Christopher D. Schmitz's Blog, page 59

Why Your Pastor Left

Pastors, Stress, Burnout, Depression & Eviction

My Random Friday post is a little less random this week. I’d like some help[p collecting data from my peeps, wherever possible.

Those of you who know me understand that my “normal life” or “day job” is as a youth worker with Youth For Christ (or what many would call a “youth pastor.”) I’ve got a pretty long history making me a veteran with nearly two decades of ministry experience (most of it within the context of direct vocational church work.)

I’ll be succinct as possible. The church world is hard, messy, impolite, and unforgiving. Churches tend to abuse, overwork, over-stress, underpay, and run off ministers who are called to nothing less than loving them anyway. A couple years ago I wrote a book about this based upon often quoted statistics that nobody has ever seemed to update that data. Why Your Pastor Left will come out later this year (I’m sure you’ll hear more about that once it’s ready for release.)

In the meanwhile, updating those statistics is something of a passion of mine. If YOU or a SPOUSE are, or have ever been, a vocational or volunteer minister (official ministerial staff) would you help me update those old stats? I want to get some accurate data (even though I use the same old verbiage as the original queries, which I understand can be less than perfect at times,) by simply updating those old numbers and see which ones remain relevant.

There is a form linked below… the data collected from my first 150 respondents have been enlightening (especially to see the difference in answers between ministers and their spouses), but I’d like to poll over 500 individuals. Please take 5 minutes to add your voice.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ReTpYsuxlG8I-Ur2IbBRKFjXBCtz54yP2tWkd9j6GnY/viewform

 

Below follows a collection of older, dated data collected from sources around the internet and reflects the contents of the appendices in Why Your Pastor Left.

 

(Quick Reference of Statistics and Resources)

From Wayde Goodall in “Handling Stress and Avoiding Burnout.”

Characteristics of Burned-out Ministers[1]

Feelings of apathy, anger, resentment
Vulnerable to illness


Feeling let down
Avoidance of office and daily work


Feelings of cynicism
Changing churches (job change)


Blaming parishioners for personal problems
Increased marital and family conflict


Rigid resistance to change
Inappropriate humor at others’ expense


Avoidance of involvement with others
Derogatory, impersonal references to members


Aloofness from others (withdrawal into self)
Loss of concern and sympathy


Boredom, frustration, loss of enthusiasm
Avoidance of social times with parishioners

Factors that contribute to Burnout[2]

Lack of awareness of one’s personal need for recreation and leisure
Unrealistic expectations about the nature of ministry
Limited opportunities for promotion, inadequate remuneration
Excessive commitment to work (workaholism)
Excessive need to be liked and accepted by others
Over-involvement in rescuing or helping others
Accepting too much responsibility for parishioners’ successes or failure
Equating parishioners’ rejections of help with personal rejection
Inadequate professional training in intervention skills
Parishioners who criticize one’s ministry
Constantly focusing on parishioners weaknesses and problems
Lack of opportunity to talk about personal attitudes, feelings, and trials
Long working hours
Inability to delegate (not enough help)
Frequent focus on the problems and negative aspects of ministry
Not being able to say no
Unrealistic blaming of self for lack of church growth
Feeling that one has to be at every church event
Feeling overwhelmed because of the great need
Not finding balance between ministry (work), family, rest, and play
Not maintaining a consistent prayer and devotional life
Being a loner in the ministry
Unresolved family and personal problems

[1]  Goodall, Wayde. “Handling Stress and Avoiding Burnout.” In The Pentecostal Pastor: A Mandate for the 21st Century, edited by Thomas, Goodall, Wayde, and Bicket, Zenas Trask, 160-169. Springfield: Gospel Publishing House, 2000. 166

[2] Ibid. 167

Number
Statistics Related to Depression
Source


80%
Pastors dealing with depression
Life Enrichment 1998


84%
Pastors spouse dealing with depression
Dobson 1998


40%+
Pastors would self-diagnose they are suffering from burnout
Dobson 1998


25%
Pastors do not have a trusted friend in ministry
Focus on the Family


75%
Pastors reported a significant stress related crisis at least once in their ministry
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


50%
Pastors who feel unable to meet the demands required by the job
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


90%
Pastors who felt inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


70%
Pastors who say they have lower self-esteem now compared to when they started in ministry
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


40%
Pastors reported serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


70%
Pastors who do not have someone they consider a close friend
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


12%
ministers reporting they were depressed “often or always in their ministry”
Blackmon & Hart


70%
Clergy who experience major distress
Malony & Hunt


33%
Clergy have considered leaving the ministry
Malony & Hunt


$64 million
Annual stress related claims within one denomination
Southern Baptist Conv.


88%
Pastor’s wives who experience depression
Cecil Paul


23%
Pastor’s wives who experience depression 1-2 times annually
Cecil Paul


17%
Pastor’s wives who deal with self-destructive thoughts
Cecil Paul


81%
Insufficient time with spouse
Leadership 1992


71%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by use of finances
Leadership 1992


70%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by income level
Leadership 1992


20%
Ministers suffering from long-term stress
Thoughts & Trends 1992

 

 

Number
Statistics Related to Church Growth/Decline
Source


1,500≈
Pastors leave their assignments each month, due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention within their local congregations.
Dobson 1998


10%
Dismissed pastors who left pastoral ministry entirely
Christianity Today 1997


4k-7,000
Number of churches closing each year
Census Bureau


1000
New churches opening per year (20 yr avg)
FASICLD


450
Average number of new churches each year between 1990-2000
FASICLD


50%
Churches adding no new members in previous 2 years
FASICLD


2,700,000
Church members becoming inactive per year
FASICLD


27
Churches per 10,000 people in 1990 America
FASICLD


11
Churches per 10,000 people in 2000 America
FASICLD


5000000 or 9.5%-
Combined membership decline of all Protestant denominations in the USA from 1990-2000
FASICLD


24000000 or +11%
Population increase in USA
FASICLD


-20.50%
Total lost footprint given the above
*calculated from above


-21%
Church volunteerism since 1998
Barna 2009


-17%
Sunday School involvement since 1998
Barna 2009


75%
At any given time in America, percentage of ministers who want to quit.
Church Resource Ministries – 1998


2,000+
Pastors leaving ministry each month
Marble Retreat Ctr 2001


400%
Number of clergy leaving the ministry during the first five years of ministry, compared with the 1970s
Presbyterian Church survey 2005


1,600
Ministers terminated/forced to resign monthly
Sunscape


99
Median number of adults who attend a mainline church on any given weekend
Barna 2009


78%
Christians who have not shared their faith in the last six months
Lifeway 2014


55 years
Median age of pastor
Barna 2009


20%
Churches with 2 or more paid staff members
Focus on the Family


33%
Clergy have considered leaving the ministry
Malony & Hunt

 

 

Number
Statistics Related to Ministers’ Finances
Source


40%
Don’t have an opportunity for family vacation or continuing education.
Barna 2002


70%
Pastors whose compensation contributed to marriage conflicts
Leadership 1992


22%
Pastors who feel forced to supplement their church income
Leadership 1992


$31,234
Average pastoral salary and housing package if serving a congregation of >1,000 attendees
Census Bureau


40%+
Single Staff Pastors who feel underpaid
Thoughts & Trends 1992


33%
Senior Pastors who feel underpaid
Thoughts & Trends 1992


50%
Pastoral Salary increases versus minimum wage
Thoughts & Trends 1992


90%
Pastors who work more than 46 hours a week
Fuller Institute 1991


60%
Clergy whose wives hold full time jobs or are involved in careers
Malony & Hunt


71%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by use of finances
Leadership 1992


70%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by income level
Leadership 1992

 

Number
Statistics Related to the Pastoral Family Unit
Source


84%
Pastors spouse dealing with depression
Life Enrichment 1998


47%
Believe their Pastor-Spouse is suffering from burnout
Dobson 1998


80%
Clergy who feel their families have been negatively impacted by the church
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


33%
Believe ministry to be an outright hazard to their families
Fuller Inst. Church Growth 1991


25%
Pastors who don’t know where to go for help with personal or family conflict or concerns
Barna 2002


40%
Don’t have an opportunity for outside renewal like a family vacation or continuing education.
Barna 2002


94%
Ministers who feel pressured to have an “ideal family”
Leadership 1992


77%
Ministers’ spouses who feel pressured to be “an ideal role model for the Christian family”
Leadership 1992


88%
Pastor’s wives who experience depression
Cecil Paul


23%
Pastor’s wives who experience depression 1-2 times annually
Cecil Paul


17%
Pastor’s wives who deal with self-destructive thoughts
Cecil Paul


81%
Insufficient time with spouse
Leadership 1992


63%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by congregational differences
Leadership 1992


71%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by use of finances
Leadership 1992


70%
Percentage of ministry families stressed by income level
Leadership 1992


28%
Pastors who said “ministry was a hazard to family life”
Thoughts & Trends 1992


53%
Pastoral family having difficulties raising children
Leadership 1992


56%
Ministry family suffering sexual problems
Leadership 1992


35%
Ministry family experiencing differences in ministry career
Leadership 1992


25%
Ministry family experiencing differences in spouses career
Leadership 1992

 

Number
Statistics Related to Pulpit Eviction
Source


91%
Pastors know 3+ peers who have been forced out of pastoral positions
Christianity Today 1997


34%
Polled ministers serving congregations who either fired the previous minister or actively forced his or her resignation
Christianity Today 1997


23%
Number of current pastors who have been forced out at some point in their ministry.
Christianity Today 1997


10%
Dismissed pastors who left pastoral ministry entirely
Christianity Today 1997


43%
Conflicting church vision/direction was a precipitating cause of their termination
Christianity Today 1997


38%
Personality conflict with board member(s) was the cause of their termination
Christianity Today 1997


13%
Of pastors forced out, these were directly fired
Christianity Today 1997


58%
Of pastors forced out, these were forced to resign
Christianity Today 1997


29%
Of pastors forced out, these resigned because of the perceived pressure
Christianity Today 1997


66%
Terminated pastors cited “conflicts with power-ful members” as a partial cause for eviction
Southern Baptist Conv.


78%
Percent of churches evicting ministers which previously terminated pastors or staff members
Southern Baptist Conv.


2,000+
Pastors leaving ministry each month
Marble Retreat Ctr 2001


400%
Number of clergy leaving the ministry during the first five years of ministry, compared with the 1970s
Presbyterian Church survey 2005


1,600
Ministers terminated/forced to resign monthly
Sunscape

 

 

 

State of Writing

I’ve been busy plugging away at the keyboard. I’ve only got two chapters left on  my semi-final edit of Dekker’s Dozen. I’ve kept up with my devo writing and shifted gears on my active writing towards an extensive redrafting of a story I’m submitting to a writers contest. I plan to re-title it, but it’s the harrowing story of a biker’s struggle with his own inner demons… I’ve described it as Sons of Anarchy meets Touched by an Angel… I gutted the story years ago after a publisher wanted it if I cut it to 5,000 words. Once I’d done that, they didn’t want it anymore (it was the right length originally and I had to hurt the story to sell it.) Now, I have to get it up to 10k, which is easier than trimming off 3,000 words, to meet the minimum submission length–but the story is better off for it.

I have some fairly good news on the query front. I’ve been offered a contract from a smaller publishing company for Wolf of the Tesseract. I need to more fully investigate the contract, but it could mean we see me in print fairly soon (well, soon as far as the industry goes– so six to eighteen months from the end of negotiations).

5 Things Successful Indie Authors are Doing

I’ve noticed a bunch of trends within the worlds of successful indie authors (well, successful by my own metric). Here are a few things that I’ve noticed have made some authors stand out, all lifted from a nifty resource I stumbled upon (which was probably a collection of other advice pages’ data before someone aggregated it,) located here: http://insights.bookbub.com/book-marketing-ideas/

These are my first “top five.” I’ll likely post another set next week–and I want to go on record (as you might guess, if you’re read my blog) by begging indie writers to edit, edit, edit! Hiring an editor is not on this list at the above link–probably because no amount of tips, tricks, or nifty programs can rescue a shoddy book. Look at 50 Shades of Grey… it may be a runaway success, but it’s still a load of crap and written more poorly than a Shakespearean turd (just don’t focus on the fact that the author made millions and my argument holds more water) and look here… my top 5:

Hire a cover designer. A great cover design can have a major impact on your sales numbers. For example, romance writer R.L. Mathewson went from selling five or six copies per day of her novel, Playing for Keeps, to over 1,000 per day by updating her cover design. It’s usually worth hiring a professional to create a polished cover that appeals to readers in your genre.

Unify cover designs in a series. Create consistent branding between books in a series to make purchasing decisions easy for readers. A unified cover and title style often helps readers recognize connected titles and encourages them to purchase subsequent books.

Make book samples end on a cliffhanger. For example, on Amazon, users can download the first 10% of a book for free or read it on-site via the “Look Inside” feature. This gives you the opportunity to score a sale if the reader wants to continue after the sample.

Bundle the first few books in a series. Include the first two or three books of a series in a box set to promote a full-price book later in the series. This can be a way to hook readers and make them invested in the characters so they’re willing to pay full-price to know how the tale ends. Promote the next book in the series in the box set’s back matter.

Offer free copies to Amazon top reviewers. Reach out to Amazon users with a “Top Reviewer” badge who’ve reviewed books similar to yours. They’ve proven themselves to be experienced reviewers — they know what makes a good review, they’re willing to take the time to write a truly helpful review, and they will likely have a quick turnaround on reading and reviewing.

Free Fiction Tuesday

I saw Batman V Superman the other day and thought… heck, with such a plethora of superhero movies out there (and with my nephews getting me all sparked up on the genre over the course of an Easter visit) lets dedicate the next couple weeks to hero stories. Here’s an intriguing read called No Capes that I found enjoyable with the right mix of action, intrigue, and humor.

www.wattpad.com/13407383-no-capes

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www.wattpad.com/user/ChristopherSchmitz