What Do Pastors Read?

We know that pastors read the Bible and Christian books. Those two sources of information would rank highest in their reading frequency. But what do pastors read when they delve into those materials that are not explicitly for spiritual growth?

In our study we specifically asked the pastors about their frequency of reading secular leadership books and blogs. The responses may surprise you.

The Popularity of Secular Leadership/Business Books

Stated simply, I was surprised at the responses to the question: “About how many secular leadership or business books do you read in a year?" More than seven in ten pastors read at least one such book a year, and one out of four read at least four of these books.

I must admit that the books’ popularity surprised me. Even the outliers caught me off guard. Ten percent of pastors read at least seven secular leadership or business books a year. That’s more than one every other month. Here are the specific results:

None: 28% 1 to 3: 48% 4 to 6: 14% 7 to 10: 6% 11 to 15: 2% More than 15: 2%

There were no significant statistical differences in readership among the different geographical regions of the United States. Frequency of reading these books tended to increase with the size of the church the pastor served. Similarly, frequency of reading secular and business leadership books tended to increase with the age of the pastor as well. The older the pastor, the more likely he would read these books regularly.

Blogs: Somewhat Popular

Despite their relative brevity, blogs were not as popular with pastors as the secular leadership and business books. Nevertheless, slightly over half of the pastors responded that they read at least one blog a week. Those who read blogs tend to read one to three a week.

We asked pastors: “In a typical week, how many different bloggers do you read?" Here are their responses:

None: 48% 1 to 3: 31% 4 to 6: 12% 7 to 10: 6%11 to 15: 2% More than 15: 1%

There were no significant regional differences in the responses, but there were clear differences according to the age of the pastor and the size of the church. Not surprisingly, younger pastors were much more likely to read blogs than older pastors. And they typically read them with greater frequency.

The larger the church the pastor served, the more likely he reads blogs, and he also reads them with greater frequency. Smaller church pastors were least likely to read any blogs during the week. Six out of ten pastors of churches with a worship attendance under 50 never read blogs.

What Are the Implications?

We can certainly look at these numbers from many different angles. The big takeaway in this study is that both blogs and secular and business leadership books are very popular among pastors. The magnitude of the responses certainly was a surprise to me.

And while certain groups of pastors are more likely to read these sources than others, there is no pastor group as a whole that is uninterested in these types of reading materials. And we believe that future longitudinal studies will demonstrate that these trends will continue.

What are the implications of these trends? What is your level of interest in both sources of reading? Why do pastors turn to these sources? Let me hear from you.

*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.