Study results show mainline Protestant ministers are more likely to be furthering their education than evangelical ministers

(Original release date: March 7, 2005) Research results being released for the first time in the March/April edition of Facts & Trends magazine show most Protestant clergy are involved with continuing their education through classes and/or seminars, but that a majority feel their budget for additional education is insufficient. In addition, slightly under half say they are encouraged by their church’s leaders to continue their education using church time and/or funds.

The study, conducted by Ellison Research (Phoenix, Ariz.) among a representative sample of 860 Protestant church ministers nationwide, asked pastors about their participation in classes, conferences, and seminars, as well as their church’s budget for such activities.

Only 9% of all senior pastors had not attended any classes, conferences, or seminars in the last two years. The most common types attended were:

There are not many differences according to the size of the church the pastor is leading, but one significant difference is that continued education on the topics of church growth and leadership or management skills is less common among pastors in small churches than among those leading churches with 100 or more in regular attendance.

There are also relatively few differences by the pastor’s age or the church’s region of the country. Fifteen percent of pastors age 60 or older had not gone through any additional education in the last two years, compared to 8% of those under 60. Younger ministers are more likely than older ones to have focused on leadership or management skills as well as marriage and family ministry. Youth ministry and personal skills training are both particularly popular in the Northeast, while evangelism and outreach training is particularly popular in the South.

There are some significant differences according to denomination. The average minister has received continuing education on 3.6 different topics during the last two years; for Methodists, this is 4.5 different topics. Southern Baptists, also, are more likely than average to be trained on a variety of topics, with an average of 4.0 over the last two years.

Some topics are particularly popular in certain denominational groups. Church growth training, for example, is something undertaken by 70% of Methodist ministers and 60% of Southern Baptists, but just 44% of Presbyterians and 28% of Lutherans. Another example is that 62% of Southern Baptists have undergone education on evangelism or outreach, compared to just 33% of Pentecostal/charismatic pastors.

Even though most ministers have gone through seminars or classes, 36% say their church does not budget any money for this, and the average church that does budget for this reserves just $1,504 per year for continuing education for their senior pastor.

Half of the smallest churches have no money at all in their budget for training for the senior pastor (compared to 24% of churches with 100 – 199 people attending, and 16% of larger churches). Pentecostal and Baptist churches (other than Southern Baptist) are the least likely to budget for the pastor’s training, while Presbyterian and Lutheran churches are the most likely to do so. Overall, 82% of mainline churches have money in the budget for the pastor’s continued education, compared to just 62% of evangelical churches.

Among churches with more than one paid staff member, 74% budget funds for continuing education for staff other than the senior pastor (an average of $1,419 per church among those that do, although sometimes that amount is split among multiple staff members).

Only a minority of churches (32%) have any money budgeted for continuing education for key lay leaders, and the average for all lay leaders combined is under $1,200 annually.

Only 45% of pastors believe their budget for continued education is sufficient, while 55% call it insufficient. Lutherans (61%) and Presbyterians (56%) are more likely than clergy in other denominations to believe their budget for this is sufficient.

Among churches with multiple staff members, 46% of pastors feel their budget for continuing education of their staff is sufficient, while 54% call the budget insufficient.

Where pastors really think their budget is insufficient is in training for key lay leaders; just 27% feel they have a sufficient budget for this.

One additional issue is that many pastors aren’t being encouraged to further their education by leaders in the church (deacons, elders, board of directors, etc.). Forty-eight percent of all ministers say they are encouraged to continue their education using church time and/or funds. Another 8% say they are encouraged to further their education, as long as they use personal time and/or money to do so. Many (40%) say they are neither encouraged nor discouraged to continue their education, while 2% report being actively discouraged from doing so.

The smaller the church, the less likely the pastor is to be encouraged to further his or her education. Only 39% of ministers in small churches say they are encouraged to attend classes and seminars using church time and/or funds, compared to 55% in mid-size churches, and 64% in larger congregations.

The attitudes of church leadership toward pastoral education vary significantly by denomination. Most Presbyterian ministers are encouraged to further their education with church time or funds (73%), as are a majority of Methodists (57%) and half of Lutherans (51%). Pentecostals and Southern Baptists are the ones most likely to report ambivalence toward continued education by their church leadership. In general, there is far less encouragement to attend conferences and seminars in evangelical churches than in mainline Protestant churches; 39% of pastors in evangelical churches are encouraged to further their education using church time/money, compared to 64% in mainline churches.

Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, found it particularly noteworthy that not even half of all senior pastors are encouraged to further their education using church time or funds. “The ironic thing is that many laity still have the view that it’s the pastor’s job to do everything in the church, from growing the congregation to planning worship to being a youth leader, yet many don’t wish to equip their pastor to be better at doing any of those things,” Sellers noted. “Most people in business will tell you that the more skilled a CEO is, the better off that CEO’s company is. Pastors are essentially the CEOs of local churches. Why would you not want your CEO to be better trained and equipped?”

Sellers also suggested that the findings seem to support one common perception about mainline and evangelical pastors, but explode another one. “There’s a perception that evangelicals sometimes do not value formal education as much as mainline Protestants. Certainly this study shows mainline churches budgeting more money for training, putting more emphasis on this, and sending ministers to training on a greater variety of topics. There’s also a perception that certain topics are of greater interest to evangelicals – particularly small groups, church growth, church marketing, creative worship, and evangelism. But in all of these areas, mainline ministers were just as likely, and sometimes more likely, to attend classes or conferences as were evangelical ministers.”

Facts & Trends, where this study is being published, is designed to assist pastors, church staff and denominational leaders in their roles of ministry by informing them about LifeWay resources and how they relate to current issues in Christian ministry. It is published by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. For information about Facts & Trends, contact Chris Turner at 615-251-2307.

The study was conducted by Ellison Research, a marketing research company located in Phoenix, Arizona. The sample of 860 Protestant ministers included only those who are actively leading churches. The study’s total sample is accurate to within ±3.2 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level with a 50 percent response distribution.

The study was conducted in all 50 states, using a representative sample of pastors from all Protestant denominations. Respondents’ geography, church size, and denomination were carefully tracked to ensure appropriate representation and accuracy.

Classes, Conferences, and Seminars Attended All Small Medium Large Main-line Evangelical
None last two years 9% 13% 6% 3% 5% 9%
Church marketing/promotion 9 6 9 15 10 8
Church growth 52 48 54 60 55 50
Leadership/management skills 54 48 60 64 57 55
Discipleship/small group development 26 26 24 32 35 22
Children’s ministry 8 9 8 6 7 7
Youth ministry 11 13 8 9 14 10
Personal skills training 28 28 24 30 34 28
Financial management/fundraising 16 15 14 19 16 15
Evangelism/outreach training 45 44 42 50 43 47
Prayer/spiritual growth/renewal 49 51 48 45 58 48
Worship planning and ideas 24 22 24 30 37 20
Single adult ministry 1 -- 2 3 1 1
Marriage and family ministry 19 16 24 21 13 23
Multi-cultural ministry 6 4 6 10 10 4
Other topic/area 14 16 12 12 16 13

 

Classes, Conferences, and Seminars Attended Southern Baptist Other Baptist Meth-odist Luth-eran Pente-costal Presby-terian All Others
None last two years 8% 10% 6% 7% 10% 4% 12%
Church marketing/promotion 10 6 9 9 14 5 9
Church growth 60 50 70 28 54 44 46
Leadership/management 57 49 64 44 58 46 50
Discipleship/small groups 36 29 36 28 24 31 19
Children’s ministry 5 11 12 9 8 -- 6
Youth ministry 8 12 13 18 10 13 9
Personal skills training 28 18 40 29 24 28 24
Finances/fundraising 21 11 26 14 22 16 11
Evangelism/outreach 62 46 49 42 33 29 39
Worship planning and ideas 24 16 44 38 12 34 24
Single adult ministry 1 2 1 1 3 -- 1
Marriage/family ministry 21 24 13 12 29 4 16
Multi-cultural ministry 6 8 8 7 4 5 7
Other topic/area 11 18 7 25 9 18 15

 

Budgets and Encouragement All Small Medium Large Mainline Evangelical
Have no budget for the senior pastor’s education 36% 50% 24% 16% 18% 38%
Feel the budget for their education is insufficient 55 62 52 39 47 56
Position of church leaders:
-- encourage education using church time/funds 48 39 55 64 64 39
-- encourage education using pastor’s time/funds 8 12 3 5 7 8
-- not encouraged or discouraged either way 40 43 40 29 26 48
-- discouraged 2 2 1 2 2 2

 

Budgets and Encouragement Southern Baptist Other Baptist Methodist Lutheran Pente-costal Presby-terian All Others
Have no budget for the senior pastor’s education 27% 47% 24% 17% 51% 8% 37%
Feel the budget for their education is insufficient 53 60 53 39 60 44 54
Position of church leaders:              
-- encourage education using church time/funds 37 46 57 51 38 73 57
-- encourage education using pastor’s time/funds 8 8 8 6 9 2 10
-- not encouraged or discouraged either way 50 40 30 42 46 25 27
-- discouraged 4 3 2 -- 2 -- 2

 

Numbers may not add to exactly 100% due to rounding. "Don't know" responses are not shown.  The survey included all Protestant denominations, but the groups shown separately in the table above were the only ones with large-enough subsamples to examine separately.