Recent research highlighted in Barna’s The Relationships of Today’s Pastors, reveals encouraging strengths—and areas for growth—when it comes to the health of today’s pastors.
While pastors demonstrate high flourishing scores in faith, finances and vocation, our data uncovers some concerning patterns: half of all pastors receive no professional support, and their lowest flourishing scores appear in areas where human connection matters most—relationships and well-being. (Learn more about how Barna measures flourishing under “About the Research” at the bottom of this page.)
These relational foundations are what shape pastoral life; we see in the data how a pastor’s relational health directly influences their ministry effectiveness and the communities they serve. So, how can the Church better care for pastors in ways that make a meaningful impact on their personal flourishing and ministry?
Here are five insights from the research:
For Spouses, Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Supportive Partner
When pastors feel their spouse understands their struggles, they are nearly 40-percentage points more likely to say it’s very true that they feel supported by their spouse in their role. Deep understanding from a spouse makes a lasting difference that extends beyond the marriage to a pastor’s vocational well-being.
For Congregations, Establish Marriage Support Systems for Your Pastor
Pastors’ marriages rarely receive counsel or support. Just 28 percent of pastors tell Barna that their church provides any support system for their marriage, yet 75 percent think it would be at least somewhat beneficial to have such support. Nearly all married pastors who have received church support for their marriage found it valuable (49% very beneficial, 38% somewhat beneficial).
For Pastors, Prioritize Life Balance in Your Closest Relationships
Many pastors don’t feel confident they spend enough time and attention with their spouse—and feel the weight of this lack. Only 28 percent of pastors say it’s very true that they’re satisfied with how much time they can dedicate to their marriage. And the more pastors struggle with life balance, the more guilt they carry about ministry’s impact on their marriage.
Having children under age 18 adds another layer of complexity. Pastors with children under 18 are significantly more likely to express dissatisfaction with the amount of attention they can give their spouse. This struggle may be typical of parents with kids under 18 in general, but it’s likely exacerbated by the encroachment of pastoral duties.
For Parachurch Leaders, Help Address the Professional Support Gap
Over half of pastors admit they don’t currently use any professional sources of support and guidance—including mentors, advisors, coaches or counselors. Men in ministry are more likely to fall short here, with 60 percent of male pastors using none of these options compared to 32 percent of female pastors.
For the Church at Large, Foster Continued Spiritual Support
One area showing consistent progress is spiritual support for pastors. The percentage of pastors frequently receiving spiritual support is trending upwards. From 2023 to 2024, the proportion of pastors getting personal spiritual support from mentors or peer networks climbed 10-percentage points (from 19% to 29%). This trend is especially pronounced among female pastors, rising from 57 percent to 75 percent in just two years.
Ministry is deeply rewarding but also deeply relational—and that’s where many pastors quietly struggle. One powerful way to support the pastors you know and love is to treat them as a person first, not just a leader. As the Church works to strengthen pastoral flourishing, the path forward is clear: pastors need what they are called to faithfully offer others—authentic relationships, consistent support and the assurance that they are known, valued and cared for not just as shepherds but as whole human beings on their own faith journey.
Read more about the state of today’s pastors in our recent State of the Church release, Pastoral Flourishing, available exclusively on Barna Access Plus.
This article draws from Barna’s report, The Relationships of Today’s Pastors. Learn more about this research and pre-order your copy of that journal.
About the Research
Dive deeper into this research in The Relationships of Today’s Pastors.
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.
2024 Data: Barna conducted 551 interviews with Protestant senior pastors in the U.S. from September 10–17, 2024. Quotas were set to ensure representation by denomination, church size and region. Minimal statistical weighting was applied to maximize representation, and the sample error is +/- 3.8 at the 95% confidence interval.
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.
