Though some churchgoers might prefer their pastor to be kind, confident, humble, bold or motivating when preaching from the pulpit, the one trait they crave most is honesty, according to a new study from Barna.
The study, conducted from Dec. 13-22, 2024, with 2,005 adults and teenagers, asked respondents to imagine listening to the sermon of a Christian pastor or priest and then select from a list of 15 traits, or none of them at all, by importance when preaching, and honesty topped the list.
With 11% more support than the next best trait — knowledge — honesty was selected as the top trait by 48% of respondents.
The other traits selected by order of importance were: knowledge, 37%; compassion, 36%; kindness, 33%; trustworthiness, 32%; humility, 25%; motivating, 23%; confidence, 21%; relevance, 17%; powerful, 16%; generosity, 15%; objectivity, 12%; directness, 10%; involved, 9%; and boldness, 7%; and none of the above, 10%.
“Above all, our research suggests that people want pastors to be real,” Barna researchers noted.
“Our research finds that people think it’s more important for a pastor to be honest about their doubts than certain about their beliefs. This also holds true across age demographics, regardless of belief. It’s fair to assume that most people are aware pastors don’t have all the answers and don’t even necessarily want them to,” researchers added. “They’d rather have someone who can relate to them as they process their own questions and uncertainties.”
The study comes as many pastors have been shown to struggle with their jobs, data from an earlier Barna survey show. In 2022, just 35% of pastors said they were “more confident” in their calling than they had been when they started in ministry. As the world was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing lockdowns in 2022, some Christian denominations, such as the progressive, LGBT-affirming Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, reported that they were already in the throes of a succession crisis with a national shortage of "at least 600" pastors.
Those struggles abated somewhat in 2023, when the share of pastors who said they are “more confident” in their calling than when they started ministry increased to 51%. Another 39% said they are “just as confident.” The share of pastors who said they were “less confident” in their calling also fell from 14% in 2022 to 9% in 2023.
More than half of male pastors, 51%, and female pastors, 53%, as well as pastors over age 45, 52%, reported being confident in their role. Some 50% of pastors younger than 45 felt the same. The share of pastors who said they're “very satisfied” also jumped 7 percentage points between 2022 and 2023, from 52% to 59%.
Still, only a minority of younger pastors, 38%, and female pastors, 32%, had this change of heart about being a pastor.
“Age and gender discrepancies have long lingered within job satisfaction among pastors, and it seems the recent rebound has done little to narrow these gaps,” researchers said.
The latest insight about the value people place on honesty from the pulpit could be a game changer in ministry, according to Barna researchers.
“There is a personal, powerful way forward for pastors in this country to lead their churches and their communities. Perhaps it is helpful to see that pastors’ collective obstacles in cultural leadership may be solved not by focusing on the culture at large but by attending carefully to a pastor’s own immediate sphere of influence,” researchers noted.
“The opportunities are as real as the challenges for those churches that are willing to change course as needed, empower their pastors to do good for their communities, and reach the people around them with compassion and authenticity.”
