Rural pastors' sense of calling to their setting
Percent of rural Protestant pastors, 2025 (in percent)
Key finding
Highest: Called to their specific church in a small town or rural area (63%). Lowest: Not sure (5%).
- Called to their specific church in a small town or rural area: 63%
- Called to rural places: 24%
- No specific calling to that context: 9%
Source: Lifeway Research, Rural Church Pastors Face Obstacles With Optimism · Phone survey of 1,003 Protestant pastors; 95% confidence, margin of error plus or minus 3.3%. Article published 2025-10-23.
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Questions about this statistic
What does this statistic show?
Highest: Called to their specific church in a small town or rural area (63%). Lowest: Not sure (5%). Called to their specific church in a small town or rural area: 63%. Called to rural places: 24%. No specific calling to that context: 9%.
Who published this data?
Lifeway Research, 2025. Source: Lifeway Research, Rural Church Pastors Face Obstacles With Optimism (https://research.lifeway.com/2025/10/23/rural-church-pastors-face-obstacles-with-optimism/).
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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.