Journal for the Liberal Arts and Sciences 13(3) 112 Keeping Your Pastor: An Emerging Challenge

Senior Pastors are dropping out of ministry, being fired or forced out of ministry in record numbers, thus placing ministry as a profession in great jeopardy. A Duke University study found that eighty-five percent of seminary graduates entering the ministry leave within five years and 90 % of all pastors will not stay to retirement (Kanipe, 2007, n.p.). This study also found that the North Georgia clergy attrition rate ran as high as 90 % for those having served 20 years or more. These ministers apparently left to preserve what was left of their families, their sanity, their health and their faith (Kanipe). These statistics further indicate a poor professional prognosis for seminary students and highly suggest an urgent need for interventions. Less clear is what interventions can most positively impact the professional experience of ministers and result in success in their chosen profession. One area to explore, however, is management skill training for all seminary students in relation to the dropout rate and termination of senior ministers. Terminations and Dropout Rates Various researchers have noted the crisis facing ministry in the United States. Ministry as a profession is in jeopardy. According to studies by the Alban Institute and Fuller Seminary, 50 % of ministers drop out of ministry within the first five years and many never to go back to church again (Meek et al., 2003