The Sweet Dropper

As another application from yesterday’s sermon on Mark 6:6b-30, let me share some data passed along to me last year that tells us about some of the pressures of ministry. The statistics come from research gathered from such organizations as Barna and Focus on the Family.

Pastors

• Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
• Fifty percent of pastors’ marriages will end in divorce.
• 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 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
• Seventy percent of pastors say they ‘constantly fight depression.’
• Almost forty percent polled said they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning their ministry.
• Seventy percent said the only time they spend studying the Word is when they are preparing their sermons.

Pastors’ Wives

• Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses feel their spouse is overworked.
• Eighty percent of pastors’ spouses wish their spouse would choose another profession.
• The majority of pastors’ wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

I won’t go to the stake over the accuracy of these figures, but if they’re even close to accurate, this is pretty alarming stuff! Most every minister I know can understand those pressures. Ministers need meaningful relationships with other men and need genuine accountability regarding their life and doctrine. These statistics give you an idea about how to pray for pastors, but they make me thank God for a supportive congregation that encourages me in many ways, and is so kind to me and my family, and is a delight to serve.