I'm so thankful for the "call" that God has placed on my life to be a pastor. The role of pastor is a challenging one sometimes, but I can't imagine doing anything else. For 95% of my colleagues in ministry the stress/burden oftentimes becomes too much and they either quit or are fired, check out these statistics...
"Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, said that the four hardest jobs in America (and not necessarily in order, he added) are: president of the United States, a university chancellor, a hospital CEO, and a church pastor.
Jimmy Draper, former president of the Lifeway Research Group, notes that for every 20 people who go into the pastorate only one retires from the ministry. Can you name any other profession where there is a 95 percent drop-off rate? Most don’t make it to retirement in the ministry because they are either fired, have a moral failure or just burned out and give up.
Pastors have the second-highest divorce rate of any profession. 48% of them think their job is detrimental to their family’s well-being. Another 46% will experience a burnout or a depression that will make them leave the ministry. 70 % say their self-esteem is lower now than when they started their position."
This is an excellent reminder to pray for the pastors in your life.
So sad but so true. I will be praying for you my friend.
ReplyDeleteVicki said-I can see for myself what a stressful job being a pastor is and you and all pastors have my prayers. But there is an up side to it too. I know God is with all of us but I have always felt He gives a special blessing to pastors. You have such a wonderful gift of teaching us with such grace and ease. I pray you will continue to get refreshed and blessed.
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