Christians generally believe that relationship is important in any Christian ministry. Even so, conflicts within the church (between the clergy and laity) remain a major issue. NECF Malaysia recently conducted a survey to uncover the dynamics of the pastor-congregation emotional relationship. The “Emotional Connection between Pastors and Congregation Survey” intends to measure the emotional connection between pastors and their congregations from the pastors’ perspective based on the following two hypotheses:
- Christians put their pastors on a spiritual pedestal, while at the same time, pastors put up a front to meet members’ expectation.
- In view of the nature of the pastoral ministry, a pastor may consciously or unconsciously feel the need to meet people’s expectation and ability to handle any situation in order to feel adequate. He must be in control of the church’s direction, its administration, the congregation’s welfare, as well as his personal life. In other words, he must portray the image of the man who’s got it all together. And to achieve this, he may unintentionally build walls around himself and his world to protect that image. Consequently, he appears to be stronger than he really is.
Altogether, 192 pastors responded to the survey, which was conducted last year from March to December by the NECF Research Department. The respondents graded statements according to a scale of strongly disagree, disagree, neutral, agree and strongly agree.
Among the responses are:
- 96% agree that congregations have high expectation from their pastors (57% strongly agree, less than 3% neutral)
- 87% agree that the ability to handle any situation is important (9.5% neutral)
- 83% think that a good pastor is someone who is able to show his congregation how to bring their lives under control (13% neutral)
- 76% say they are satisfied with their relationship with their congregations (17% neutral).
- 66% agree that the lack of recognition and appreciation is one of the greatest discouragements in pastoral ministry
- 65% agree irreconciliable differences are a common reason for people to discontinue the services of their pastors
- 64% agree that disagreement with leadership is often a cause for a pastor to leave the church
- 54% feel responsible if there is a high turnover in their respective churches
- 38% think that people leave the church because they feel the pastor does not care enough for them.
- 80% say they would still choose to be a pastor, given a choice
- 80% feel that they would rather be transparent with their congregations rather than build walls.
The complete survey result and analysis will be made available on the NECF website. |
