Crisis In The Clergy: As Many Pastors Consider Leaving The Ministry

A Crisis in the Clergy (image courtesy of Pixaby / talipozer)

As Many Pastors Consider Leaving the Ministry, We Must Ask Now What?

There is a crisis in the clergy. America is experiencing a significant increase in the number of pastors who have considered or are now contemplating a career change. Two research organization estimate that more than half of American pastors are thinking about quitting – and that’s a serious problem.

So, why are more pastors wanting to leave now? What problems are they facing? And what can be done?

What’s Happening & Why

The Barna Group, a Christian research organization, said in 2022 that “the number of pastors who have given serious consideration to quitting full-time ministry has risen dramatically over the past year.”

And Hartford Institute for Religion Research said in an article it posted Jan. 11, 2024, that more than 50% of American pastors have considered leaving their ministries since 2020.

“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,” Hartford Institute reported in another post.

These clergy members haven’t considered leaving their professional because of sudden health problems, including “dramatic emotional or spiritual disease,” the Hartford Institute said. So, why the sudden desire to leave?

A Crisis in the Clergy: Spiritual Exhaustion

The institute’s researchers found that America’s changing landscape combined with the pandemic and lockdowns has caused an increasing number of pastors to consider changing churches.

Additionally, churches have experienced a depletion of lay leadership — which supports pastors — since the pandemic. According to Harford, “People’s sense of connection and commitment is less than before; people seem to be more demanding of services.

“Plus – people’s doubt is at an all-time high. ‘I’m spiritually exhausted from talking people back into faith – am I even doing them a favor?’ one pastor in the study said.”

Pastors Speak Out

In one of its surveys, the Barna Group, an evangelical research organization, asked pastors, “Are any of the following reasons why you have considered quitting full-time ministry? Select all that apply.” The major reasons pastors gave were these:

Immense stress of the job: 56%
Feelings of loneliness and isolation: 43%
Current political divisions: 38%
Unhappiness about how their work affects their families: 29%
Pessimism about their church’s future: 29%
Conflicts with their church about church’s direction: 29%
Steady decline of their church: 24%
Dissatisfaction with their job: 22%
Lack of respect from their congregants: 21%

Pastors also mentioned feeling unable to cope with the demands of the ministry, lacking support from their staff, being called to another profession, experiencing a personal crisis of faith, and feeling disrespected by people outside the church.

Barna also noted that 42 percent of pastors surveyed thought about quitting in 2022. “This is consistent with data from fall 2021 when Barna first reported on a sharp increase in pastoral burnout, and it confirms the growing number of pastors who are considering resignation – up 13 percentage points from 29 percent in January 2021.”

Pastors who aren’t presently thinking about quitting are affected by the same problems. But among this group, Barna found the following reasons for pastors staying put:

83% of pastors who haven’t considered quitting believe their ministry has value.
75% say they have a duty to fulfill their calling.
73% say they are satisfied with their job.
67% feel their family supports them.
59% believe they also have community support.
52% are confident as a leader.
29% have been more energized by their work.
27% say their church is growing.
27% aren’t sure what they would do outside their ministry.
23% have gotten new vision for their work.

One Pastor’s Thoughts

Pastor Benjamin Vrbicek, an author and teaching pastor in Pennsylvania, addressed the crisis in the clergy in a “Christianity Today” post. He said, “Pastors today face a multitude of burdens and demands, including the expectations to perform and succeed at a megachurch level, even at smaller churches like mine.

“Like many shepherds, I often feel a sense of pressure to lead our church to greener pastures, to move onward and upward. But other times I realize that simply staying put in the pulpit is itself a victory.”

Vrbicek said each member of his original staff has left for various reasons in the past decade, while he has stayed. “More than a few times, I’ve longed to tag along, because often ‘the ministry of staying put’ feels more like ‘the ministry of being left.’”

He added that he almost did leave following racial tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, despite not knowing where he would go. But he stayed and discovered the benefits of staying.

Rewards of Staying Put

According to Vrbicek, “True pastoring – the biblical relationship between shepherds and sheep – often takes several years of trust-building. It takes time for a congregation to trust a pastor with weighty personal matters like officiating weddings, counseling in crises, or presiding over funerals.”

He believes staying put helps pastors better understand complex situations such as family dynamics in their congregations. By staying put, they gain a better understanding of their congregants, and they also “get the joy of seeing ministry seeds become saplings, if not the early makings of sequoias.”

3 Critical Questions for Pastors

Carey Nieuwhof, an author, pastor and blogger, encourages pastors to ask three critical questions before they leave the ministry:

Will leaving solve their problems?
How will they feel if they leave?
What are they going to change about themselves?

He believes that pastors who consider leaving the ministry may not only take their problems with them, but also encounter new challenges and problems wherever they go.

Societal problems compound the problem. “We’ve gone from crisis to crisis to crisis,” Nieuwhof says. “And in that environment, changing churches or shifting careers means you simply inherit a new set of crises. When the world’s on fire, jumping from one blaze to another provides no guarantee you won’t be burned.”

Escaping or Moving to Something?

Nieuwhof also believes pastors should ask themselves whether they are moving to something or merely escaping. “Escaping can feel like a tremendous relief, but when the pain subsides and you start moving on, it’s not that hard to imagine a deep sadness and regret seeping in if you left a calling too soon.”

He also encourages pastors to consider a sabbatical when the pressure becomes unbearable. Use the time to heal, go to therapy, and create a more sustainable pace, he says. “Time off won’t heal you if the problem is how you spend your time on.”

The author/pastor believes, “The biggest challenge most leaders face in leadership isn’t external circumstances. The biggest challenge most leaders face is self-leadership.” So, pastors need to focus on how they are going to change themselves.

“When you look at the top reasons pastors want to quit, two-thirds are within the leader’s control,” he says.

Quitting or Finishing?

Nieuwhof advises pastors to “never quit on a bad day.” Rather, they should think about finishing their work, all the while remembering there is a difference between quitting and finishing. “Quitting is easy. Finishing is hard,” he notes.

“Quitting usually involves surrendering to the pain or letting the circumstances control your exit. By contrast, finishing usually involves pushing through the pain to a moment or season where the circumstances move both you and the mission forward as best you can.

“Leaders who quit usually surrender to impulse or unresolved pain. Leaders who finish well don’t…. The point is to leave when you’ve made a well-considered, prayerful, wise decision. Then you’ll finish. And finishing is a far better alternative.” (Read Nieuwhof’s article here.)

Also Check Out…

For a different take on this whole subject, read “Pastors Are Quiet Quitting the Church” — which explains how some pastors, including author Gregory Smith, “left” a church without actually leaving it. It’s on Patheos here.

Another thoughtful read is “What Is Behind the Great Pastor Resignation” by Frederick Schmidt on Patheos here.