How bad is the job dissatisfaction level of pastors? More than half of pastors have considered leaving their jobs. What are the leading causes? Stress, isolation, and political division top the list. However, 71% of pastors moderately or completely agree that their lives are close to ideal. What’s going on here? Ryan Burge joins Thom and Sam to discuss the true misery level of pastors.

• • Compared with other professions, clergy have some of the highest life satisfaction rates.
  • The longer a pastor is in ministry, the higher the satisfaction rate.
  • Do younger, dissatisfied pastors drop out of ministry? Thus, the higher rates of satisfaction among older, long-term pastors.
  • Pastors of larger churches tend to be more content than those of smaller churches.
  • But, much of this data was collected before the pandemic.
  • Perhaps pastors are satisfied with their callings but disenchanted with their current church situation.

Resources:

• Tithe.ly

• 2023 State of Church Giving

• “Are Members of the Clergy Miserable?” by Ryan Burge

• Ryan Burge

• Bi-vocational Co-vocational Certification

• The Everything Church Resource Directory

• The Hope Initiative

• Get your FREE tool! Attendance Growth Projector

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