Despite frustrations, few pastors leave pulpit annually: study

June 2, 2025

Record levels of pastors may have seriously considered leaving their full-time ministry during COVID-19 but only about 1% of them have actually called it quits according to Lifeway Research.

The Christian Post reports that a new Lifeway Research study conducted in early April of 2025 shows that the share of pastors who left their positions for reasons other than death or retirement has remained steady at just over 1% for nearly a decade.

The study, which surveyed 1,516 pastors serving in Evangelical or black Protestant churches was sponsored by Houston’s First Baptist Church and Richard Dockins, an occupational medicine physician.

Scott McConnell, the executive director of Lifeway Research, says the rate of pastors leaving their pastorate is quite low, given the demands of their position.

In a statement, McConnell said, “Many of those leaving the pastorate feel they are moving at God’s direction to another role of ministry. However, it’s easy for those outside and those inside the church to fixate on those who leave because of conflict, burnout or moral failure. Speculation always overstates these cases, yet these are the outcomes churches can seek to prevent.”

An October 2021 survey by Barna, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, showed nearly 38% of pastors surveyed said they were considering leaving their full-time ministry, up from just 29% of pastors who said they felt that way in January 2021.

According to the Christian Post, 58% of the pastors in the most recent study said they started their current roles within the past decade, while only 15% said they had been serving in their role for at least 25 years.

Among those pastors who stepped away from their jobs in the past decade, 7% said they took on a different ministry role and 3% reported working in a non-ministry role.

Roughly a quarter of those pastors who left their jobs said that they were pastoring another church.

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