When Tim Lovett announced his retirement as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa on Sept. 5, his words seemed to express what many pastors are feeling these days.
“Ministry requires not only a calling from the Lord, but a vision and passion to engage in the day-to-day challenges [of ministry],” Lovett said, adding he no longer felt that passion in his role as pastor of a local church. Lovett retired Sept. 19.
By most measures, the past two years have been stressful to say the least, filled with heated political rhetoric, deaths and restrictions due to a global pandemic, and denominational conflict at historic levels.
Though concrete numbers have not been calculated, Alabama Baptist churches have seen a higher-than-usual number of pastor retirements and resignations, coupled with many pastor and staff deaths from COVID-19, in the past 18–24 months, based on information submitted to and reported by TAB Media.
Anecdotal reports indicate many churches are having trouble finding pastors and staff members to fill these empty roles. However, a new study from Lifeway Research reports that the rate of senior pastors stepping away from the pulpit has remained statistically unchanged since 2015 — about 1% annually.
‘Faithful to the calling’
“COVID-19 was neither a small nor short-lived stressor for pastors,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Many have speculated that pastors have been opting out of the pastorate as a result. That is not the case. They are remaining faithful to the calling at levels similar to those seen before the pandemic.”
More pastors agree their role is “frequently overwhelming,” up from 54% in 2015 to 63% today, McConnell said. But there also has been a shift in how some pastors think about their work, he added.
“Fewer pastors agree they must be ‘on-call’ 24 hours a day, declining from 84% to 71%. Perhaps even more telling, the majority of pastors (51%) strongly agreed with this expectation in 2015, while only a third (34%) strongly feel this obligation today,” he said.
McConnell noted that many Baby Boomer pastors are reaching retirement age, and since 2011, retirement has been the most common reason a pastor from 2011 is not still in the pastorate a decade later.
Use the following links to view the full report and the 2021-2015 comparison report from Lifeway Research.
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