Three Encouraging Indicators about Pastors

A few months ago I commissioned LifeWay Research to ask pastors in America a number of questions. I admit that I began the research with a negative bias. The state of American churches, as a rule, is not healthy. I therefore did not expect to receive encouraging news from the pastors. So I have been very pleasantly surprised to discover that there is much to celebrate in this study of pastors.

Admittedly, not all the information has been positive. Over the past few Saturdays, I have attempted to give an accurate and realistic view of pastors and the lives they live. Their challenges are many.

But this newly released information is incredibly exciting in many ways. Indeed, if in our longitudinal studies we find this pattern continuing in the years ahead, we will have good reason for optimism for our churches.

The Research

I am convinced that a key to seeing more healthy churches is to do all we can to provide the support and resources the pastors need. Healthy churches have spiritually healthy pastors.

According to Acts 6, the early church leaders focused on just a few priorities. Among those priorities were prayer and the preaching ministry: “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry” (Acts 6:4, HCSB). They also focused on evangelism as noted in Acts 6:7, “the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly.”

So we asked questions related to those big three priorities: prayer, preaching, and evangelism. We specifically wanted to know if they were devoting sufficient time to each of those major areas. The results were greatly encouraging.

Time to Pray

The numbers amazed me. Nearly eight out of ten pastors told us they have time each week to pray. We asked them to respond to the statement, “I have sufficient time each week to be in prayer.” The responses were as follows:

· Strongly agree: 47%

· Somewhat agree: 31%

· Somewhat disagree: 15%

· Strongly disagree: 6%

Time for Sermon Preparation

It was not just the responses that encouraged me; it was the magnitude of the responses. Three out of four pastors told us they had sufficient time each week to prepare their sermons. We asked them to respond to the statement: “I have sufficient time each week for sermon preparation.” Again, look at the amazing responses:

· Strongly agree: 38%

· Somewhat agree: 37%

· Somewhat disagree: 17%

· Strongly disagree: 7%

The Priority of Evangelism

The greatest positive response came in an area where I thought pastors would admit struggles: personal evangelism. But nearly 90 percent of the pastors told us that evangelism was a high priority in their ministries. The results are some of the most gratifying I have seen in Christian research. We asked the pastors to respond to this statement: “I make evangelism a high priority in my personal ministry beyond what I do in my preaching ministry.”

· Strongly agree: 49%

· Somewhat agree: 39%

· Somewhat disagree: 9%

· Strongly disagree: 2%

What Do These Results Mean?

How, then, do we interpret these results? What are the implications for the future of American congregations? Certainly, we need to be careful not to read too much into a few questions connected with a single study.

I have to admit, however, that I am personally encouraged and enthusiastic. If pastors today are spending more time in prayer and in the Word, and if they are making evangelism a priority in their lives and ministries, it can only be good news for their churches in the months and years ahead.

Maybe we truly do need a sense of expectancy that God is moving in an extraordinary way in our churches. Maybe the fruit of revival is just around the corner.

Thank you, pastors, for your faithfulness. Now may the rest of us follow your godly examples.

*In the months of April and May 2012, 1,066 SBC pastors participated in a survey asking a number of questions. The sampling was weighted to represent accurately churches by worship size and geographic location. The sample provides a 95% confidence that the sampling error does not exceed +/- 3.0%. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com . We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.