Statistics
According to Focus on the Family . . .
The clergy has the second highest divorce rate among all professions.
70 percent do not have someone they consider a close friend.
50 percent feel unable to meet the needs of the job.
45 percent of pastors say that they’ve experienced depression or burnout to the extent that they desired a leave of absence from ministry.
40 percent report a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.
80 percent of seminary graduates will leave full-time ministry within the first five years.
According to the Narramore Christian Foundation …
Every year more than 5,000 U.S. missionaries leave their fields of service for preventable reasons like depression, marriage and family difficulties, unresolved interpersonal conflicts with team members and nationals, and inadequate spiritual and emotional support.
It costs an estimated $250,000 to $400,000 to recruit, equip, and send a new missionary family to replace each family that has to leave the field because of unresolved personal, family, or relational problems.
According to the Ministering to Ministers Foundation . . .
Over 1400 Protestant ministers in the United States are asked to leave their positions each month.
Nearly 1 in 4 ministers experiences a forced termination from a church at least once. Of those, just over half will go back into full-time church-related positions.
