1,500 Pastors leave the ministry EVERY MONTH
Ok, so here’s part 2 of my Pastor stats for this month. Following on from my previous post about Pastors and the pressure they face that leads so many of them to irreversible breakdowns in their marriages, today I want you to think about the fact that today, 50 pastors will quit the ministry for a variety of reasons. 350 Pastors every single week this year will turn away from ministry and go into some type of secular work as a way to improve their life quality. In case you’re wondering why, here’s some stats to help with that!
- 80% of Pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
- Pastors who work fewer than 50 hours a week are 35% more likely to be terminated than Pastors who work more than 50 hours per week (how many hours do you work in your job?).
- 50% feel unable to meet the needs of the job.
- 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
- 56% of Pastors’ wives say they that they have no close friends.
- 46% say that they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from ministry.
WOW… If you thought the previous stats were mind blowing then these probably just blew your socks off. EIGHTY PERCENT feel discouraged and unqualified (bearing in mind the majority of Pastors have graduated from some type of formal, theological training). 1/3 are more like to be fired simply because they work less than 50 hours a week. 70% have NO close friends! Come on people, are we praying hard enough for our Pastors yet? As if this isn’t bad enough check this one out:
- 80% of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter ministry will leave within the first five years.
Hopefully, I don’t have to say anything other than, read those stats again and ask yourself what are you doing in relation to them? Are you part of the problem or are you part of the solution? Are you helping to encourage your Pastor or are you happy in the knowledge that he probably feels inadequate, wants to quit and is fighting depression because no one else is supporting him either?
I know I know, I’m a Pastor so I have a vested interest in this but honestly, I don’t. This isn’t about me, it’s about the other 399,999 Pastors out there that don’t need another fake pat on the back, but need some real, genuine support and interest in their lives by the people they serve. I challenge you this weekend to do something you have NEVER done before to make sure your Pastor isn’t one of these stats.
Is it possible that much of this burnout results from our church leadership system shaped by centuries of religious tradition? Could it be that we have strayed from the biblical model of church oversight? Might God be leading his church back to a New Testament pattern?
How would you answer the following questions?
How many times does the word “pastor” (singular) occur in the New Testament?
What term does Paul use most often in his letters to describe church leaders? Is this term usually singular or plural?
If we take Matt. 23:8-10 according to the spirit of what Jesus was saying (not limiting it to the literal titles he used in that first-century Jewish context), how might it change our practices today?
What New Testament authority underlies our practice of calling some Christians “Reverend”? Or calling others “laypersons”?
Are all of us caught in an ecclesiastical system that isn’t working?
I think you are absolutely right. ONE of the reasons our Pastors are buckling under the pressures of leading is most definitely because so many Churches fail to see the NT principles of team leadership as modeled by the Apostles. We most certainly aren’t supposed to be seen as some type of hierarchical position, attained by only the elite. We are ALL supposed to be winning the lost, sharing the good news of Jesus and serving each other and I personally think part of the problem is that many ‘average’ churchgoers simply attend to receive, to get fed or in other words, because it’s all about them rather than all about Jesus. If it were about Jesus, they would be going to give and if we all did that, Church would look a little different each Sunday!
Come on readers, what do some of you think?
so does this mean pastors should quit now because we are in the wrong ecclesiastical system? what r we going to do for the rest of our lives? we have no other professional skills
Not at all! It means our folks need to support us more in prayer and action so that we can fulfill God’s call on our lives
Hey, this is so incredible and timely.
Thanks for it! Wrestling with Team Leadership principles and how they would make my life as a pastor easier and my work fun.
God bless!