Brian shared some thoughts on the encounter blog about pastors and a new book by George Barna, Pagan Christianity…
- 94 percent feel pressured to have an ideal family
- 90 percent work more than 46 hours a week
- 81 percent say they have insufficient time with their spouse
- 80 percent believe that pastoral ministry affects their family negatively
- 70 percent do not have someone they consider a close friend
- 70 percent have lower self-esteem than when they entered the ministry
- 50 percent feel unable to meet the demands of the job
- 80 percent feel discouraged and deal with depression
- more than 40 percent report that they are suffering from burnout, frantic schedules, and unrealistic expectations
- 33 percent consider pastoral ministry an outright hazard to their family
- 33 percent have seriously considered leaving their position in the past year
- 40 percent of pastoral resignations are due to burnout
Brian says he’s rarely faced any of these issues since encounter began, but I wonder if there are other pastors in our lives that might be struggling with these issues while there are things we can take off their plate, encourage them about, or ensure them that its not expected of them.
