BOULDER, Colo. (BP) — Politics is the topic Americans are least interested in hearing ministers address and is among the top three topics pastors feel least equipped to handle, Barna and Gloo found in a study conducted in advance of the contentious 2024 U.S. elections.
When given a choice of nine topics they’d rather not hear about, 25% of study participants chose “perspectives on social and political issues” — the largest percentage for any topic — equal to 25% for “dating” and comparable to 19% for “singleness.”
Among pastors, 45% chose “politics and civic engagement” among the topics they’re not equipped to address.
“These sentiments are undoubtedly not new, though they may feel pronounced in the present political environment,” researchers wrote. “It’s clear that, like it or not, national politics are a factor in a ministry vocation — which is something pastors (and those who educate, support or mentor them) could be better prepared to navigate.”
Even more pastors, 52%, said they felt ill-equipped to address “social justice and equality” as well as “multiculturalism and diversity.”
The findings are part of the latest release in State of the Church 2025, an initiative the technology platform Gloo and Barna Group researchers launched in October to help ministers, ministries and churches flourish and thrive. An initial launch in 2020 was repurposed to help churches thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“State of the Church 2025 is a new vision, a new way of thinking about the oldest work that we could be called to — building Jesus’ work in the world,” Barna Group CEO David Kinnaman said in announcing the results Nov. 14. “As we listen to church leaders and analyze the data, it’s clear that leaders need new methods and resources to advance their mission. That’s why we’re excited to share regular research, stories, and measurement tools that help Christian leaders understand the current social and spiritual trends in the Church and in their own contexts.”
The November release from the State of the Church 2025 primarily addresses trends in leadership, pinpointing six trends said to signify a pivotal moment in church leadership after the COVID-19 pandemic era.
Among top trends identified:
1) A tricky mix of politics and pastoring.
While both Christians and non-Christians over the age of 13 don’t want to hear pastors address politics, the subject looms large over pastors’ work, researchers found. A third of pastors, 33%, said political division has adversely impacted their credibility, and in 2022’s height of pastoral burnout, “current political divisions” was the third most-cited reason (38%) pastors were considering quitting.
Today, only a fifth of pastors say they are equipped to lead on politics and civic engagement.
“In summary, pastors are dealing with the fallout of political polarization and pressure to be a guiding voice on tough topics — all while feeling ill-equipped for the task,” researchers wrote.
2) Adult church members trust their leaders.
While the hypocrisy of religious people is a primary barrier to belief in Christianity, those already in church tend to trust church leaders and the communication they disseminate. Among practicing Christians, two-thirds rate their church highly (ranking it 9 or 10 on a scale of 1-10) for trusted leaders and clear communication, researchers said.
3)Pastors say success is not about church size.
Only 8% of pastors see attendance and membership as good metrics for church success. Rather, 92% judge success by attendees’ depth of engagement and commitment.
4) Pastors feel less prepared than roughly a decade ago.
In 2015, more than half of pastors felt their knowledge, strengths and giftedness were well-matched to their jobs. Today, just 38% say the tasks they spend the most time on fit “very well” with their giftedness.
5) Younger pastors are optimistic but exhausted.
In the last three months before the information was collected, only 28% of pastors under 45 “frequently” felt energized by their jobs (compared to 56% of older pastors) and only 49% felt supported by their communities (compared to 59% of older pastors.) Still, 51% of younger pastors felt motivated to become better leaders, trailing older pastors by just 2 percentage points.
6) A cracking church leadership pipeline.
Continuing a pattern Barna cited in 2017, the number of young individuals entering the pastorate is not adequate to compensate for those aging out of the ministry. Today, 13% of Protestant senior pastors are 40 years old or younger, with pastors averaging 52 years old.
“As a generation of clergy ages and prepares to step down, it is not clear that churches are prepared for the transition,” researchers wrote. “If this trend goes unaddressed, the Church in the U.S. will face a real succession crisis, one that could be compounded by younger pastors’ more frequent struggle with burnout.”
Barna and Gloo will provide monthly findings from the data drawn from research based on several studies, including 523 online interviews with Protestant senior pastors between Aug. 28-Sept. 18, 2023; 584 online interviews with Protestant senior pastors Sept. 6-16, 2022; and 901 online and phone interviews with Protestant senior pastors between April and December 2015. In addition, Barna collected data from 1,003 adults Sept. 16-Oct. 4, 2021; 1,000 adults April 28-May 5, 2020; and 1,093 adults Nov. 11-19, 2019.
Full findings are available on Barna Access Plus, Barna’s subscription-based research library.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)
