This is interesting, eye opening ----It's why we need Cowboy Church !!--- The traditional Church is not working..................

****************************************************************************************

 

The Ministry of Encouragement

Pastors today are faced with more work, more problems, and more stress than any other time in the history of the church. This is taking a frightening toll on the ministry, shown by the following statistics: Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention in their churches. Four thousand new churches begin each year, but over seven thousand churches close. Fifty percent of pastors' marriages end in divorce. Eighty percent of pastors and eighty-four percent of their spouses feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as pastors. Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living. Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years. Ninety percent of pastors said their seminary or Bible school training did only a fair to poor job preparing them for ministry. Eighty-five percent of pastors said their greatest problem is they are sick and tired of dealing with problem people, such as disgruntled elders, deacons, worship leaders, worship teams, board members, and associate pastors. Ninety percent said the hardest thing about ministry is dealing with uncooperative people. Seventy percent of pastors feel grossly underpaid. Ninety percent said the ministry was completely different than what they thought it would be before they entered the ministry. Seventy percent felt God called them to pastoral ministry before their ministry began, but after three years of ministry, only fifty percent still felt called.