{"id":14781,"date":"2024-03-19T18:27:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T12:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/19\/fewer-pastors-now-want-to-quit-barna\/"},"modified":"2024-03-19T18:27:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T12:57:23","slug":"fewer-pastors-now-want-to-quit-barna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccfornews.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/19\/fewer-pastors-now-want-to-quit-barna\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer pastors now want to quit: Barna"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By Leonardo Blair<\/a>, Senior Reporter \"Facebook\"<\/a>\"Twitter\"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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Getty Images <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fewer pastors are now reporting dissatisfaction with their job or doubt in their calling, but that rebound isn\u2019t as noticeable among younger or female pastors, according to a new report from Barna.<\/p>\n

Recently published data<\/a> from the Evangelical Christian polling firm\u2019s latest report, The State of Pastors, Volume 2 <\/a>\u2014 created in partnership with World Vision, Brotherhood Mutual, RightNow Media and World Impact \u2014 show the rebounding confidence and security pastors now have in their jobs compared to the burnout they said they were experiencing as they emerged from the ravages of the COVID-19 lockdowns in recent years.<\/p>\n

While many pastors previously considered leaving their jobs, data collected by Barna from 523 online interviews with Protestant senior pastors in the U.S. from Aug. 28- Sept. 18, 2023, showed they are feeling much better.<\/p>\n

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In 2022, just 35% of pastors said they were \u201cmore confident\u201d in their calling than they had been when they started in ministry, previous Barna data show.<\/a> In 2023, the share of pastors who say they are now \u201cmore confident\u201d in their calling than when they started ministry increased to 51%. Another 39% said they are \u201cjust as confident.\u201d The share of pastors who said they were \u201cless confident\u201d in their calling fell from 14% in 2022 to 9% in 2023.<\/p>\n

More than half of male pastors, 51%, and female pastors, 53%, as well as pastors over 45, 52%, reported being confident in their role. Some 50% of pastors younger than 45 felt the same. The share of pastors who said they’re \u201cvery satisfied\u201d also jumped 7 percentage points between 2022 and 2023 from 52% to 59%.<\/p>\n

There was also a similar uptick in satisfaction among pastors with their current church. Some 47% of pastors reported they were \u201cvery satisfied\u201d with the ministry in 2023 compared with 38% who said the same in 2022.<\/p>\n

Only a minority of younger pastors, 38%, and female pastors, 32%, felt this way, while 50% of older pastors and 49% of male pastors reported being \u201cvery satisfied\u201d with their current ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAge and gender discrepancies have long lingered within job satisfaction among pastors, and it seems the recent rebound has done little to narrow these gaps,\u201d researchers noted.<\/p>\n

Barna previously noted that<\/a>\u00a0as American pastors continue to skew older, with an average age of 52, a majority said it had become increasingly difficult to find younger replacements willing to do their jobs as they prepare to retire.<\/p>\n

Researchers in that report found that some 75% of the pastors in the study at least somewhat agree with the statement: “It is becoming harder to find mature young Christians who want to be pastors.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

About a third of respondents “strongly agreed” that it’s becoming harder to find young Christians to be pastors, up from 24% in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An\u00a0October 2021 Barna survey<\/a>\u00a0also showed that nearly four out of 10 pastors (38%) said they were “seriously considering” leaving full-time ministry, which was a significant increase from the\u00a029% of pastors<\/a>\u00a0who reported feeling this way several months earlier in January 2021.<\/p>\n

As the world was still reeling from the pandemic in 2022, some Christian denominations, such as the progressive, LGBT-affirming Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that they were already in the throes of a succession crisis with a national shortage of “at least 600” pastors.<\/p>\n

The recent data on pastors thinking of leaving full-time ministry has also changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese positive jumps in pastoral confidence and satisfaction go hand in hand with the shift in the number of pastors who have contemplated leaving full-time ministry in the past year,\u201d researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of March 2022, this number sat at 42%. In late 2023, the numbers of pastors who had considered this dropped to 33%. Today\u2019s pastors are finding their footing after a prolonged period of destabilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com<\/a> Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair<\/a> Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n