Last month I posted a survey of pastor’s and minister’s health. There were a total of 466 unique participants. The survey is now closed, but you can see the original post HERE. I’ll be sharing the results over the next few days. There will sometimes be two posts in one day. I’m breaking them down so no post has more than 6 questions.
In this post, I’m sharing the profile of who took the survey. Don’t miss a post. If you don’t have this blog added to your Google Reader or subscribed by email, you may want to do that at the blog to make sure you don’t miss any of these posts.
Here are the results of the first 5 questions:
A couple of observations:
- I was surprised by the large percentage of people who served longer than 16 years in ministry.
- Lots of senior pastors read my blog. (Thank you)
- The tenure in churches was shorter than I thought.
- People of all size churches read my blog. (Thank you)
- The bulk of churches were over 30 years old.
Stay tuned over the next few days. Some of the results are interesting.
If you are reading this in an email or reader program and having trouble reading the percents, go to the actual blog post HERE and you can click on each diagram for a larger image.
Anything surprising to you about the numbers so far? What do the numbers indicate about my readership?
Now to continue to part 2 of these results, click HERE.
Ron, thanks for this four-parter. I've floated it around my readers. Good stuff. Well done.
Thanks Dave.
Ron! The trend exhibited in the survey almost indicates the similar situation here in India. (I am greatly intrigued by the question "How long you have been with your current church?")
That's interesting that it crosses cultural lines.
An NFL or MLB franchise can hire a manager or coach and have a turnaround plan of say 5 years, however, most churches want a turnaround plan in less than two….
Wow. That's an interesting comment…but oh so true.
Hello 😀
I'm not a pastor but follow your blog religiously – Tweet each and every entry (everyday there is one and that is about everyday!) for more than one reason. One item you may have added to your first question was an indication of those readers who are not a part of the ministry at large. Just us folks on the internet who follow you. I think there may be more of us than you realize too. If you did include us later in the survey you can disregard this note. Heh. — 😀
Thank you. I didn't in this one because I wanted it fairly exclusive so I knew who was answering what questions. I like the idea of another survey though of those not in ministry. Thanks.
I think the high turnover is because unrealistic expectations are placed on pastors and when the church isnt growing at the rate or direction people hope for, they begin to try to lead the pastor instead of being led by him. When a pastor doesnt stay long in a church, I generally look at the congregation first before blaming the pastor. They are usually the most committed, most overworked, and most under-appreciated person in church. In my rural area alone, there are 6 Baptist churches without a pastor. Something's not right! I'd be interested in seeing a survey on why so many pastors leave after only a few short years.
There have been some like that I believe. I may consider one of my own. Thanks.
It's sad that a majority of those polled have been in ministry for more than 16 years, yet more than 50% have been with their current church for 5 years or less. What's causing the high turnover?
Turnover has always been high, but it's a great question as to why. May need another survey just on that one.