Pastoral Family Life...

New Study Reveals Effects of Pastorship on Family Life

A new study revealed that six out of every 10 ministers said their role as a pastor left them with insufficient time for their family.

A new study conducted for one of the world’s largest providers of Christian products and services reports that pastors see their own families as fairly healthy even though they believe their job limits the time they spend with their family.

While eighty-eight percent of churchgoers often expect pastors’ families to be "better than" other families, six out of every ten ministers said their role as a pastor left them with insufficient time for their family, according to the study conducted by Ellison Research of Phoenix, Ariz. for LifeWay Christian Resources.

The study, which was first published in the July/August issue of Facts & Trends magazine, revealed that 93 percent of all pastors believe there is extra pressure being married to a minister (54 percent feel this strongly), and 91 percent feel there is extra pressure being the child of a minister (46 percent feel this way strongly).

Meanwhile, only 18 percent said the amount of time they had to spend with their spouse was at extremely healthy levels, and 10 percent said this about the amount of time they get to spend with their children.

Despite this, when asked to rate the health of their relationship with their spouse on a scale of 1 to 5, 47 percent of pastors gave the highest possible rating, while 39 percent gave a rating of 4. Similarly, 44 percent of ministers rated the health of their relationship with their children at a 5, while 42 rated it at a 4.

However, ministers who have been divorced did report a less healthy relationship with their children and a lower family health rating than other pastors.

According to LifeWay, the study was conducted among a sample of 870 senior pastors, of which eighty percent had only been married once, while 12 percent had been divorced and remarried. Ninety-three percent were reported as having children. Fourteen percent have fathers who were ministers.

With all of the extra pressure on pastors’ families, and the limitations on the time pastors get to spend with their families, one of the more relevant findings of the study was that 61 percent of ministers believed strongly that if there were a crisis in their family, they would receive the necessary support from their church.

Another 33 percent felt only somewhat confident they would get the support they need; while 6 percent felt no confidence their church would support them in a family crisis.