The Loss of Pastoral Leaders: A Call to Action
By Ircel Harrison
Do we expect too much of our pastoral leaders? I think the answer is a resounding, “Yes.” In the wake of the resignation of the pastor of a megachurch in our area, our local paper published an article citing the findings of a survey related to pastoral attrition:
“LifeWay Research also found that 40 percent left pastoral work before age 65 because they had a change in calling, 25 percent cited a conflict in a church, 12 percent left because of personal finances and 12 percent left for family issues. The online survey conducted in 2015 asked questions of 734 former senior pastors who left in four Protestant denominations, and respondents could choose more than one reason.”
As we review these results, we have to realize that if a person is continually dealing with conflict, financial concerns, or family issues, he or she will seriously consider “a change in calling” for personal well-being and relationship health! We expect too much of our senior leaders and often fail to provide the support they need in setting boundaries.
Most of the challenges cited here relate to boundary issues. Both lay and clergy leadership may have difficulty knowing where one’s responsibilities leave off and another’s begin. There are often assumptions on both sides that are not only wrong but create an environment that feeds distrust and power struggles.
Of all the work/life balance issues that pastors address, those related to family are most sensitive. These may range from how much time the clergy person spends with family to how much the church expects from the spouse and children. Although the pastor’s family should be out of bounds when it comes to criticism, the opposite is usually true.
Financial concerns, of course, are often left unaddressed by leadership. Staff members don’t like to address issues of adequate compensation and the lay leadership would rather assume that everything is going well as long as the staff member stays with the church. When one clergy person of my acquaintance left his former church, he was able to express in the exit interview how poorly he had been compensated. This did not help him, but it did provide a wakeup call for the personnel committee to address the needs of those who were still on staff.
There are ways to address these concerns, thus improving pastoral satisfaction and retention. Church leaders can provide coaches for pastors to support them in setting healthy boundaries. They can also promote an atmosphere where their clergy leaders can be honest about the pressures that they face, calling upon outside consultants and denominational staff to facilitate such discussions. They can work to provide the resources—spiritual, professional, and financial—that their clergy leaders require to function effectively.
The key thing to realize here is that this article should not be a surprise. Clergy leave the ministry every day; that is not news. This story only saw the light of day because of the high profile of the minister involved. Taking action requires action on two fronts: first, clergy must find the nerve to ask for help; second, lay leadership must step up and provide it. If we do not act, both individuals and Kingdom work will suffer. We are all losers then.
Contact Ircel at ircelh@pinnlead.com