October 9, 2009
Ed Stetzer Releases New Research on Pastors
The president of Lifeway Research spotlights how America's pastors feel about their calling--and more.
Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research and adviser to www.BuildingChurchLeaders.com, released new research on pastors, which will be published soon in our sister publication, Leadership:
Pastors still believe in the church
Almost all pastors--88 percent--strongly agree that "If I had a friend who wanted to make a difference, I would encourage him or her to do so through their church."
Pastors are investing in developing leaders--but the church may not be doing a good job at this
Among Lifeway's respondents, 67 percent say they “strongly agree” and 26 “somewhat agree” to "I am intentionally investing in leaders who will emerge over the next 10 years." However, those percentages drop (to 52 percent and 26 percent) for "The church does a good job fostering and developing new leaders." Maybe this explains why so many pastors agreed (38 percent strongly, 37 percent somewhat) that "Our church struggles to reach young adults."
Pastors feel they're fulfilling their calling
When asked to respond to "I am currently in a season where I am living out my calling and making a difference," 86 percent “strongly agree.” Lower but still strong percentages (53 percent "strongly agree" and 35 percent “somewhat agree”) respond to "I am satisfied with the way I am currently fulfilling my calling."
Pastors' roles and churches are changing
Lifeway asked for response to the intriguing statement: 10 years ago, I would not have expected to be in the ministry I am today. 30 percent “strongly agree” and 9 percent “somewhat agree.” And the future? "I expect to be in a very different role ten years from now" caused an almost even split:
33 percent strongly agree
23 percent somewhat agree
18 percent somewhat disagree
20 percent strongly disagree
And finally, "I expect my current church to look very different ten years from now": 57 percent strongly agree, 26 percent somewhat agree.
What is next? Lifeway is doing initial research of 7,000 churches; find out more at www.transformationalchurch.com.
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Posted by Kevin Miller on October 9, 2009
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Comments
I'm planning a new career. I will be doing research on Research Organizations. I think this could be a great way to make a decent living without actually working. It should be fairly easy to get started as there are so many research organizations out there (and we know that folks love to take surveys). I will begin my first survey with the following questions:
1. Do you still believe in surveys?
2. Do you believe that you are doing a good
job conducting surveys?
3. Do you think the role of surveys is
changing?
4. Are your surveys relevant to young
adults?
5. Are you willing to admit that 85% of
all statistics are made up?
Feeling rather fiesty today.
Posted by: Melody at October 10, 2009
With the utmost respect Rahab, your sentences don't make any sense. They read like you took a bunch of words, put them in a bag, shook it up and dumped them on a table and then wrote them down.
Posted by: Melody at October 12, 2009
I agree, surveys are surveys. You can achieve any answer you wish to promote as long as phrase the question correctly. Melody, my answers are:
1. No, 2. N/A, 3. I didn't ask, 4. depends on what answer I want to promote. Do you have a survey for Bapticostals?
Posted by: Lou at October 13, 2009
Lou, I can create a survey for any group you can imagine. It's how I'm going to make a living.
P.S. - what is the end result you would like? We can phrase the questions to fit any conclusion you want. Isn't that how the Apostles decided what to preach?
Posted by: Melody at October 14, 2009