Pastoral Ministry

“Ministry is a calling that brings immense joy and fulfillment, but at times it can feel burdensome and unrewarding. If you’re finding that ministry is no fun anymore, you’re not alone. Many have walked this path and found ways to rekindle their passion and purpose for ministry.” - Brian Cederquist

“Only around 1% of U.S. Protestant pastors leave the ministry each year, according to the most recent Lifeway Research study. Among pastors from four denominations who step down, 2 in 5 (40%) say it was related to a change in their calling.” - Lifeway

“According to Barna research, 65% of U.S. pastors now report feelings of loneliness and isolation, up dramatically from 42% in 2015. Among them, 18% experience this loneliness frequently frequently.” - C.Leaders

“The National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) report revealed 35 percent of all clergy in the U.S. serve bivocationally….Among evangelical Protestants, bivocational ministry is even more common. The study found almost half (47 percent)” - Baptist Press

“like anything else, ministry-related reading can become a bubble, within which expanded thinking is impossible….More than a decade ago, then still in full-time pastoral ministry, I shifted my reading to include more ‘regular’ history, biographies of not-necessarily-Christian people, fiction, science, and more.” - Baptist Press

“According to research from Barna in 2024, U.S. pastors have varying levels of comfort with using AI based on the task: graphic design (88 percent), marketing (78 percent), communication (58 percent), sermon research (43 percent), creating study materials (39 percent), and sermon writing (12 percent), among other tasks.” - TGC

“I asked several friends of The Gospel Coalition who currently serve, or have served, as lead pastors, What’s the best piece of advice or word of exhortation you’d give to a new elder?” - TGC

“The overlapping ‘head-honcho’ cultures of the Mexican caudillo pastor and the ‘my-way-or-the-highway’ authority granted pastors in many American churches can compound the already real challenge of inevitable transition to a new leader—making the principle of pastoral responsibility for that transition all the more critical.” - BJU Seminary

“Forty-seven percent of Evangelical pastors work bivocationally, compared to 35% of clergy overall, said Lifeway, which compiled data from the National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) …. The national average increased from 28% in a similar survey conducted in 2001.” - CPost

“Though record levels of pastors, including more than half in mainline Protestant churches, seriously considered leaving full-time ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic, only about 1% of them have been leaving ministry work annually in the last decade, a new Lifeway Research study finds.” - CPost