Not to long ago I posted on search committees. Why do search committee's have so much work? One reason is the turnover of ministers. Average all the ministers, long term and not so long term and we have an average of 8 year settlement.
So congregations are constantly searching for ministers, interim ministers work to help the congregation identify the problems that might cause turnover. But some of those problems are endemic to our culture. The following are statistics for ministers across denominations, but many Unitarian Universalists would say "me too!"
90% of pastors work more than 46 hours a week.
· 80% believe that ministry has affected their families negatively.
· 75% report a significant stress-related crisis at least once in their ministry.
· 90% feel they were inadequately trained to cope with ministry demands.
· 70% say they have a lower self-image now than when they started.
· In 1995, the profession of "Pastor" was near the bottom of a survey of the
most-respected professions, just above "Car Salesman."
· 50% of ordained clergy have considered leaving the ministry in the last three months.
· 50% of those who go into fulltime ministry drop out within five years.
90% of all professionals work more than 46 hours a week, and a good number of hourly workers do, too. And never a sabbatical in their lives.
But at least they only have one boss, and that boss probably has an HR department preventing him or her from being an unethical boss and giving the worker some safety from outrageous behavior.
I think that's why ministerial life is so stressful; Usually good hearted (but not always!) people are almost always amateurs at the business of Human Resources, so their major human resource -their minister--suffers.
Wow. I know that ministry is a stressful profession, but that statistic about lower self-images is striking.