The health of a pastor greatly influences the health of a congregation, amplifying the importance of pastoral flourishing. Today’s pastors are balancing the demands of spiritual leadership, church management, relational acumen and personal wholeness, among a host of other responsibilities. So, how are they doing?
All things considered, today’s pastors are faring well. Based on Barna’s dimensions of flourishing, their combined flourishing score exceeds the U.S. adult population (76 vs. 71, when scored out of 100). This overall score, however, masks a more complex reality. (See an explanation of Barna’s dimensions of flourishing at the bottom of this page under “About the Research.”)
Looking at specific categories, we see that pastors’ flourishing scores fluctuate, sometimes significantly higher—or lower—than the flourishing of the general population and the practicing Christians they shepherd.
The Bright Spots
Faith: As one might expect, pastors report being strong in their faith. This type of flourishing—based on two items measuring the priority one places on following Jesus and the Bible—outpaces the general population by a wide margin (28 points). Pastors’ faith score is on par, however, with practicing Christians (91 vs. 92).
Finances: Pastors also demonstrate surprising strength in financial flourishing. Despite modest incomes (the national average salary for senior and solo pastors is around $76,782), pastors outscore U.S. adults by 8 points in this dimension. Read more about financial flourishing among pastors in the fourth article below.
Vocation: Additionally, pastors score higher than average in vocational flourishing (82), reflecting a strong sense of purpose and meaning in their work.
Room for Improvement
Younger pastors: Pastors ages 50+ score notably higher in overall flourishing (78) compared to their younger counterparts (74), with particularly pronounced differences in vocational satisfaction and well-being. Similarly, pastors of color report higher levels of faith flourishing and overall flourishing compared to their white colleagues.
Health: Physical, emotional and mental health among pastors is lower than the general population (69 vs. 73) and notably behind practicing Christians (79). This is especially alarming since a leader’s wholeness is intertwined with their ministry, for better or for worse. Barna researchers have observed a strong link between pastors’ falling conviction in their vocational calling and a drop in their overall mental, emotional and even physical well-being. Pastors with diminished well-being may have a higher risk of burnout.
Relationships: Perhaps most concerning is that pastors may be misidentifying their greatest needs. Despite scoring lowest in relationships (67) and well-being (69), pastors are most likely to say they need help with leadership development, spiritual growth and finances—areas where they already demonstrate relative strength.
Read more about how today’s pastors are faring in our recent State of the Church release, Pastoral Flourishing, available exclusively on Barna Access Plus.
About the Research
The Dimensions of Flourishing: When we talk about “flourishing,” we’re referring to how individuals score on the essential components of a flourishing life: relationships, vocation, finances, health and faith. These areas are each scored on a scale of 0 to 100. In previous research, these are called Barna’s five dimensions of flourishing.
Based on work from the Harvard Center for Human Flourishing and in collaboration with Gloo, we’ve expanded our human flourishing framework to now look at seven dimensions of whole-person well-being: faith, relationships, purpose, health (mental and physical), finances, character and contentment. Explore the seven dimensions of human flourishing you’ll see in future State of the Church research.
Flourishing Data: Barna conducted n=3,508 online interviews with U.S. adults from August 16–29, 2024. Quotas were set to ensure representation by age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, region and income, and this study included an oversample of ethnic minorities. Minimal statistical weighting was applied to maximize representation and the sample error is +/- 1.5% at the 95% confidence interval.
