HALF THE PASTORS IN AMERICA CHOOSE TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS.

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Features Reporter,  Thursday, January 11, 2024

A new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research finds that American pastors are increasingly dissatisfied with their jobs, and since 2020, more than half of them have considered leaving pastoral care for various reasons.

In "I'm Exhausted All the Time—Exploring the Factors Contributing to Growing Clergy Discontent," released Thursday as part of the Institute's larger project "Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations," researchers surveyed 1,700 national religious leaders in the fall of 2023. The researchers then compared the survey results with the responses of pastors and their congregations to previous EPIC surveys.

The research team led by Scott Thumma, professor of sociology of religion at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and director of the Hartford Institute for Religious Research, stated, "The farther we are from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the more we observe a larger percentage of pastors thinking about alternatives to their current congregations, vocations, or both."

Data show that in the fall of 2023, at least 53% of religious leaders are considering leaving pastoral care as early as 2020. This is much higher than the 37% of pastors who stated the same in 2021.

About 44% of pastors also said they had considered leaving their congregation at least once since 2020. This is more than double the 21% of pastors who said the same in 2021.

Although there are some similarities between these two ideas, different groups of leaders are not considering leaving their current positions or service professions altogether. The researchers explain that about a third of leaders report having both ideas, a third have considered one or the other (11% consider leaving only their congregation and 20% consider leaving only their profession), and the last third have never considered leaving either.

The report described the growing discontent among pastors as a "puzzling" fact, indicating that "pastors are in the midst of challenging times."

The leader is, on average, 59 years old and has been standing for an average of 7 years. 80% of them are white and male, about 75% of them work full-time, and 60% of them work alone rather than in a team of leaders.

In the past ten years, only a few pastors have taken a sabbatical, although most take a week off. About a third of pastors have additional jobs outside of their job, more among part-time pastors. More than a quarter of full-time pastors report having additional jobs.

The researchers looked at questions about general health and fitness among leaders in their attempt to explain rising discontent among clergy. It seems that "most pastors suddenly become unwell or suffer from a dramatic emotional or spiritual illness and then think about leaving."

The researchers found that the changing religious landscape in America, accelerated by the pandemic, has caused current pastors to have a hard time, which has led more of them to think about changing their church or leaving the profession altogether.

After the pandemic, our lay leadership is feeling tired. People's sense of connection and commitment is less than ever. It's hard to make a DIY church like we did before. People seem to be more demanding of service. Moreover, people's doubts are always high. A pastor involved in the study said, "I was spiritually tired of persuading people to return to faith—did I even help them?"

Over the decades, researchers have found an immediate decline in church attendance and membership numbers.

Thumma and his group state that "the current post-pandemic dynamics are being amplified as they act in harmony with the development of this long-established religion."

The younger generation no longer participates. The measures of vitality diminished, and more people concentrated in the larger churches. No post-pandemic recovery improves this state. They stated that less than half of congregations had recovered or exceeded their attendance numbers or financial health prior to the pandemic.

Many congregations have limited their desire to change or adapt to ever-changing realities after an unusual burst of organizational elasticity that was essential to surviving the pandemic. The report also states that the church as a whole is even less willing to change than it was before the pandemic.

The percentage of church volunteers is still lower on average than before the pandemic, the researchers said. The percentage of regular church volunteers fell from 40% to 15% at the beginning of the pandemic.

As core participants now choose to worship virtually and most congregations provide hybrid and virtual options, the share will increase to 35% by 2023.

What the researchers say is that the disruption of business as usual and the church's inability to adapt have led to a decline in morale, as 35% of churches now claim their future looks "uncertain.".

I plan to leave the trial in the coming months. The congregation is getting older, and the leadership is moving backwards. We got a few new people, but they were all over sixty, and the church has lost most of the people under sixty since the pandemic. One pastor told researchers that the collapse of an institution like the church was as important as my departure.

Data shows that pastors are more likely to leave their congregations in situations where there is conflict or an unfavorable relationship between them. Other factors that led to the thought of leaving the congregation, albeit to a lesser extent, included a decline in congregation morale, unwillingness to change to meet new challenges, and reduced attendance of 50 or more.

The researchers stated that these findings reflect a much more complex list of factors that prompted clergy to leave the ministry.

Unlike the interregnum, in which several key factors account for most of the dynamics, the increase in thinking about the departure of ministers has significantly to do with many of the qualities of the clergy and their context. The combination of the decline in attendance after the pandemic coupled with the long-term dynamics mentioned above, such as decline and aging, conflict, and lack of new people, has all demoralized many religious leaders in the country.

One pastor compared his struggle to Moses' experience on the Exodus Road, when the Israelites constantly complained about their manna meal and demanded meat, like when they were in Egypt.

The pastor said, "Many parents project their unprocessed grief onto me for all the changes they are going through. They constantly complain, no matter what I do." The number 11 has a lot to do with me.

A study shows that demographic factors such as age, gender, and race also influence how often pastors think about leaving their jobs.

An interesting age pattern emerges when the ages of pastors are sorted into generational groups. The researchers found that pastors from the Baby Boomer (born 1946–1964) and millennial (born 1981–1996) generations thought more often about quitting the ministry. This makes sense for the Baby Boomer generation nearing retirement and perhaps for millennials who may be reconsidering their vocational choices while they're still early in their careers.

Generation X pastors (born 1965–1980), however, consider leaving work less often because they don't have as much freedom to change their jobs, and the quiet generation pastors (born 1928–1945) almost certainly choose to continue serving. in the middle of their retirement," they added.

Black pastors are more likely to change congregations than pastors of other races. Female pastors are also more likely to think about leaving the ministry because they usually work in poorer congregations.

In addition, it was found that pastors who worked full-time and did not have a team were more likely to think about quitting the ministry altogether.

Being a member of a pastor's staff usually means working for a larger church. Indeed, there is a significant correlation between the size and level of ministerial dissatisfaction. The study found that the larger the church, the fewer people thought about leaving their pastoral ministry.

Therefore, a pastor may not consider leaving the ministry in a larger congregation, which allows for better pay, a strong network of relationships, shared duties, and additional staff support. Conversely, the number of worship participants, ranging between 51 and 250, was positively correlated with an increase in willingness to leave the service. Most likely, this position is a full-time job, but it requires little support and resources.

In addition, the researchers found that the denomination a pastor belongs to also influences the likelihood that they have thoughts of leaving their job.

Although most evangelical pastors also consider leaving the ministry, proportionally fewer of them do so compared to their mainstream Protestant counterparts. They state that Catholic and Orthodox pastors are least likely to accept such thoughts.

Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com; follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair; and on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost.

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