Advertisement
Holy Week resources and reflections

Why some Protestant ministers are leaving local church ministry

It is widely felt that too many ministers are leaving local church ministry today, and often for preventable reasons.

As part of the Pulpit and Pew Project at Duke Divinity School we were commissioned to gather new data on why this is happening. We carried out a large study in 2002 and 2003, and we published Pastors in Transition in 2005 (Eerdmans Press). Here we summarize some findings. 

We studied five denominations: Assemblies of God, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Presbyterian (U.S.A.), and United Methodist. We defined the target group:

"We are interested in everyone who was ordained in the past, who served in parish ministry full-time or part-time, and within the last eight years has left parish ministry in either of two ways: (1) left parish ministry for non-parish ministries recognized by their ordinations, especially hospital chaplaincies, military chaplaincies, campus ministers, teachers, and professors; or (2) left church ministry entirely. We will not study (1) persons temporarily without a job who are now actively seeking a parish ministry job, (2) persons who have retired or who have moved from full-time to part-time parish ministry, and (3) persons who left the parish to take denominational jobs such as presbytery staff or district superintendent."

We aimed for a random sample of about 200 from each denomination. Each denomination helped with sampling and mailing. No names were asked. Questionnaires went out in spring 2002, and the response rates varied from 19 percent in the Assemblies of God to 54 percent in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Presbyterian response rate was 38 percent. The numbers of cases were: Assemblies of God, 174; ELCA Lutheran, 291; Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 106; Presbyterian, 173; and United Methodist, 219. Later we interviewed 90 of the former pastors by phone. 

It is widely felt that too many ministers are leaving local church ministry today, and often for preventable reasons.

As part of the Pulpit and Pew Project at Duke Divinity School we were commissioned to gather new data on why this is happening. We carried out a large study in 2002 and 2003, and we published Pastors in Transition in 2005 (Eerdmans Press). Here we summarize some findings. 

We studied five denominations: Assemblies of God, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Presbyterian (U.S.A.), and United Methodist. We defined the target group:

“We are interested in everyone who was ordained in the past, who served in parish ministry full-time or part-time, and within the last eight years has left parish ministry in either of two ways: (1) left parish ministry for non-parish ministries recognized by their ordinations, especially hospital chaplaincies, military chaplaincies, campus ministers, teachers, and professors; or (2) left church ministry entirely. We will not study (1) persons temporarily without a job who are now actively seeking a parish ministry job, (2) persons who have retired or who have moved from full-time to part-time parish ministry, and (3) persons who left the parish to take denominational jobs such as presbytery staff or district superintendent.”

We aimed for a random sample of about 200 from each denomination. Each denomination helped with sampling and mailing. No names were asked. Questionnaires went out in spring 2002, and the response rates varied from 19 percent in the Assemblies of God to 54 percent in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Presbyterian response rate was 38 percent. The numbers of cases were: Assemblies of God, 174; ELCA Lutheran, 291; Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, 106; Presbyterian, 173; and United Methodist, 219. Later we interviewed 90 of the former pastors by phone. 

Many of these former pastors are women. In the Methodist sample it was 29 percent; in the Presbyterian sample, 41 percent; in the ELCA sample, 17 percent, and in the Assemblies of God sample, 5 percent. These figures are higher than in the active clergy of two denominations (18 percent of all the active Methodist clergy are women and 18 percent of the Presbyterian clergy are women). In the other denominations women were not over-represented in the former pastor sample.  

 

Why Did They Leave Local Church Ministry?

This is the heart of our inquiry, and we approached it in several ways. One approach was to ask the respondents to tell us in their own words their “main feelings and motivations” when they decided to, or were required to, leave local church ministry. A second approach was to ask the respondents to rate the importance of 12 motivations we listed in the questionnaire. The most common feeling was “I felt drained by the demands on me,” and the second was “I felt lonely or isolated.” Third was “I was not supported by denominational officials.” Fourth was “I felt bored or constrained in the position.” These top four all have to do with feelings of excessive demands, loneliness, constraint, and non-support. This domain of problems–all organizational and interpersonal–is the most important force pushing local church ministers out. 

The denominational differences were not very large. The overall pattern is that the Presbyterians, ELCA Lutherans, and Missouri Synod Lutherans were fairly similar. The Assemblies of God pastors and Methodist pastors were unique in some ways.

 

The Main Motivations

We identified the seven most prominent motivations. See Table 1. Eighteen percent of the cases could not be classified and needed to be left in the “inadequate data or other” category. We encountered three identifiable motivations in the “inadequate data or other” group– (1) a few left largely due to financial problems, (2) a few left largely due to ill health, and (3) a few left because they wanted an open gay or lesbian lifestyle. These three would add up to almost half of the cases in the “other” category. We did not find many persons who spoke of a loss of faith.

The top of Table 1 has cases that are the most obviously voluntary. The first category is the largest–preference for another form of ministry. This includes pastors now serving as hospital chaplains, military chaplains, retirement home chaplains, or campus ministers. The second category, need to care for family or children, is much smaller, and it is filled mainly with women.

Cases in the other five categories include elements of pressure to leave. Categories 3 and 4 are large. They are composed of ministers who left largely due to conflicts, either in the congregation or with other staff or denominational officials. Category 4 also includes ministers who felt disillusioned with their denomination. These two categories contain about 27% of the cases. About 14 percent were in category 5–burned out, disillusioned, felt constrained, or felt a sense of inadequacy. 

Categories 6 and 7 are much smaller. About 6 percent left largely due to allegations of sexual misconduct, about 5 percent left due to problems in their families or divorce. These are problems mainly of men, not women.

Here we see that organizational and interpersonal problems were the main forces pushing pastors out of local church ministry. The former pastors told of conflicts, burnout, and feelings of non-support from their denominations. Doctrinal, financial, and health factors proved less important. 

 

Why the Conflicts?

Conflict was the biggest single reason why people left. What were the stressors and sources of conflict? We used three kinds of questions to identify them. Table 2 lists five sources of stress, from the most to the least important. Most important was stress “because of the challenges you faced in that congregation.” This is a rather vague statement. Second was stress from feeling lonely and isolated. Third was a feeling that ministry work did not permit the respondent adequate time for his or her children. Fourth and fifth were resentment from the person’s spouse because of undue demands on time and because of low pay.  All five denominations were remarkably similar.

If the pastor’s last church had conflicts, what were they about? We asked. The most frequent was “pastoral leadership style.” We lack information on what these problems were, but in our phone interviews we got numerous clues. Important sources of problems were innovative young pastors faced with traditional don’t-change-anything older adults and new pastors in churches that had just experienced long, gratifying pastorates.

Second most frequent was “finances.” Third: “changes in worship style.” Fourth: “conflicts between staff and/or clergy.” Fifth: “issues about new buildings or renovation.” Sixth: “changes in music styles.” Slight denominational differences occurred on the first item; it was more common for the Assemblies of God and Presbyterian pastors than others. Conflicts over finances were most common among the Methodists and ELCA Lutherans.   

In summary, the most important reason for leaving local church ministry was stress and conflict, often coupled with feelings of a lack of denominational support. Conflicts were sometimes within the congregation, sometimes with denominational officials.    

We divided the data in three ways. First we compared men and women. Men former pastors reported more marital problems, more resentment from spouses about lack of time or money, and more situations where their spouse did not like the congregation (24 percent, versus 8 percent for the women’s spouses). Men also reported more feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Second, we compared senior (or solo) pastors and associates. The associates consistently reported leaving more often due to staff conflicts.  

Third, we compared young versus old–pastors who left at age 45 or younger versus those who left at age 46 or older.  We found few differences.

 

Recommendations by the Former PastorsStats20060911-fact2000-figures.gif

In our interviews we asked former pastors what recommendations they would like to make to their denominations. Pastors identified lack of support as a major difficulty in serving as a local church minister. The two most obvious sources of support are from denominational leadership or from other clergy, yet both have limitations. Pastors found it difficult to confide their problems to denominational leaders because they did not want to jeopardize future calls and promotions. They felt constrained in seeking support from other clergy because of the enormous competition among clergy. A Presbyterian pastor who resigned at age 62 told us that it is common for parish ministers to feel all alone:

My impression is that ministers often feel that they’re kind of out there by themselves. … My brother-in-law was a Presbyterian minister too, and he had some of the same feelings. He was in another presbytery.  They put on things with ministers; they have meetings at campgrounds and things like that. But when push comes to shove time, they sort of leave the ministers alone, and that’s not good. I have no idea what the percentage is … but I know there are ministers who hurt.

An Evangelical Lutheran minister would have welcomed help with conflict negotiation:

Having skilled and effective conflict-helpers on a synod staff would be very, very helpful. … Without exception the people in the synod that I served in were not good at it. And maybe part of the reason they get to be where they are, is that people are very uncomfortable with conflict, and so we tend to pick people who are not very confrontational and don’t create much conflict to be the synod leaders.

Former pastors also recommended that when pastors are considering a move to a new church, more information about the church should be shared with them. Many felt that neither the congregation nor the denominational leaders were sufficiently candid and honest in their portrayal of individual church needs, histories, and expectations.

 

Conclusions

The main factors pushing local church ministers away are organizational and interpersonal. These pushes have to do with conflict, feelings of being stymied, and isolation.

Pastors who left do not feel that they had sufficient support from their denominations, especially during times of conflict. They often felt lonely and isolated. They found communications among denominational officials, pastors, and local churches to be shallow and inconsistent. Often they felt that they have had little opportunity to voice their opinions. It is commonly a combination of several stresses and difficulties that result in a pastor being unable or unwilling to continue to serve the local church.

If denominational leaders can find ways of giving better support to the pastors, it will improve the lives of pastors and reduce the numbers who leave.

 

Dean R. Hoge is a professor in the department of sociology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Jacqueline E. Wenger is a graduate student in sociology at The Catholic University of America and a licensed clinical social worker.

LATEST STORIES

Advertisement