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| PentecostalTheology.com
- 90% of the pastors report working between 55 to75 hours per week.
- 80% believe pastoral ministry has negativelyaffected their families. Many pastor’s children do not attend church now because of what the church has done to their parents.
- 95% of pastors do not regularly pray with their spouses.
- 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.
- 80% of pastors and 84% of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged as role of pastors.
- 90% of pastors said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be like before they entered the ministry.
- 50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job.
- 70% of pastors constantly fight depression.
- 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% of pastors feel so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
- 70% of pastors feel grossly underpaid.
- 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.
- 80% of spouses feel the pastor is overworked.
- 80% spouses feel left out and underappreciated by church members.
- 80% of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose a different profession.
- 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”.
- 4,000 new churches begin each year and 7,000 churches close.
- 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. Pastors believe God wants them to go in one direction but the people are not willing to follow or change.
Scotty Ray Searan
I know about this very much.
I don’t think there is a minister who has not suffered depression.
This is one of the reasons that it is better for a minister to remain single.
Some may disagree with me on this statement. When you are married. Your family’s needs come ahead of ministry. Apostle Paul teachings lean that way.
Ministers are to shepherd the flock. Ministers complaining that the members will not follow could be the that a lot of ministers have an ero or pride problem.
Instead of building a bigger church and going in debt. How about staying as you are and start another church for someone else to minister to with the overflow.
God didn’t call us to be mega church dignitaries. He called us to be ministers and ministering is more than just preaching a sermon on Sunday and Wednesday. That is what’s the problem with a larger church mentality.
I believe a pastor should know each person by and socialize with each one.
That is what hurts a lot of ministers, because they are not ministering they are just a figurehead.