Pastors serving their first church as senior pastor
Percent of pastors whose current church is their first as senior pastor, by tradition, 2025 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Black Protestant (61%). Lowest: Mainline (41%).
- Black Protestant: 61%
- Evangelical: 50%
- Mainline: 41%
Source: Lifeway Research, Pastors in Different Protestant Traditions Face Unique Challenges · Mixed-mode survey of 387 mainline pastors and 1,516 evangelical and Black Protestant pastors, April 1 - May 8, 2025. Article published 2025-07-23.
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Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Highest: Black Protestant (61%). Lowest: Mainline (41%). Black Protestant: 61%. Evangelical: 50%. Mainline: 41%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2025. Source: Lifeway Research, Pastors in Different Protestant Traditions Face Unique Challenges (https://research.lifeway.com/2025/07/23/pastors-in-different-protestant-traditions-face-unique-challenges/).
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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.