As I write this article it feels a little like David Letterman’s Top 10 Lists. I’m writing to pastors, missionaries who are doing pastoral work, traveling preachers who work with pastors, and/or people who have pastors. So, what are the key issues pastors deal with most?
Research reveals the top 8 issues for pastors include:
1. Criticism of Conduct
Most pastors have to juggle the understanding of doctrine with a constantly changing culture. More pastors are had for Sunday lunch than chicken every week. Again, most pastors I minister to talk more about what’s going wrong than what’s going right. It is because what’s going wrong looks so much larger than what’s going right.
- 50% of pastors would leave the ministry today if they had somewhere else to go.
- 50% of pastors won’t last 5 years in ministry.
- 80% feel discouraged in the role of pastor.
- 40% of pastors report a serious conflict with a parishioner once a week.
- 90% feel inadequately trained for what they do.
2. Family Problems
Expectations of a pastor’s conduct and that of their spouses and children are huge and often hard to live up to. Many pastors (90%) work 70 hour weeks and have difficulty finding time for families. The Glass House Syndrome is very difficult for many to overcome.
- 80% of pastors feel the ministry affects families.
- 95% of pastors don’t pray consistently with spouses.
- 80% of spouses long for another profession.
- 80% of spouses feel overlooked and underappreciated.
- 33% of pastors feel pastoring is an outright hazard to their families.
3. Stress
Emotional highs and lows of pastoring weekly add to the stress loads of pastors. Unreal expectations add to feelings of inadequacy. Critics always sound louder than shouts of appreciation.
- 90% work 55 to 70 hour work weeks.
- 75% deal with stress- related crisis regularly.
4. Depression
Many pastors suffer from seeing the gap between what is real and the ideal. Rather than celebrating progress, they lament the lack of fulfilling goals.
- 70% feel they constantly fight depression.
- 70% feel lower self-esteem presently more than when they started ministry.
5. Burnout
If 90% of pastors work 70 hour work weeks and struggle to find meaningful family-time it stands to reason burn-out takes place.
- 50% feel inadequate to meet the needs of pastoring.
6. Sexual Problems
The stresses of work, lowered self-esteem and family struggles often leave pastors susceptible to sexual temptations.
- 33% confess to inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church.
- 54% of pastors have seen porn in the last year.
7. Financial Problems
Research reveals that 70% of pastors are underpaid. Most churches have more vision than dollars to fulfill them and it leads to frustration.
8. Time-management
Pastors are going in so many directions they often have difficulty juggling their schedules. They marry the living, bury the dead, counsel the afflicted, try to lead leaders, speak with excellence, and motivate to accomplishment. It is hard to balance all of it.
The listing of these issues was not meant to make you feel better because you are not alone or to leave an impression of futility. In the weeks ahead we will deal with each of these issues to help point you to higher productivity and fulfillment. Subscribe to our website to receive the upcoming blog posts in your email. (link)
This is my prayer for you:
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
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