About one-third of you readers are laypersons. This article is for you. Of course, I know pastors and other vocational ministry leaders will be reading as well. Perhaps, more than my article, they will be reading your comments. They will be searching eagerly to see if anyone has a word of encouragement. They may be anticipating the responses will be a barrage of negativity they have become accustomed to receiving.
Please hear me clearly. The vast majority of pastors with whom our team communicates are saying they are considering quitting their churches. It’s a trend I have not seen in my lifetime. Some are just weeks away from making an announcement. They are looking for work in the secular world. Some will move to bivocational ministry. Some will move to marketplace ministry.
But many will move.
Why has this period of great discouragement ensued? Of course, it is connected to COVID-19, but the pandemic really just exacerbated trends already in place. We would have likely gotten to this point in the next three to five years regardless.
I also want you to know that these pastors do not think they will be leaving ministry. They just believe the current state of negativity and apathy in many local churches is not the most effective way they can be doing ministry.
So, they are leaving or getting ready to leave. There are many reasons why, but allow me to share the top six reasons, understanding that they are not mutually exclusive.
- Pastors are weary from the pandemic, just like everyone else. Pastors are not super humans. They miss their routines. They miss seeing people as they used to do so. They would like the world to return to normal, but they realize the old normal will not return.
- Pastors are greatly discouraged about the fighting taking place among church members about the post-quarantine church. Gather in person or wait? Masks or no masks? Social distancing or not? Too many church members have adopted the mindset of culture and made these issues political fights. Pastors deal daily with complaints about the decisions the church makes.
- Pastors are discouraged about losing members and attendance. For sure, it’s not all about the numbers. But imagine your own mindset if one-half or more of your friends stopped engaging with you. And pastors have already heard directly or indirectly from around one-fourth of the members that they do not plan to return at all.
- Pastors don’t know if their churches will be able to support ministries financially in the future. In the early stages of the pandemic, giving was largely healthy. Church members stepped up. Government infusion of funds for businesses and consumers helped as well. Now, the financial future is cloudy. Can the church continue to support the ministries they need to do? Will the church need to eliminate positions? These issues weigh heavily on pastors.
- Criticisms against pastors have increased significantly. One pastor recently shared with me the number of criticisms he receives are five times greater than the pre-pandemic era. Church members are worried. Church members are weary. And the most convenient target for their angst is their pastor.
- The workload for pastors has increased greatly. Almost every pastor with whom we communicate expresses surprise at their level of work since the pandemic began. It really makes sense. They are trying to serve the congregation the way they have in the past, but now they have the added responsibilities that have come with the digital world. And as expected, pastoral care needs among members have increased during the pandemic as well.
Pastors are burned out, beaten up, and downtrodden.
Many are about to quit.
You may be surprised to discover your pastor is among them.
Posted on August 31, 2020
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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427 Comments
Yeah, I can believe in their total frustration. When you don’t see the people you are used to seeing, you feel isolated. You feel that the ministry is not supported, and I think that is the way a large amount of government leadership wants it. Less reliance on the church, more on the government to solve the problems. At a time when we need each other more, we are forced to distance more. We can’t talk to the pastor face to face, so the resentment ends up on the pastor’s shoulders. The pandemic, while serious, has allowed government to assume powers they would never have in a normal year. They are telling people it is for their good, but I feel that it is just a power play. I have incurred enemies who were friends during this time, because I see it one way and they see if another. Not agree to disagree, just downright hostility. These are just my observations.
Well, as a Pastor, I was not discouraged until I read these comments! I am glad today that I serve the God ‘of all hope,’ or I’d also be in the ditch.
Thank you for having the right answer, we need more pastors like you . God is the Answer, what was the question.
Our buildings are long paid for. A quarter-century ago, we were the “big” church in the county. Now, we struggle to keep the lights on and make sure the roof is secure over a facility that is much too large for a congregation that has severely dwindled. Most congregants who have left haven’t flounced out; they’ve gone on the Glory. Whatever the cause of their departure, we haven’t replaced them. We were in what looked very much like a death spiral well before the pandemic hit. A friend of ours in the congregation said a few years ago that our church was about a half-dozen funerals from closing. I wanted to argue with her, but she is right.
Personally I think it is because the “Church” has made a turn to the Left including the Nazarene Church….
This hits close to home. Hope those serving out King in other places are getting a little more compassion and kindness than i am facing out here in the mid-Atlantic.
Please stay strong, the Lord knows our situation, he Will provide.
I left church long before the pandemic after a lifetime (60 + years) Mennonite. I had always suspected that church was nothing more than a social club of like minded thinkers but always blamed myself for not trying to make a contribution, even though I did , to the point of being an oncall servant. The final straw was when I witnessed born again “believers” justify supporting a candidate like Trump. “God can use people like him, too.” Funny, God apparently never had use for Democrats who were accused of breaking the “rules” of Christianity.
Our pastor is actually a fine, intelligent young man with extraordinary speaking/communication skills and a sense of empathy. He could have been anything but he chose pastoral ministry. I admire him for that but wonder about his future in that role as more and more people realize, after being forced to stay home because of Covid, realize they really aren’t missing their Sunday morning fix.
Sure, pastors are quitting, what about all of the parishioner’s who’ve quit? I’ve read several attempts to answer that question yet I’ve never been satisfied with the know all, see all answers.
I started out life in a Programmed Friends Church and remained with the Friends Church even when I received my draft notice. I talked with my pastor and in the end with a clear conscience I submitted to the draft. What I saw and learned during that brief interlude in my life made me look at the church in a different light, for the first time I understood why questions had to be asked.
Several years later when I moved for employment, my wife and I joined a large Presbyterian Church which was on the verge of it’s long slow decline. During the 30 years we were members I served on various committees, board of deacons, and on session. These where excellent opportunities to observe the politics between pastors and laity. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
I was never naive enough, to expect perfection from the pastor, laity, or myself, however I never felt the frailty of our knowledge was really acknowledged. Many Church leaders believed they had absolute answers on all things, while many of us realized that absolute answers are a fool’s game.
My wife and retired and moved to be closer to family, I seriously doubt that we’ll ever join another church.
Why are pastors leaving, for the same reason the laity has left?
Leave an encouraging word. Dont end with more depressing news. They need to be lifted up.
Certainly most/all of us pastors fit the first category.
I’m tired of everything having to revolve around the virus–this includes church, of course–but also shopping and eating and traveling and everything else I can think of. This makes me tired and tired again and tired some more. My wife and I are especially tired because we have both retired from our “day jobs” (since the beginning of the pandemic) and have not had the experience we hoped for/expected. We expected to be able to do more in-person, community, and hands-on work once I was able to focus on ministry alone. We expected to do some short trips and have significant fun-time together for the first time in years. So much for expectations–well, we HAVE had significant time together (maybe too much sometimes.) 🙂
Your article made me want to say “thank you” to God and also “thank you” to the churches I have served over the years–especially Zion, since they are the ones who are sharing our “pandemic pain.”
Yes, we are weary from what is lost due to COVID but we are not weary from serving. (That is not to say it is always easy work or that we don’t get tired and that we don’t get discouraged–but in general, our church work has been a wonderful experience.) Since both of us grew up in churches full of pettiness and conflict and in-fighting and power struggles, we have been thrilled to not be the victims of what we knew in our youth.
In spite of being an imperfect pastor who has pastored imperfect churches full of imperfect people, my family has always felt loved and supported as we have loved and supported our churches and communities. This support has included deacons and elders as well as congregants and non-attending community members. The virus has not changed that, thank God.
If someone wonders “why?” we have been in the minority in the past and continuing into the present, I can honestly say I don’t know. I do know that our theme, personal actions, and preaching has centered on God’s love and putting feet on our love in ways that build people up and show them the love of God through Christ–with a focus on relationship.
Reading the article (and more importantly, reading some of the lay and pastoral comments) has made me thankful and made me count my proverbial and literal blessings. I also want to thank you for voicing the pain and struggles many are facing. May those who are struggling be comforted in hearing from others. May those who are exacerbating those struggles be more mindful and prayerful.
With more than fifty years of ministry, I am due to retire at year’s end.
The only one of these six reasons that apply to my situation is the first. I am weary.
I am not discouraged. There has been no fighting, arguments, disagreements, or criticism. We are actually in the black financially for the year, and on line attendance is larger than when we suspended live worship. I attribute this to good communications, and our local church leaders. Our Presbyterian form of government helps, as does support and guidance from Presbytery.
Granted, being a pastor is often tough, demanding, and makes you want to quit. In fact I did quit after 30 years as a pastor. Then I was a manger for a large secular college for most of another decade. Now I own my own business. In the secular world I had people hate me, threaten union grievances, promise to sue me, vow to destroy my career whatever it took, and threaten to kill me. I often worked horrifically long hours and experienced incredible stress. And there was always the pressure that if I didn’t PRODUCE I would be out of a job. I concluded a few things including: 1. Pastors need to understand they are not unique in getting discouraged, depressed, and wanting to quit. On any given day, most of the parishioners feel the same. EMPATHIZE. 2. Ministry is actually easier than a lot of secular jobs. REALLY! 3. In most cases, pastors are more secure in their positions than secular people if they don’t actually “produce.” 4. Many pastors can and do take more time to do things other than their jobs, than secular employees can.
Well said and necessary Steve…good balanced approach.
Physically, yes. You failed to mention the spiritual element!
Heartbreaking. I am a pastor who left and is rebuilding my life in the private sector. It is difficult, but no one from my new workplace feels the spiritual need to attack my wife and kids on a daily basis, and that is a new phenomenon. I kind of like it.