Post-pandemic burnout is at worrying levels among Christian clergy in the U.S., prompting many to consider leaving their jobs, a new national survey shows.
More than four in 10 clergy surveyed in fall 2023 had seriously considered leaving their congregation at least once since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, and more than half had seriously considered leaving ministry, according to the study released Thursday by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research.
About a tenth of clergy say they have often had these thoughts, according to the survey conducted as part of the institute’s research project, Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations.
The high percentage of ministers considering quitting reflects the “collective trauma” that both clergy and congregants have experienced since 2020, said institute director Scott Thumma, lead researcher on the project.
“Everyone has experienced grief, trauma and change,” he said. Many clergy cited declining attendance, declining volunteerism and members’ resistance to further changes in open-ended responses to their survey.
“I’m exhausted,” said one pastor quoted in the report. “People have moved out of the area and there are fewer new people coming in, and they are further away, and slower to take action. Our regular volunteers are tired and overwhelmed.”
Some of these issues are trends that long predate the pandemic. Average in-person attendance has steadily declined since the turn of this century, the report said, and with fewer younger attendees, the typical age of congregants is rising. After a pandemic-era spike in innovation, congregants are less willing to change, the study found.
The reasons for clergy burnout are complex and need to be understood in a broader context, Thumma says.
“Often the focus is only on the municipality, when we should actually be thinking about this bigger picture,” he said. For example, a pastor and congregants may become frustrated with each other if the broader context is that they are in a struggling rural town experiencing population loss. He said: ‘That has an effect on volunteering. It has an effect on aging. It affects the opportunities you have to grow.”
About a third of clergy respondents are considering leaving both their congregation and the ministry altogether, while nearly another third are considering one or the other.
Most clergy reported conflict in their congregations, but those considering leaving their church reported this at even higher levels and were also less likely to feel connected to their congregants.
Those who were thinking about leaving ministry completely were more likely to be pastors of smaller churches and those who worked solo, compared to those who were on larger staffs and in larger churches.
Protestant clergy were the most likely to consider quitting, followed by evangelical Protestants, while Catholic and Orthodox priests were the least likely to consider quitting.
The percentages of clergy thinking about quitting are higher than in two previous surveys the institute conducted in 2021 and spring 2023, although it is difficult to compare these numbers directly because the previous surveys measured shorter periods since 2020 .
The news is not all gloomy. Most clergy report good mental and physical health – although slightly less so if they are thinking of leaving their congregation or ministry – and it is more likely that clergy have increased rather than decreased various spiritual practices since the pandemic began.
The results are based on a fall 2023 survey of approximately 1,700 Christian clergy members from more than 40 denominations, including Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox bodies.
The research mirrors similar post-pandemic research. A 2023 Pew Research Center found a decline in the number of people reporting attending worship in person at least monthly, with Black Protestant churches most affected.
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Associated Press religion reporting is supported by the AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.