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STATISTICS ABOUT PASTORS
Pastors today are faced with more work, more problems, and more
stress than any other time in the history of the church. This is taking a
frightening toll on the ministry, shown by the (North American) statistics
below:
Pastors:
·
Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to
moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches.
·
Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their
spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors.
·
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.
·
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.
Pastors' Wives:
·
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses feel their spouse is
overworked.
·
Eighty percent of pastor' wives feel left out and
unappreciated by the church members.
·
Eighty percent of pastors' spouses wish their spouse would
choose another profession.
·
Eighty percent of pastors' wives feel pressured to do things
and be something in the church that they are really not.
Pastors' Relationship
With the Lord:
·
Seventy percent of pastors do not have a close friend,
confidant, or mentor.
·
Ninety-five percent of pastors do not regularly pray with
their spouses.
·
Eighty percent of pastors surveyed spend less than fifteen
minutes a day in prayer.
·
Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the
Word is when they are preparing their sermons.
God's intent isn't that
the ministry destroys you, but builds your inner, spiritual man. That way,
you can go on to do greater and greater works for Him. Yet, what we are
seeing today is droves of pastors leaving the ministry defeated,
depressed, and dejected. Why is this happening, and what can we do about
it?
First of all, let's deal
with the question of why. I think that if we look at what the pastors
said, we'd have to conclude that the problem is the church people,
especially the leadership. Unfortunately, that's a hard one to change.
However, if we look at
the last section of statistics, the ones that deal with the pastor's
relationship with the Lord, we see some interesting clues to the true root
of the problem.
More than anything, God
has called pastors to have an intimate relationship with Him. That must
come before the ministry, that must come before the congregation, and that
must even come before the family. As you can plainly see from the
statistics above, we literally cannot survive in the ministry without
taking the time to be with the Lord.
If we, as ministers,
don't have an intimate relationship with the Lord, how can we expect to
have anything to minister to others? Our congregations don't need
yesterday's warmed over breadcrumbs. They need the fresh meat and manna
for today. But, you know what? We need that too.
What Can You [pastors]
Do?
How can you avoid
becoming just another one of these statistics? I believe there are certain
steps, that we as ministers, can and must do to help ourselves not only
survive in the ministry, but excel in it.
·
Find other pastors who you can enter into covenant with.
·
Get into relationship with a mentor.
·
Fall in love with studying the Word of God.
·
Last, and most important, spend time in the presence of
the Lord. I have noticed very clearly in my own life that the more time I
spend in the presence of the Lord, the easier it is to deal with the
difficult people in my life. When we pray and worship, we receive from
God. We are strengthened, we are lifted up, we are emotionally healed, and
the burden is taken off of our shoulders. More than anyone, pastors and
ministers need prayer time; they need worship time; they need time alone
with the Lord. Not time when they are praying for their congregations, but
time when they are just being alone with Jesus. Time to pray for
themselves, their families, and to receive strength from the Holy Spirit.
Remember the wisdom of
the apostles in Acts chapter six. They found that they weren't able to
spend the time they needed in prayer and Bible study, because of the
demands of the ministry. So, they asked the people to select deacons from
amongst themselves in order to take some of the burden of the ministry off
of the apostles.
Why did they do this? So
they could spend their time in prayer and study of the Word. If your
leadership isn't taking that load, then they aren't leadership. You need
to train them in their duties, and allow them the blessing of truly
serving the people of God.
Be encouraged, brother.
You don't have to become a negative statistic. God wants you where you
are, not so that your church can be a millstone around your neck, but so
that you can be a blessing to them. There is victory for you at the foot
of the cross. Take your burden there, and allow the Lord to lift you up.
These statistics came
from across denomination lines, and have been gleaned from various
reliable sources such as Pastor to Pastor, Focus on the Family, Ministries
Today, Charisma Magazine, TNT Ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ and
the Global Pastors Network.
Life-Line For Pastors is
a publication of Maranatha Life
P.O. Box 1206, Donna, TX 78537
http://www.MaranathaLife.com
Copyright © 2002 by
Richard A. Murphy, Maranatha Life
All rights reserved.
Any Christian church
or ministry may make copies of Life-Line for free distribution.
Our
address and copyright information must be included on these copies.”
- End of publication –
Bethesda Interviews with one clergy
group.
In this environment, ten
pastors came together and were invited to interview each other with the
following 4 questions. Each question had an 'owner' and teams of
pastors were interviewed by the 'owner'. The results were then
shared by presentation and discussions ensued. Here is the captured
results in point form.
What are current clergy care
needs?
-
A place to get away, quiet time, place of silence, alone time
-
A place to voice our concerns as leaders
-
Counseling, spiritual direction, spiritual challenges
-
Trust and private arena for discussion
-
Peer support, time with others, fellowship and fun, sense of
connectedness with other clergy & diocese
-
Time for renewal & refreshment
-
To be ministered to and not to minister
-
We need to get over our schizophrenia over “Poor dear works too
hard and WHAT, you’re taking a day off?”
-
Clearer definition of the “role”, support, empower, matching clergy
with appropriate parish
-
Where are we going?
Direction clearly defined?
-
Skill gap closure- time management, help in knowing how to deal
with difficult behaviour
-
Ongoing supervisor holding clergy accountable, ongoing analysis
& performance evaluation
-
Growth personally & vocationally
-
What does it mean to be a clergy in our day & age?
-
Well balance lifestyle
o
Affirming relationships, study time, play time, prayer
time
-
Alleviate financial pressure & burden of parish financial
problems.
What should a clergy care centre
offer?
-
Workshops on self-care, discerning skills gaps & fill those
gaps, training, balance of life info
-
‘Sabbath’ experience – quiet, silence, time away, rest
-
Opportunities for self-care groups to be created
-
Food – good, simple
-
Outdoor experience – recreation
-
Spiritual Direction, counseling
-
Opportunity for fellowship
-
Healing environment, re-creation
-
Confidentiality
-
Comfortable facilities
-
Affordable
-
Worship space
-
Library
-
Offer interesting, exciting programs to encourage attendance
-
Space, not programs
What would entice you to take time off per month
for a ‘sabbath’ day?
-
Seeing that there is a payoff/benefit
-
Didn’t have to plan or organize anything – just attend, if someone
arranged it all for me.
-
Having a place I know close by
-
If a day away, truly a day away, knowing the work was done at the
parish
-
Feeling the parish supported the ‘Sabbath’, to encourage
relationship with God
-
Ultimately God entices
-
I am pretty pleased currently with how I go about taking my Sabbath
time.
-
Supported by the Bishop (by the leadership of the Diocese)
-
God
-
Knowing that I could set my own agenda
-
Flexibility
-
Retreat house staff being discreet (respecting boundaries).
-
Book it in
-
Do it
-
If it provided growth and challenge in the Spiritual Life.
What
challenges do you see facing your church in achieving the mission God has
set for you and your congregation?
-
Healing and reconciliation
-
Discerning mission itself
-
Getting volunteers
-
Process of changing church size
-
Integration of the diversity of communities
-
Not knowing what the mission is / not wanting to know
-
Complacency
-
Narrow vision / self-serving
-
Small sizes of congregations not wanting to work together (i.e.
multi-point)
-
Time – peoples’ busyness, clearly defined mission, multiple vision,
difficult personalities
-
Money – ability to fund the vision
-
Preaching and teaching
-
Resources – especially time commitment of congregation.
-
Vision clear but no time, no energy
-
Vision unclear – complacency
-
Multi-vision
In
all three, financial restraints to fund the vision is a
challenge.
Bethesda Interviews with multiple
Pastors. |
