Here’s my November column for the @HollandSentinel…
Some church members were shocked recently to learn that 29 percent of Christian pastors in the U.S., according to a Barna Group study, had given “real, serious consideration to quitting…full-time ministry within the last year.”
I wasn’t shocked by this number, but then I’ve been a pastor for more than 40 years and have a pretty good idea what my colleagues are thinking about ministry these days. Being the pastor of a church was never an easy job—despite the remarkably durable joke about how pastors work only one day a week—but the work of a pastor can be nearly unendurable today.
Pastors aren’t alone in thinking about calling it quits. Lots of people are quitting their jobs, leading to what has been called the “Great Resignation,” one of the startling outcomes of the pandemic. Despite millions of job openings, many people are choosing to drop out of the work force altogether.
“They’d rather get checks from the government” is how some people, including members of my own family, are explaining the situation, but as unemployment assistance runs out (federal programs providing unemployment assistance ended in early September) and jobs remain unfilled, my guess is that something other than laziness explains the current job market.
Something about the last two years—the disruption of our lives, the working from home, the loss of social connections, the political situation in the country—has led many of us to re-evaluate our lives and our work lives in particular. And that includes pastors. Some of us thought about it and decided we didn’t want to do it anymore—or at least not in the same way or with the same group of people.
Until recently, the most difficult issues pastors faced had to do with worship wars (pitting more traditional styles of worship against newer, more contemporary styles), the role of women in the church, and same-sex relationships. Those issues frequently produce enough conflict in the church to create unhappiness for pastors and perhaps even thoughts about quitting, but in the last couple of years political polarization, racial justice protests, and the pandemic (with fights over vaccinations and mask wearing) have added considerably to the problem.
Older pastors, I’ve heard, are having difficulty adjusting to new technological demands brought on by the need for streaming or online worship. Younger pastors, who didn’t have a great deal of experience to draw from, suddenly found themselves in situations of congregational conflict, financial worry, and declining participation (most visible because of empty pews).
As more than one pastor has said to me, “I didn’t sign up for this.” I know I didn’t. Anecdotal evidence suggests that no matter what policy a church adopts regarding masks, for example, some people will leave to find a church more in alignment with their views. Perhaps a “Great Realignment” (in church membership) will take its place alongside the “Great Resignation,” as an enduring result of the pandemic.
Other studies, such as one conducted by Lifeway Research, suggest that the problem is not really so bad. Apparently, one percent of pastors decide to call it quits every year, and these studies suggest that, even with a spike this year in pastoral resignations, this low percentage is not likely to change much.
Still, the anecdotal evidence seems overwhelming. Pastors, as a group, aren’t happy. If they were on the edge of burnout before the pandemic, they have certainly been pushed over the edge by now. And the issue apparently cuts across evangelical and mainline, denominational and non-denominational, divides.
The question is, What to do?
I’m not sure. Some of the old prescriptions—"pray for our shepherds, encourage them, and keep them accountable to the scriptures”—seem weak and not appropriate for the current situation. Praying for those in leadership is never a bad idea, but it seems to miss what’s happening around us.
Pastors, more than most people, think in terms of call. They do what they do because they feel called to do it. My theological training tells me that’s true for other people too—that we all have what’s called a “vocation”—but pastors typically feel this sense of calling more urgently than most. So, maybe the current situation is an opportunity to re-think and re-discover that call. What we thought we were called to do with our lives may not be exactly what God had in mind for us.
And then there’s the relationship between pastors and churches. That’s something that needs to be re-thought and re-discovered too.
Photo: That’s Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, which will graduate students into a changing church.
The Great Resignation Comes to Church
Thank you Doug. Maybe this is why I’m enjoying retirement so much.
Thanks for this insightful reflection on what's stirring in the hearts, minds, souls of pastors who are presently seeking to serve their constituencies.