Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing

February 18, 2005 by

Recently stats have been floating around the Internet that point to the difficulty of being a pastor, including numbers like the following:

  • “80% of pastors say that ministry has negatively affected their family.”
  • “70% say they do not have a close personal friend.”
  • “37% say they have been involved inappropriately with someone in their church.”
  • “70% say they have a lower self esteem than when they started in ministry.”

Let’s state up front that these numbers are not necessarily accurate. I eventually tracked some of the numbers to a 1984 study by Dr. Archibald D. Hart and Ph.D. student Rick Blackmon from Fuller Seminary. Before we go spreading these stats across the web, it’s important to know that they could be more than 20 years old—which brings their reliability into question.

But despite questions about their reliability, these and other statistics point to the problems the modern pastor faces. Leading a broken, stumbling body like the church is no picnic, and our pastors, priests and rectors deserve a lot of credit. They could also use a lot of help.

What have you done to help your pastor?


Consider pitching in:

  • Regularly pray for pastors and their needs.
  • If your pastor’s family includes kids, offer to baby sit so they can enjoy a night out.
  • Volunteer your talents to help not just the church, but your pastor as well. Maybe that’s overseeing your church’s marketing efforts so the pastor doesn’t have to, or maybe it’s offering to fix the brakes on your pastor’s car.
  • Take your pastor out to lunch.
  • When the church asks for volunteers—pitch in. Too often volunteer spots go unfilled and the overburdened pastor picks up the slack, leading to burnout.
  • Compliments: Everyone likes ‘em, even pastors. If you enjoyed the sermon, drop your pastor an e-mail. Even a small pat on the back can mean a lot.
  • Complain in private. If you do have a beef with your pastor, take it up in private. There’s nothing worse than gossiping behind their back.

And there’s plenty more you can do to support your pastor. Just use your imagination.

What does all this have to do with church marketing? While it’s not necessarily marketing in a promotional sense, it does help out your pastor, which enables them to do a better job, which in a broad sense is good for your church. In the end it’s good marketing.

(Note: The stats in question have appeared in various publications in various forms throughout the years. While I was not able to track down the original source material, I did hear from Dr. Archibald D. Hart who gave me some background on his 1984 study and mentioned some of the various publications that quoted his study. I’m not looking to prove or disprove the statistics, just to point out that they could be over 20 years old and of questionable reliability.)

Post By:

Kevin D. Hendricks


When Kevin isn't busy as the editor of Church Marketing Sucks, he runs his own writing and editing company, Monkey Outta Nowhere. Kevin has been blogging since 1998, runs the hyperlocal site West St. Paul Reader, and has published several books, including 137 Books in One Year: How to Fall in Love With Reading, The Stephanies and all of our church communication books.
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3 Responses to “Supporting Pastors Is Good For Marketing”

  • Scotwise
    February 20, 2005

    As a Pastor, this post encouraged me so much, it made my day! I have linked this post to my blog in the hope that it will encourage others to encourage their Pastors.
    God bless you and yours,
    John


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  • lowercase
    February 24, 2005

    support your pastors…

    i came across this great piece through paul benger… some thoughts about supporting your pastors… go on… give it go! :-) actually, on a serious note, if the stats provided are even close to being right, then it is no…


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  • Patience Dzifa Gabla
    June 29, 2007

    I have a pastor who is suffering so much because the church memebers are not in a good condition to be able to help he has supported so many people with the little that he have he is now left with nothing. I get so miserable any time i see him i am always praying that God will touch someone out there to support him one day he has raised 6 structures all were pulled down now we worship under a tree because the rain pulled down the 6th one we try to buy a land because we don’t have money do we built 36 pillars on the land it has been taken away by the estate developers. i am so disturb i just wish this man of God will have the opportunity to travel outside preaching in churches so that the little that he get he used to build the house of God.


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