1,500 Pastors Leaving Every Month

The following report appeared today on ChristianPost.com. This is an excerpt--to read the entire article, click here.

Falwell: Measurements of Success in Ministry Are Messed Up

By Lillian Kwon|Christian Post Reporter

Half of pastors would leave the ministry tomorrow if they could. Seventy percent are fighting depression and 90 percent can't cope with the challenge of ministry.

Those are the statistics Pastor Jonathan Falwell laid out to thousands of ministers who were in Lynchburg, Va., Tuesday for the "Refuel" conference.

The well-known pastor stated bluntly, "Something is wrong in ministry."

Citing surveys from such groups as Barna, LifeWay and Acts 29, Falwell lamented that 1,500 pastors walk away from ministry every month because of moral failure, burnout, conflict, discouragement or depression. He was also shocked to find that 80 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates will leave the ministry within their first five years.

Part of the problem, he indicated, is trying to make it to the big numbers and most influential lists or aiming for the most Twitter followers.

"I believe that we have self-imposed measurements of success that are skewed, that are wrong," said Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church – which is notably one of the largest churches in the country.

"The measurements of success are all messed up," he said.