Pastors quitting early -- a growing trend?

In the interests of full disclosure, the writer of this column is a former pastor who retired from pastoral ministry a decade ago.

Ergo, I'm troubled but not at all surprised by new statistics released by California-based Barna Group, a Christian polling organization.

The data show more and more men and women are planning to leave the pastorate.

Findings

Barna said stress, isolation and political division are the primary causes for pastoral departures.

• Barna reports, in a March survey, 42% of pastors said they are actively considering quitting the ministry.
• in January 2021, 29% said the same -- resulting in a 13% increase in a little over a year's time.

Anecdotally

Here in my own community, I called a local church not long ago to speak with the pastor, just to say hello.

"Oh, he's not here anymore. He's a schoolteacher now and doing very well."

My late mother, who once was employed in a church office, did not regard clergy highly.

Any lament her son might share about the ministerial vocation fell, therefore, on deaf ears.

"How could you be overworked or stressed out? You only work one hour a week!" she'd say, only partially joking.

Reflection

It is accurate to suggest the pastorate is rarely physically demanding and only sometimes mentally rigorous.

The "stress" of which Barna recounts has to do with expectations from the parish.

For myself, in 25 years of gainful church employment, there was rarely a time in which the job felt "done."

There was forever one more person to visit or to call.

Some churches, particularly large ones, farm their visitation of parishioners out to trained lay people.

My history of church suggested strongly if the pastor didn't personally make a call, he or she wasn't doing the job.

As a consequence, a pastor, who is effectively the CEO of a small business with responsibilities beyond visitation, can often walk around feeling guilty.

It's been nearly a quarter-century since this columnist served a church in south St. Louis.

One church member there had missed a couple of Sundays, which was unlike her, so I drove to her home to make a call.

After opening the door, but before inviting me in, the parishioner compared me to my immediate pastoral predecessor.

"Dr. Bob would have been here three times by now," she said.

"Well, I'm glad he was able to do that for you," came the reply.

Those sorts of exchanges take some wind out of your sails and begin incrementally to eat away at your passion for full-time service to the local church.

Retention

There is nothing quite like support.

If you attend church, and you like the pastor, let him or her know it occasionally.

In several traditions, there is something called "Pastor Appreciation Sunday," to which some people in the pew respond with money or perhaps a gift card.

While those things are thoughtful and appreciated, what a pastor really yearns for are laypersons to come alongside and say, "I want to help. Put me to work."

Pastors, at least in my experience, can feel isolated -- knowing a lot of people but having few friends.

An authentic offer to be of service or to be a sounding board means the world.

Just my two cents from someone who used to be in that particular line of work.