In a 2005 survey by the Board of Pensions, the dropout rate among clergy in the first five years has nearly quadrupled compared to that in a study done in 1970.
Think about that. A person senses the call of God to be a pastor. He commits a lot of time and expense in being trained in response to that sense of call. He is invited by his denomination to be ordained and then called by a church to be their pastor. After all of that, within the first five years of ordination, the person leaves the ministry. While it is true that lots of persons leave the profession for which they were trained, an interesting dynamic is added to that when you factor in the sense of God’s call.
I’m going to take a break this week to attend a board meeting of the Presbytery Pastoral Care Network. While I am gone, find a moment to jot down five or more factors that you think might lead a person called and trained for the clergy to drop out in the first five years. When I return, I’ll list mine and then try to examine both why those factors lead to dropping out and what we can do to address them.
