More Than Half of American Pastors Have Considered Quitting

I think this is Protestants and not Catholics. Over half of Protestant clergy have been considering quitting. Seems that the people post-COVID aren't as religious and not volunteering or doing church things, and the pastors are exhausted and not very psyched' on doing their jobs. Religious beliefs are in decline in the USA. But I think the country would notice if more than half the Protestant ministers gave up and quit.


More Than Half of American Pastors Have Considered Quitting

As American pastors have grown increasingly discontent with their profession, more than half have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry since 2020 for various reasons, a new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research suggests.

"The further we are from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the more we observe larger percentages of clergy pondering alternatives to their present congregation, vocation, or both," 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 Religion Research, stated in the report.

The data suggests that as of fall 2023, 53% of religious leaders have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry at least once since 2020. This share is significantly higher than the 37% of pastors who reported in 2021 that they had similar thoughts since 2020.

The average clergyperson was described as a 59-year-old leader who had served in their position for a median of 7 years and was 80% more likely to be white and male. Some 75% were employed full-time, and 60% of them served solo rather than as part of a team of leaders.

It's simply because most "Christians" are hypocrites.

It's the truth.

And most people are "religious" NOT "faithful".

The Church IS dying in America, but it falls squarely on the inability of its member to follow their own rules and be moral while proclaiming the rest of us must.

a reply to: FlyersFan

originally posted by: FlyersFan
I think this is Protestants and not Catholics. Over half of Protestant clergy have been considering quitting. Seems that the people post-COVID aren't as religious and not volunteering or doing church things, and the pastors are exhausted and not very psyched' on doing their jobs. Religious beliefs are in decline in the USA. But I think the country would notice if more than half the Protestant ministers gave up and quit.


More Than Half of American Pastors Have Considered Quitting

As American pastors have grown increasingly discontent with their profession, more than half have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry since 2020 for various reasons, a new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research suggests.

"The further we are from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the more we observe larger percentages of clergy pondering alternatives to their present congregation, vocation, or both," 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 Religion Research, stated in the report.

The data suggests that as of fall 2023, 53% of religious leaders have seriously considered leaving pastoral ministry at least once since 2020. This share is significantly higher than the 37% of pastors who reported in 2021 that they had similar thoughts since 2020.

The average clergyperson was described as a 59-year-old leader who had served in their position for a median of 7 years and was 80% more likely to be white and male. Some 75% were employed full-time, and 60% of them served solo rather than as part of a team of leaders.

It's time for "religion" to die off. It's the fastest road to hell.
It's time for people to find their spirit and there spiritual connections to God.


"I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Said the Son of God.

SPAM removed

originally posted by: Caxerom
A very interesting breaking news.... netnewsx.ufodns.com...

Take your spam and fry it in a pan.

I have a friend that’s a former Pentecostal preacher (now atheist) who volunteers on a site to help pastors leave.

You’d be surprised.

It’s not so easy. Everything they have or are connected with is with the church.

They basically walk away with nothing.

originally posted by: Annee
It’s not so easy. Everything they have or are connected with is with the church.

True. I've known priests and nuns who have left the priesthood and convents. It's a complete change of life and its starting over.

originally posted by: Disgusted123
It's simply because most "Christians" are hypocrites.

It's the truth.

That includes those in ministry, especially the pastors
Think many should quit because they havnt a clue what they believe or teach
If they have problems it’s because they probably don’t teach Christianity

SPAM removed

originally posted by: Disgusted123
It's simply because most "Christians" are hypocrites.

It's the truth.

And most people are "religious" NOT "faithful".

The Church IS dying in America, but it falls squarely on the inability of its member to follow their own rules and be moral while proclaiming the rest of us must.

I notice you had to put the word "Christians" in quotation marks. Because they're not true Christians. I know it. You know it. But yet you try to paint true Christians with the same brush. Your words are exactly like Satan uses. That makes me wonder.... Only Satan keeps trying to deny real Christians. And that is the truth.

Don't bother trying to defend yourself. Because you've apparently never met a real Christian, therefore all you have is an uninformed opinion.

SPAM removed

Must be extremely frustrating to those who are dedicated, but I think the fact of the matter is there is just less demand for their services these days, a trend that will likely continue in the future.

The number of pastors will gradually have to decrease since you can’t have too many shepherds for an ever dwindling flock.

a reply to: FlyersFan

We stopped going to church when our church went, "woke".

Many people did.

It's more like a Starbucks with a cross than a church now.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I didn't realize you could "quit" being a pastor. Seems like the kind of work you take home every day. Not so much a job as a lifestyle. Don't need a church and office and desk and certificate on the wall, just need the book and a nice view far away from distractions. I bet there's a parable about that.

There's those who go to church, and there's those who have the church in them everywhere all the time (no homo) so I suspect this is just the charlatans giving themselves away, taking the easy way out.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I have a few thoughts on this issue as someone who has been actively involved in some form of ministry within the protestant realm for most of the last 40 years (I am nearing 60 now).

FIRST PROBLEM

First, I firmly believe that the whole concept of what it means to be a "pastor" or a "minister" is, for the most part, wrong in the western church. The protestant church functions in large part on the model established by the Roman system of a priest class that is separate and above the "laity." This, I believe, is not only unbiblical but antithetical to the call, mission and structure of the true church.

In Ephesians 4, Paul listed what is commonly referred to "the five-fold ministry." These ministerial responsibilities are listed as:

>apostles
>prophets
>evangelists
>pastors
>teachers

The first problem that we encounter in the western church (at least in the western church, and largely seeded in other cultures by western missionaries) is that those five labels have been made out to be honorific titles. They are not meant to be! They are job descriptions, much as one would say that in building a house there are people who lay the foundation; there are framers; there are electricians and plumbers; there are sheetrock swingers; there are roofers; there are glaziers and finishing carpenters. Each does his job so that the house may be finished. No one is more significant than the other in that without any one the house remains incomplete.

Many who seek to be pastors do so thinking that they should and will have a place of special position, of honor and privilege. The congregation takes this attitude as well. The result is that the work of shepherding the flock is often left to the "qualified" or "privileged" few.

The words prophet, apostle, evangelist, even teacher, are often printed on business cards or uttered with awe as though they conveyed some special characteristic about the person referred to.

This has two devastating effects:

First, it leads to burn-out. The congregation (even church elders) are often unwilling or feel unable or unworthy or unqualified to fulfill part of the shepherding role. This puts the entire job (or most of it) on the shoulders of one man or a small staff.

If often makes the heads of ministers swell so that they think more of themselves than they ought, in contrast to Romans 12:

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Second, the pastors often do not want and do not allow members of the congregation to take part in the pastoral process or exercise any ministerial gifts that they may have. In my denomination, there exists what I refer to only half jokingly as a "ministerial syndicate." "Qualified" pastors have invested inordinate amounts of time and money into acquiring degrees that supposedly qualify them for their position. I have observed that they often feel that if a "layman" is allowed to carry out any of the "official" duties of the pastoral office, it runs the risk of lessening their importance and thereby their economic value. The end result of this is that too often men are not even fully discipled and raised up for ministry work as Paul admonished Timothy to do in the second epistle, 2:2 --

and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

Anyone who shows potential for faithfully caring for the flock is, then, shoved off to seminary to get a paid-for degree. The result of this is that they almost never stay in the church where they were spiritually birthed and nurtured, but go off in search of some paid position somewhere else. This leaves the pastor who sent them off with his job secure.

Fulfilling any of those "five-fold" roles is not an matter of holding an honorific title earned by years of study. It is a matter of fulfilling a life calling in seeing to the well-being and growth of the church and the care of the flock.

Now, I am not poo-pooing the value of education nor saying that seminary training is altogether bad, but it is more often than not used as a replacement for true personal discipleship of the Timothy 2:2 kind, and allows church leadership to keep a stranglehold on the work of the ministry. Young men who have a genuine call to the ministry are shuffled off to be "trained" by some professor instead of nurtured in the faith by their shepherds. Intellectually gifted charismatic men get through their seminary training lacking a true call, while other with a true calling are passed over due to poor academic performance.

SECOND PROBLEM

This second issue stems from the first. While I agree that "the worker is worthy of his wages," and that a man who devotes his full time to the care of the flock should be compensated, ministry is not something that one can do for a paycheck. I heard a wise piece of advice given to a young man many years ago. He asked if he should go into the ministry and an older, wiser man told him, "Only if you can't do anything else."

Now, the meaning of this bit of advice was not that if he was incapable of doing anything else (as though ministry were a cop-out easy job), but he meant that one should only commit to a life of Gospel ministry if one's sense of calling is so firm that he is simply cannot bring himself to do any other job. This brings the work of the ministry from the realm of "a job" to the realm of "a passion" and a life calling.

I can only wonder how many of those who are considering quitting have failed in those two areas. Many men refuse to share the responsibility of pastoral work (including preaching, teaching, and even allowing or encouraging the congregation to develop strong relationships with those men who would come alongside and help carry the load). I personally worked for several years with a shepherd who intentionally and actively prohibited others from developing healthy, live-giving relationships with members of the flock so the he could maintain full control over the work.

How many of them see the ministry as primarily a job that delivers a paycheck. There was a joke that I remember from my childhood where a young boy told his mother that he wanted to be a priest. The mother was quite proud of her son's sense of spiritual commitment and asked him why. He said, "Well, you only work one day a week, and there's nothing good on TV on Sunday morning, anyway."

Over my 40 years in ministry I have personally know pastors who saw their role as mainly just a job that should render decent pay.

(continued next post ...)

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a reply to: AwakeNotWoke

(... continued)

THIRD PROBLEM

In response to this comment:

originally posted by: Disgusted123
It's simply because most "Christians" are hypocrites.

It's the truth.

And most people are "religious" NOT "faithful".

The Church IS dying in America, but it falls squarely on the inability of its member to follow their own rules and be moral while proclaiming the rest of us must.

I'd say the following:

First, nobody who names the name of Christ should ever claim to be perfect. I John 1:8-10 informs us that:

8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Now, this is not a license to sin as the preceding three verses tell us that:

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

This is not a contradiction, but an acknowledgement of our current state, that we struggle against the flesh while reaching for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It is a reminder of the grace granted to a fallen race. So no Christian is ever perfect in this life, but we struggle from glory to glory, ever desiring the image of Christ to be formed in us, working out (NOT WORKING FOR) our salvation with fear and trembling (Philipians 2:12).

However, there is the reality that we refer to in the context of reformed theology as the visible church vs. the invisible church.

There are many people who claim membership in the church for social, economic, or even moral reason but in reality have never exercised true saving faith in Christ. These are part of the "visible church." It is the church that the world sees in its entirety.

There is a subset of this "visible church" that we refer to as the "invisible church." These are those who are members of the Body of Christ in earnest, have put their faith entirely in Christ for forgiveness of sin and eternal redemption, and possess a true hope of eternal life.

The church will be "thinned out." In I Peter 4 we are told:

17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

I do not believe that the Christian church or the Faith is dying. It is being purified. In the end, it will be stronger, better.

There is an analogy that I often use. Anyone who successfully cultivates tomatoes (or any other plants, for that matter), knows that there are branches that are called "suckers." These branchs consume nutrients from the plant but do not produce fruit. Proper cultivation requires pruning (removing) those "sucker" branches so that the branches that produce fruit can be stronger and produce more fruit.

In the fifteenth chapter of John, Jesus is recorded as saying:

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Jesus told the parable of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). In the parable, the goats are those who claimed to be of the flock, but did not follow the True Shepherd. The sheep are those who are brought into eternal life because they were faithful. The ones will be separated from the others. I see churches, however, where so much energy is spent entertaining and maintaining the goats that the sheep are left hungry and neglected. This will end.

This is not a "dying" of the church that we are witnessing; it is a great pruning, and separating even now of the goats from the sheep. Then those who are faithful to the true faith will be pruned to produce more fruit, tried like gold in the fire as per I Peter 1:

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

James 1 further admonishes the true believer:

2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Once the church has been refined as by fire, purged of her dross, then judgment will begin on those who reject the goodness and grace of God. This does not mean that God is some meany who's going to thump the bad people on their heads, but that He is simply going to let those who reject what he offers have exactly what they want, what they have fought for and demanded but what He, in his grace, has heretofore withheld.

As you see the church seeming to "shrink" or "die," let it cast fear in your heart, for as the church is judged (refined) finally, the final judgment will begin with the those who obey not the Gospel of God.

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