I am a theoretical physicist and currently Director of 
May 31, 2011
The plight of evangelical ministers
"Half of pastors would leave the ministry tomorrow if they could. Seventy percent are fighting depression and 90 percent can't cope with the challenge of ministry… 1,500 pastors walk away from ministry every month because of moral failure, burnout, conflict, discouragement or depression… 80 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates will leave the ministry within their first five years."
Who is saying this? Not some atheist gloating over the demise of religion. These were the figures quoted by Jonathan Falwell, who took over the ministry of his well-known evangelical father Jerry Falwell.
Ken Pulliam, a former fundamentalist preacher, provides additional statistics on the rampant dissatisfaction of evangelical preachers with their lives:
- 89% considered leaving the ministry at one time.
- 57% said they would leave if they had a better place to go—including secular work
- 71% stated they were burned out, and they battle depression beyond fatigue on a weekly and even a daily basis.
Pulliam makes the point that these statistics are telling all by themselves and that it is not relevant to compare them with other professions to see if they are better or worse. Evangelical pastors consist of people who are supposedly sure that they are doing god's work and thus should be immune from the usual problems that the rest of us suffer from. What this data suggest is that many of these preachers think they are living a lie, that the beliefs they share with their flock is not true
While the media focus on a few high profile mega-church pastors to suggest that evangelical Christianity is flourishing, the reality is different. No thinking person today can believe that the Bible is literally true the way that these people say it is. Modernity cannot be shut out and it is taking its toll on many of them. It is really very sad.
Comments
I don't put much stock in the figure of 90% who considered leaving at one point or another - more telling would be how many considered leaving within a specific time frame.
After all, I imagine it would be extremely difficult to find somebody who never ever considered leaving their current profession / calling / job.
But if you counted only the ministers who had serious thoughts about leaving within the last week or two, well, that number I'd find more interesting.
On the whole I feel terrible for these poor people. And as you say, if they really think they're doing 'god's calling' that must make it all the harder.
I remember talking with a relative a few years ago. She was fascinated by my wife's and my careers in theatre. I kept trying to insist that even though it may seem interesting and exciting, it's still a job. It's still something that one frequently *has* to do, rather than something one *wants* to do. But then this relative broke my heart when she said 'Every Sunday night I cry because I can't imagine going in to work when I wake up.'
It must be even worse for these people.
There is an equal and opposite reaction happening in the culture in response to the failure of traditional Christianity to meet the spiritual needs of the people. It can be seen in the rise of popularity of self-help authors and eclectic new spiritual traditions which mix the teachings of Jesus on the nature of God as Love with mindfulness meditation from Buddhism, the temple worship of Hindu traditions including music, dance and the senses, and the Muslim concept of surrender to God/Goodness. We are converging towards oneness!
Shalom Mano,
This is slightly off topic but did you listen to The Sound of Ideas yesterday? Dick Goddard was on and, in addition to plugging his book, talked at length and well about his Secular Humanism. I a recommend a listen.
Also, over the weekend, I watched Ricky Gervais' "The Invention of Lying, a comedy that shreds religion. Again, you might enjoy it as well.
B'shalom,
Jeff
Jeff,
Thanks for the tip about Goddard. I'll listen to it as soon as I can.
As for The Invention of Lying, I have seen it and wrote a review.
Pastors don't have the means of income and rely on the tithes of their members.
The rabidly religious are no different than fans of soap operas, role playing games or Star Trek. No matter how devoted to them such people are, eventually they realize that there is nothing tangible about what they obsess over, except perhaps for derivative knick-knacks that someone sold them for a profit. And those who push people into obsessing about frivlous junk are trying to control them.
It's one thing to have a pastime to fill up spare time, even if it's a pointless activity like religion or seeing "Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the 300th time. But to make the pastime the centre of one's life means the person's life is empty, that the person no sense of priorities, and/or has a feeble grasp on reality.
If the religious are not smart enough to stop believing in fairy tales like "god", they should at least try to smarten up and realize it's not something to build your whole life around.
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Religion is a great thing but some bad apples have given every religion a bad rep over the centuries with their cruelty.