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I.
Various surveys have produced the image that clergy health and pastoral satisfaction are in a crisis state.
Many of the clergy crisis ministries either quote
from one of these studies of clergy
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The listed studies include: |
1991 Fuller Institute of Church Growth |
George Barna, What Americans Believe |
Blackmon & Hart, Clergy Assessment & Career Development
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Malony & Hunt, The Psychology of Clergy |
Leadership, Fall 1992 Marriage Problems Pastors Face
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Current Thoughts & Trends, May 1992 |
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Current Thoughts & Trends, December 1992 |
Duane Alleman, Theology News & Notes, Fuller Seminary
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Ministries Today, Nov / Dec 1992 |
Focus on the Family Survey |
Current Thoughts & Trends, July 1992 |
These statistics came from across denomination lines, and have been gleaned from various reliable sources such
as Pastor to Pastor, Focus on the Family, Ministries Today, Charisma Magazine, TNT Ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ and
the Global Pastors Network.
B. Duke
Divinity School's Pulpit & the Pew
1. Protestant
Pastoral Ministry at the Beginning of the New Millennium by Jackson W.
Carroll, Duke Divinity School
His article gives some reasons for
not accepting overly positive reports about clergy satisfaction.
This
part of the Pulpit and the Pew Pastoral
Leadership Project raises two theological
issues. We clergy are no longer great examples of health. Today’s clergy have more stress and less support than the
previous pastors who had more support and less resources. Thus, whole church must regain a theology of the stewardship
of one’s personal health.
The
whole church must experience a theological renewal concerning the incarnation of Christ which carries with it a much more
positive view of the body. Today’s unbiblical view of the body comes from mixing Neo-Plantonism with Christian doctrine
among some in the very early years of the Church. Neo-Plantonism teaches a false dichotomy of the body as bad and the spirit
as good. This led people back then and today to substitute brave faithfulness to the Gospel for living a life of dying to
the self and living for God and others to the degree of not caring for their own health.
4. Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership (2007)
•
77% say they do not have a good marriage. • 71% have felt burned out
or depressed. • 70% do not have someone they consider a close
friend. • 40% report a serious conflict with a parishioner
at least once a month. • 38% are divorced or seriously considering
divorce.
5.
According
to the Ministering to Ministers Foundation...
•
Over 1600 pastors in the U.S. are forced out of their positions each month. • Nearly 1 in 4 pastors experience
a forced termination at least once during their ministry. •Only 54% of pastors go back into full-time church related positions.
II. Important
Links to Other Research.
A. Forced Pastoral Exists: An Exploratory Study This is research report about exited pastors is based on information from Pastors in Residence Survey. The
Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view this document. B. Hundreds of Pastors Leave Their Ministry Each Month C. Ministerial Health and Wellness, 2002 Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is no longer available online.
D. Faith
and Health Connection Pastors page Clergy health
could be one of the most vital issues we have
in the world. The greater the level of individual clergy health, the more effective pastors
and clergy will be able to serve their congregations and communities with the message of
hope, grace and love.
III. Links to Other Important Articles.
IV. The Clergy Satisfaction Report.
V. A Reasonable Response to the Clergy Job Satasfaction
Study.
Happy, Healthy, Shiny, Satisfied Clergy? by John M. Crowe
VI. New Clergy Health Programs
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