastoring, pastoral depression, unhappy pastors, pastors leaving the ministry and such things been overstated? I guess so. Those who do the research say so definitively.
But my experience, which is no doubt subjective, anecdotal, and not scientifically verifiable, says that there are a lot of suffering pastors out there. There are a lot of unhappy guys in the ministry – guys who love the Lord and value their work but are having a hard time day by day because of unfulfilled expectations, personal struggles, marriage and family issues, combative and difficult members, and all sorts of other issues.
It is not helpful to make is sound like every pastor is unhappy, but those who tell pastors that they should all be happy or get out of the ministry (as a couple have done in these discussions) or who make them feel like not being blissfully happy all the time is a character flaw or disqualifying sin are causing great pain.
And there is a danger here that in our desire to balance those who make it sound like all pastors are unhappy we would make those pastors who struggle with depression, who feel sadness and struggle in loneliness even LESS likely to admit their pain and seek help.
I don’t know the statistics, but I will say this – there are a LOT of pastors out there who are struggling. Their ministries are not going that well even though they are trying to be faithful. They have financial struggles, family issues, or other things going on. It is hard every day and they feel the constant pressure to be “on” and to be a giver. Many feel they have no one they can go to or that they can never admit their weakness.
Two years ago today I found out about a good friend of mine who was one of the nicest and seemingly happiest pastors I knew. He wasn’t. His ministry ended along with his life by his own hand, leaving his wife, his family, and his church devastated. I decided that day that I wanted to be on the side of those pastors who lived in pain, even if it was hidden.
And the pressure some put on us to be “happy, happy, happy” all the time does not help much those who are not.
That’s a great reminder Dave. I went to Seminary with that man and consider him a friend. I still remember hearing the news and being in shock that he (of many I knew) would be so discouraged as to take his own life. As another friend of mine posted on Facebook recently, “Pastoring is not for sissies. That’s all I’ve got to say, except praise God for His grace!”
Dave could write my stuff, since we often think alike. On balance, I think the pastoring-is-a-lonely-slog attitude prevails publicly and I hate to see it. But it’s understandable, after all, no one gets much interest if they say that they feel good, happy, satisfied, and affirmed in their ministry. But the one percent who quit annually is over 400 SBC pastors. Numbers who are having a significantly tough time would be many times that.
My thinking, unsupported by data, is the when laypeople hear pastors complain about how uniquely difficult and stressful the pastorate is, many of them conclude that the brethren need more real world experience.
That said, I never approach this subject without some word on depression and did so above.
William….that is an interesting thought. Can you expand on this statement a bit more….
“My thinking, unsupported by data, is the when laypeople hear pastors complain about how uniquely difficult and stressful the pastorate is, many of them conclude that the brethren need more real world experience.”
Are you saying that the “real world experience” is a good thing they are concluding or a bad thing?
I’m speculating that a lot of laypeople see pastors as whiners about job stress, as if other occupations don’t have such; see pastors hating the idea that a group of men (deacons usually) as if no one else is in such a precarious position.
Got it, thx…. I think you are correct. There is a gap in understanding on both sides of that equation. Which is probably a good reason for Pastors to discuss that with the entire church on occasion.
I knew the same pastor that Dave writes about. He was a model of the kind of man I wanted to be… until he ended his own life.
I’m quite sure the Plodder has posted this article as a kind of counterpoint to my last one. The reality is that like the 99% who haven’t quit, neither have I. Neither have many who struggle in ministry or who feel alone. The raw data of how many quit does not factor in the number who struggle but stay in the ministry.
I wrote my post, not because I am in despair, but I thought that I could put voice to some thoughts I have from time to time and and help others see that they are not alone and maybe get some words of encouragement from other pastors.
Instead, I get a series of rebukes including
* pastoral ministry is no different than any other job
* ministry is supposed to be hard, suck it up
* if you only had the right ecclesiology
* you’re committing the sin of idolatry
* your negative thoughts and feelings disqualify you for ministry
Long on diagnosis, short on prescription
Long on assumptions (Prov 18:13), short on encouragement
Long on rebuke, short on actual help
And it all demonstrates why so many pastors who suffer, do so in secret… the only model of counsel many know is to be Job’s comforter
Not exactly counterpoint, Todd, just an opportune time to discuss LifeWay’s recent research.
I haven’t rebuked anyone. There’s plenty of space for both of us here.
My list was from a number of commenters, so I didn’t mean to imply you were the source. I went back and reviewed 3 or 4 similar posts by others and the same lists of rebukes appear in the comments.
As for the study that is the theme of this post, one of the statements in the Lifeway study is “I often feel the demands of ministry are greater than I can handle.” — 48% agree — that was kind of the basis of my last post
The “toxic church” scenario has been bandied about as long as I’ve been in the ministry. My question is, why do prospective pastors not know enough to be forewarned? No one has told them of such churches? They aren’t savvy enough to ask around or at least query the committee about the tenure of predecessors? They feel bullet proof? They are so desperate they will take anything?
I know in my own experience I knew of a toxic church, but that I would be the difference. Those other guys made mistakes, but I won’t make those same ones. I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and people like me! What could go wrong? Turns out everything could, and everything did. We are constantly told of the value of leadership, and rightly so. But many times leadership makes no difference. It might be that people take on troubled churches out of arrogance, desperation, or any number of reasons. This is really the only time in my Baptist life when I wished for denominational oversight. Somebody to look at those churches and say “you all are not getting another pastor until you get your act together.”
Many professions are welcome to complain about how hard their job is. Teachers can complain to anyone about their work, and it is hard! But pastors tend to only feel they can voice complaints or difficulties to other pastors, and many just don’t have the safe space to do so.
Brother Luke… businesses act that way as well. Pastors have a choice….they can either alienate themselves, or jump in. Sometimes the water is deep, and the experience is horrible, terrifying, and near death.
I appreciate this response and wish more of the brethren could read it. This is the “pastor fighter pilot who has the right stuff and therefore if everyone else crashes and burns I will not.”. I recognize it because I was such.
When the ‘right stuff’ brother meets the toxic church, he is likely to crash and burn, partly because these churches have a lot of experience handling top gun pastors.
Let the empty nest retired guy with independent income take a shot at the toxic church. The worst they can do is fire him and he is immune to that. Even a toxic church has good people who long for the pastor who can eliminate the toxins.
“Even a toxic church has good people who long for the pastor who can eliminate the toxins.”
William, that is so true! And it does take time to leach the toxins, properly rebuking in love, gentleness, yet resolute….and takes many many years. Once advancing in that healthier direction, it takes maintaining vigilance. So, the work remains work.
Having like minded men assisting in that effort, that are qualified to lead, helps to accelerate the maturity, and stabilize the growing church new members join, and wolves in sheep clothing hang around the sheep.
Many Baptist churches mistake Deacons with Elders, and dispense a world of hurt on the Pastor and/or Pastors.