Today’s pastors are discouraged, downtrodden, and depressed by the condition of their churches. A tidal wave of pastors thinking quitting is slamming into the American church.
And the wave is growing.
- In January 2021, 29% of pastors told Barna Research that they’d seriously considered leaving ministry.
- 10 months later, that was up to 38 percent.
- By March 2022, it was 42 percent.
- According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, by September of 2023 the 53% have seriously considered quitting the ministry
The pastors gave many reasons why they were thinking of leaving.
- Immense job stress
- Feeling lonely and isolated
- Political divisions in the church
- Pessimistic about the church’s future
- Church won’t follow the pastor’s direction
PASTORS ARE CALLED TO HARDSHIP
Yes, pastoral ministry is hard. It requires self-denial, sacrifice, endurance, hardship, ill treatment, and discouragement. But this is nothing new. In fact, it’s been this way since the beginning.
Think of what the apostle Paul endured in all the churches he served. Let’s think about just one church that gave him fits, the church in Corinth. If you skim his letters, you’ll see that Paul suffered the travail of:
- Bitter factions and divisions
- Constant criticism of his preaching
- Feelings of weakness, fear, and anxiety
- Church members who were willfully ignorant of scripture
- Harsh, judgmental people who disrespected him
- Rampant and unrepentant sexual immorality
- Constant bickering and fighting that resulted in people suing each other in court.
- Lack of decorum and proper behavior in the worship services
- Being in their presence was often very painful to him
Nothing new
Church history is the story of dysfunctional churches and beleaguered pastors just trying to get by. If read the Church Fathers, the Reformers, and the Anabaptists, you’ll see that it’s always been this way.
There’s nothing new here.
And there’s no reason to quit.
Paul’s Example
Instead of lamenting your plight, holding grudges, and speculating about when and how to quit, follow Paul’s example. Think about how he reacted to all this craziness in the Corinthian church.
- He continued to preach and teach and correct the church
- He leaned into the affliction because it was in the church’s best interest
- He consciously surrendered many of his rights as their spiritual leader
If Paul were here today, speaking to pastors who’ve been through the mill, feeling wrung out and discouraged to tears, what would he say? Look at what he wrote in the fifth chapter of his letter to the church in Rome!
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
I think Paul’s advice would, in part consist of kind words of comfort and bold words of exhortation.
- I feel your pain because I’ve been there. I’ve felt and seen everything you have, and probably a whole lot worse.
- Stop looking at the church as a hindrance to your ministry because fixing that broken church IS YOUR MINISTRY. Right out of Ephesians 4:11-12.
- Lean into the suck. That’s what Jesus has called you to.