Needs and challenges pastors report around friendship
Percent of pastors, 2024 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Need time for friendships and fellowship with others (69%). Lowest: Loneliness or lack of friendships is a most significant challenge (28%).
- Need time for friendships and fellowship with others: 69%
- Need time for relationships with other pastors: 64%
- Loneliness or lack of friendships is a most significant challenge: 28%
Source: Lifeway Research, Most Pastors Report Feeling Lonely · Article published 2024-04-30.
Get the chart, CSV, PNG and citation
Free account: full chart, CSV and PNG downloads, ready-to-paste citation, branded share image, and a discussion question for your team.
Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Highest: Need time for friendships and fellowship with others (69%). Lowest: Loneliness or lack of friendships is a most significant challenge (28%). Need time for friendships and fellowship with others: 69%. Need time for relationships with other pastors: 64%. Loneliness or lack of friendships is a most significant challenge: 28%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2024. Source: Lifeway Research, Most Pastors Report Feeling Lonely (https://research.lifeway.com/2024/04/30/most-pastors-report-feeling-lonely/).
Where can I get the full data and a citation?
Create a free Leader Insights account to open the full chart, download CSV or PNG, copy a citation and save the statistic to your own library.
More Pastors & Staff statistics
- Black Protestant clergy who support women's leadership in the Black church Public Religion Research Institute, 2026
- Decline in churches insuring their senior pastor Leader Insights, 2026
- Drop in pastors considering quitting since the 2022 peak Leader Insights, 2026
- Advice former pastors give to current pastors Lifeway Research, 2025
- Annual rate of pastors leaving for reasons other than retirement or death Lifeway Research, 2025
- Bivocational pastors by tradition Lifeway Research, 2025
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.