Who would be a Pastor?

Leading a church and falling apart

I am taking a brief interlude in my series of posts about Strategic Mission to post a series of rather disturbing statistics about church pastors that I have just come across.

You can find the full article here but check these numbers out….

These statistics make me very glad I am doing the kind of work I am!!:

1. 25% have been forced out of or fired from their ministry.
2. 90% feel inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.
3. 80% believe that pastoral ministry affects their families negatively.
4. 45% say they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence.
5. 40% have serious conflict with a church member 1x/month.
6. 70% do not have someone they consider a close friend.
7. 66% and their families feel pressure to model the ideal family to their congregations and communities.
8. 20% admit to having an affair while in the ministry.
9. 37% admit that Internet pornography is a current struggle.
10. 72% stated they only studied the Bible when preparing a sermon
11. 26% stated they felt they were adequately fed spiritually.
12. 14% of pastors spend an hour or less in personal devotions each week.[2]
13. 77% said they felt that did not have a good marriage. [3]