The Truth About Pastors
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I’m not sure where that came from, but it sounds an awful lot like something a christian bookstore would come up with, in order to sell a few extra cards. Nonetheless, I’m glad it exists. Not merely because I’m a pastor, and I, like everyone else I know, like to be appreciated. But it also serves as a good time to examine the well-being of the church. One of the best ways to test whether or not the church is healthy, is to see if the pastor is healthy. If the pastor is spiritually, physically, or emotionally burned-out, then chances are the church is not enjoying much success. Here are some sobering statistics that should make us all ask some hard question about where the church is headed.
Pastors:
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Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.
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Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close.
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Fifty percent of pastors' marriages will end in divorce.
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Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
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Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
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Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Ninety percent of pastors said their seminary or Bible school training did only a fair to poor job preparing them for ministry.
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Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people.
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Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
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Ninety percent said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be before they entered the ministry.
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Seventy percent felt God called them to pastoral ministry before their ministry began, but after three years of ministry, only fifty percent still felt called.
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Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
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Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and unappreciated by the church members.
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Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
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Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things and be something in the church that they are really not.
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The majority of pastor's wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
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Seventy percent of pastors constantly fight depression.
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Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
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Eighty percent of adult children of pastors surveyed have had to seek professional help for depression.
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Seventy percent of pastors do not have a close friend, confidant, or mentor.
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Ninety-five percent of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses.
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Eighty percent of pastors surveyed spend less than fifteen minutes a day in prayer.
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Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.
Do yourself a favor, and commit to being an encourager in the life of your pastor, and more importantly, your pastor’s spouse. You will be making a difference, not only in the life of your pastor, but in the life of your church. I don’t say this selfishly. I say this as a matter of church health and survival.
It is somewhat ironic (or providential) that Beth and I are leaving tomorrow for a three-day retreat with about 20 other pastoring families from around the state. It is part of the SHAPE initiative that I am part of. Al Ells is going to be leading a seminar called “Leaders That Last.” It certainly sounds as if it will be a very enriching time for all of us.
