In many ways, pastors’ wellness is intertwined with their churches. These five church factors play a role in the pastor’s health.
By Aaron Earls
Many of the contributing factors to a pastor’s health are under the control of the pastor himself. Some congregational attributes, however, can lead to a pastor feeling healthier, according to the Hartford Institute on Religion Research.
The report from Hartford’s Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations study found U.S. clergy have well-being scores higher than Americans in general. On a scale of 0 to 10, pastors have an average score of 7.6, while the average U.S. adult scores 6.9 on a similar wellness study from Harvard.
As part of the clergy study, the report identified several church factors that led to higher well-being scores for pastors.
The denominational family only played a small role in pastoral wellness. According to the report, mainline and evangelical pastors “scored comparably to one another in the highest and lowest health categories with slightly more mainline in the ‘good’ wellness group [55% v. 46%] and more evangelical pastors in the ‘fair category’ [31% v. 20%] comparatively.”
On a scale of 0 to 10, pastors have an average score of 7.6, while the average U.S. adult scores 6.9 on a similar wellness study. Share on XOther congregational distinctives contributed more toward a pastor’s wellness. In many ways, a pastor’s health is intertwined with their church’s. These five factors related to the church play a role in the pastor’s health.
1. Church size
In general, the larger the church, the more likely the pastor is healthier. Four in 5 pastors at churches of more than 250 in worship attendance (80%) report good to great health and wellness scores. Pastors at congregations of 101 to 250 (68%) and 51 to 100 (75%) are slightly less likely to score in the top two categories.
Barely half of pastors with 50 or fewer in attendance (53%) have similar scores. Those smaller church pastors are—by far—the most likely to report fair (36%) or poor (11%) health scores.
2. Willingness to change
Previous reports from the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations study found fewer churches were willing to change to meet new challenges. While this directly impacts and predicts church health, it’s also a factor in the pastor’s health.
“Clergy who strongly agree that their congregations were willing to change were more likely to be in the highest health and wellness group as compared to their peers in contexts where congregants were less willing to change,” the report said.
Four in 5 pastors who strongly agree their church is willing to change report good (44%) or great (36%) health and wellness scores. Almost 3 in 5 pastors who strongly disagree about their church’s readiness to change have fair (22%) or poor (37%) health scores.
Four in 5 pastors who strongly agree their church is willing to change report good (44%) or great (36%) health and wellness scores, according to the Hartford Institute on Religion Research. Share on X3. Spiritual vitality and purpose
If a church is healthy and has a sense of direction and purpose, chances are their pastor does as well. “A greater percentage of clergy who strongly agree that their congregation had a clear mission or were spiritually vital fell into the highest health and wellness group as compared to clergy who agreed or disagreed on these congregational characteristics,” according to the report.
4. Conflict
Around 7 in 10 pastors say they have some conflict in their congregation. “While some level of conflict in a congregation can be positive and indicate growing pains, conflict is generally negatively related to a clergy’s well-being,” the report said.
Pastors without congregational conflict are more than twice as likely as their counterparts facing conflict to have great health scores (27% v. 12%). Those in churches with no conflict are also less likely to report scores in the fair (25% v. 28%) or poor (5% v. 8%) categories.
Pastors without congregational conflict are more than twice as likely as their counterparts facing conflict to have great health scores (27% v. 12%), according to the Hartford Institute on Religion Research. Share on X5. Post-pandemic strength
When asked to compare the overall vitality and strength of their church before the pandemic and now, around half of pastors (51%) said their congregation was stronger, 21% said about the same, and 28% said weaker.
Pastors who said their church was much stronger now than before the pandemic are far more likely than other pastors to report great wellness scores (33%) and much less likely to have fair (10%) or poor (1%) scores. Meanwhile, those who said their church was much weaker now are the least likely to have great health scores (1%) and the most likely to have scores that fall into the poor health category (18%).
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