The great resignation plaguing our nation is reaching into churches on an alarming level. New numbers released Tuesday from The Barna Group, the country’s foremost researcher on religion, show that two out of five pastors nationwide are seriously thinking about quitting the ministry.

Now the pressure is on for the church to help these leaders from joining millions who are walking away from their jobs during the pandemic. “We found a sub-group analysis that pastors in the ministry for 20 years or more were more likely to tell us they were considering quitting,” said David Kinnaman, president and CEO of The Barna Group.

“Also, younger pastors under 45 were the most likely to say they were considering quitting.” While studying the well-being of pastors, Barna Research found that 38 percent of pastors want to quit compared with 29 percent in January of 2021. Also, church attendance has softened quite a bit since the pandemic started.

“During and after the pandemic, one-third of practicing Christians disengaged from their congregation – just sort of stopped showing up.” Kinnaman said. More than 4,000 churches closed in America in 2020.

Over that same time, over 20,000 pastors left the ministry and 50 percent of current pastors say they would leave the ministry if they had another way of making a living. “I think the long-term effect of this is going to be a stronger church, but probably a smaller church,” Kinnaman said. READ MORE