Thank you for taking a moment to read June’s newsletter. On average, every 26 minutes a pastor leaves the ministry never to return. That is about 1500 every four weeks. I know some and my guess is you do too. I spoke with a minister friend a couple of weeks ago at a very difficult church that told me, “If I had a way to make a living, I would leave tomorrow.” This is not a fly-by-night, flippant individual, but a deeply dedicated servant of Christ with a profound ability to shepherd. However, years of mean-spirited church people, those referred to as Clergy Killer’s, have destroyed ministers world-wide. The Clergy Killer’s have vaporized a significant number of minister’s spiritual and emotional resilience.
My guess is that you know a pastor like this; maybe you are a pastor like this. I don’t have the magic bullet to solve the problem, but I wanted to let you know about a first step of help. Every minister should own a copy of this documentary. It is the number one Christian documentary of 2013, BETRAYED: The Clergy Killer’s DNA.
To view the movie trailer and order a copy go to: https://betrayedthemovie.com
RT @20churches: EVERY 26 MINUTES a pastor leaves ministry never to return http://t.co/XUlrRSAyaZ #20churches #ourCOG
This is occurring in a supposedly “Christian” nation. We must rethink “professional” clergy roles especially when the Apostles wouldn’t leave the word of God and prayer to pass out biscuits to a needy minority demographic in their rapidly expanding congregation despite the fact that there were twelve of them since Judas had been replaced.
Most leave traditional hierarchical church ministry to save themselves and find more legitimate forms of ministry outside of traditional pulpit ministry. They don’t simply leave the ministry.
I can’t access the trailer but why not just excommunicate the clergy killers?
The clergy killers are often the ones with the most money!
Here is the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M5mWed56vs
People and the devil work work relentlessly against both pastors and missionaries to try and get them out of the way.
Robert Borders are you sure this is the right trailer?
will YOU be NEXT?
You can.never get away from God if He has called you but you will get away from men if they called you..
pray that more denominational ministers see the light. -till every minute a pastor leaves a denominational church!!!
we personally, have avoided burn out by reading the Bible, for all it’s worth, literally and without preconceived denominational bias. Holy Spirit has led us to non-denominational Free Grace family.
#aad Ed Brewer Michael Ellis Carter Jr.
Troy Day if find many of the comments very interesting. Burnout is a serious issue in many cases it’s a mental health issue that is bigger than reading a few bible verses and praying for an answer from heaven. Crucify me now but at the end of the day we need to check on each other, take vacations, enjoy our families, and not carry the weight of ministry beyond reasonable expectations. If we are honest fast growing church leaders and very small church leaders experience unparalleled stress its those in the middle that have nothing to worry about. Some pastors are quitting because resources dried up or there was not enough pro social support. We must be very careful not to judge or point fingers because the rate of suicide among pastors is steadily rising because we do not take burnout and self-care seriously
ppl dont believe in it – its just stats to them
Troy Day I see
Pastoral burnout is not new, but it IS definitely a first-world problem. Obsession is the culprit, and it masks itself under a desire for productivity and an imbalanced self image. In my opinion, the key core belief that inoculates the leader from such is in understanding that we are not just working FOR the Lord, we are on assignment FROM the Lord – productivity for it’s own sake is the second oldest sin, and is a form of idolatry. The very worst thing we can do is try to impress the omniscient God with the works of our own hands. Balanced living, disciplined faith (prayer, worship & Word), and always serving in the center of God’s will is critical to not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought and continually trying to accomplish that which we may have never been assigned
high pastoral burnout is quite new I believe