Few of us had any say over the impact COVID-19 first had on our lives. We kept our distance. We saw people less. We started working from home. We got familiar (or at least tried to get familiar) with Zoom and online ordering. Churches started offering services that people could attend digitally—because what other choice did they have?

Barna’s research suggests churches are still evolving to meet the new realities of a 'post-COVID' world But in the ensuing years, we have had more choice in how we face the ongoing impact. It’s tempting, of course, to try to get back to the way things were. Yet Barna’s research suggests churches are still evolving to meet the new realities of what some call a “post-COVID” world—and that’s particularly a struggle for their pastors.

As we’ve seen, Barna’s data tells a worrisome story about American pastors. Some of the most troubling parts of this story go far deeper than the feelings of individual pastors and into the leadership structures of the churches in which they serve. In addition to feeling overworked, pastors are isolated and unsure where to turn for help. They want to lead their church, but many are unclear on how much influence they actually have.

Overall, Barna found that 64 percent of pastors feel they have “strong influence” over the church’s direction. However, that number drops significantly if the pastor is under 45 (51%) or a woman (50%), which might help explain the high rates of systemic burnout we see among these groups.

In general, lagging confidence in one’s influence accompanies burnout. Three in four pastors who have not seriously considered quitting in the last year (73%) feel like they have a lot of influence over their church’s direction. Among pastors who have seriously considered quitting, that number is just 51 percent.

The number of pastors who feel supported by their board is dwindling For most pastors, that sense of influence and vision is worked out within a certain structure, typically a board of elders. According to Barna’s research, 78 percent of pastors report to a board of elders, which is consistent with the percentage from 2015. But the number of pastors who feel supported by their board is dwindling. Since 2015, among pastors who report to a board of elders, the proportion who feel that they and the elders have “clear and shared vision and values” has dropped from 57 percent to 48 percent. In 2015, 60 percent of pastors with this reporting structure said their relationship with the board was characterized by “healthy accountability.” In 2022, just 48 percent feel that way. And the number of pastors who felt their pastor-elders relationship was a “powerful partnership” dropped from 44 percent to 34 percent.

When we separate these responses by whether or not the respondents have seriously considered leaving the ministry in the last year, we see the enormous difference elder support may make. By and large, pastors who seriously considered quitting in the last year had a completely different experience with their board of elders compared to pastors who feel more secure in their role. Support, accountability, clarity, partnership and prayer are more common in pastor-elder environments where pastors are not contemplating quitting.

A stronger relationship with the board of elders could free a pastor to focus on the parts of the job that they find particularly satisfying. But in a rapidly changing culture, even those things seem likely to be disrupted.

When asked what they liked about being a pastor, respondents overwhelmingly highlight preaching and teaching, with 60 percent saying this is their favorite part of the job (in a distant second place is discipling believers, with 8 percent). Of course, through the pandemic, preaching and teaching began to look very different in many churches around the country. The early COVID era highlighted the need for pastors to think beyond preaching as the lodestone of their ministry and be intentional about what else their church provides to the local community.

Recent years may have amplified many pastors’ insecurities about what they have to offer their communities Broadly speaking, recent years may have amplified many pastors’ insecurities about what they have to offer their communities. In 2020, Barna found that pastors across the nation were facing a shocking surge in perceived gaps in their own training. In 2015, just 27 percent of pastors said they wished they’d been better prepared to handle conflict. In 2020, that number shot up to 40 percent. In 2015, 20 percent of pastors said they wished they were better prepared to delegate and train others. In 2020, 41 percent said the same. Sixteen percent of pastors said they wished they were better prepared to navigate church politics in 2015. By 2020, 36 percent of pastors said the same.

Since 2020, there has been a steadying in some of these numbers, though they are still well above 2015 levels. Barna has also begun polling about some new possible stressors, such as technology integration or crisis management, which the pastorate seems only moderately prepared for.

These jumps in common stressors are thrown into even sharper relief when controlled for age. Younger pastors more often than their older colleagues wish they’d had better preparation to handle issues like conflict (47% of pastors under 45 vs. 37% of pastors 45+), crisis management (32% vs. 15%) and leadership demands (29% vs. 17%).

As you might expect, pastors who have seriously thought about quitting the ministry over the last few years are more likely to say they feel unprepared for these challenges. Only 22 percent of pastors who have not considered quitting in the last year feel unprepared to deal with church politics; meanwhile, 38 percent of pastors who have considered quitting in the last year feel unprepared in this area. Only 9 percent of pastors who have not considered quitting say they feel unprepared to deal with high expectations from their congregants, compared to more than one-quarter of pastors who have considered quitting (28%).

The next generation of pastors says they feel unprepared for some of the biggest challenges facing the modern Church In short, the next generation of pastors says they feel unprepared for some of the biggest challenges facing the modern Church. Whether as a major contributor or a serious consequence, this sense of being unprepared is part of the growing epidemic of burnout.

Churches are suffering under the weight of an unprecedented era that brought a huge array of challenges into the scope of ministry responsibilities. While the immediate impact on this generation of pastors is evident, it is by no means clear that leadership systems are ready to evolve to a “new normal.”

This Resilient Pastor series is produced in partnership with World Vision, Brotherhood Mutual and Gloo.

About the Research:

- 2015 data: Barna conducted 901 interviews with Protestant senior pastors in the U.S. between April and December 2015. The interviews were conducted through a mix of online and phone. Quotas were set to ensure representation by denomination, church size and region. Minimal statistical weighting was applied to maximize representation and the margin of error is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.

- 2020 data: Barna conducted 408 online interviews with Protestant senior pastors in the U.S. from September 16–October 8, 2020. Quotas were set to ensure representation by denomination, church size and region. Minimal statistical weighting was applied to maximize representation and the sample error is +/- 4.8% at the 95% confidence level.

- 2022 data: Barna conducted 585 online interviews with Protestant senior pastors in the U.S. from September 6–16, 2022. Quotas were set to ensure representation by denomination, church size and region and oversampling was conducted to reach female senior pastors. Minimal statistical weighting was applied to maximize representation and the sample error is +/- 3.8% at the 95% confidence level.