Expectations and fit at last church: current versus former pastors
Percent of current Protestant pastors and of former pastors, 2025 (in percent)
Key finding
- Church accurately described beforehand: 68%
- Has a document outlining church expectations: 72%
- Church has unrealistic expectations: 19%
Source: Lifeway Research, Research Reveals Factors Causing Pastors to Say, ‘I Quit’ · Lifeway Research comparison of current Protestant pastors and former pastors. Article published 2025-09-16.
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Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Church accurately described beforehand: 68%. Has a document outlining church expectations: 72%. Church has unrealistic expectations: 19%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2025. Source: Lifeway Research, Research Reveals Factors Causing Pastors to Say, ‘I Quit’ (https://research.lifeway.com/2025/09/16/research-reveals-factors-in-pastors-quitting/).
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More Pastors & Staff statistics
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- Decline in churches insuring their senior pastor Leader Insights, 2026
- Drop in pastors considering quitting since the 2022 peak Leader Insights, 2026
- Evangelical pastors with some income outside of church work Lifeway Research, 2026
- Meaningful friendships among rural pastors Lifeway Research, 2026
- Other full-time ministers' pay after inflation Leader Insights, 2026
About this data
Leader Insights collects statistics about U.S. churches from published research by organizations such as Lifeway Research, Barna Group, Springtide, the American Bible Society and PRRI. Every number is checked against the wording of the original source before it is published, and each statistic links back to the study it came from. Figures are reproduced from the publishers named above; see the source for full methodology.