Clergy Happiness and the Satisfaction of Ministry
Clergy happiness topped a Time survey, prompting reflection on whether that rings true for ministers in our fellowship. While ministry carries unrelenting pressures, long-term satisfaction often comes from serving others, sharing truth, and offering hope in Jesus’ name.
- Clergy ranked as the happiest workers in a Time survey, but the finding wasn’t explored in the feature.
- Some ministers feel weighed down by competing demands and leadership pressures.
- Lasting fulfillment in ministry often comes through meeting real needs and offering hope in Jesus’ name.
By Mark A. Taylor
Clergy and happiness
According to Time, members of the clergy are the happiest workers in America. The magazine’s November 26 feature, “One Day in America,” included a chart rating the happiest people, by job, in the country; 67 percent of the clergy surveyed said they’re “very happy.”
In 12 pages of photos and commentary, Time failed to examine or explain this finding. Firefighters were the second-happiest workers on the chart, and Time published a photo of a fireman lounging in front of a big-screen TV between calls. But there were no pictures of ministers preaching or studying or interacting with church members. (No pictures of ministers watching TV, either!)
Time’s survey included priests and rabbis and clergypersons from every variety of religious practice. But I wonder about ministers reading CHRISTIAN STANDARD or attending the National Missionary Convention. Would two-thirds of ministers in our fellowship say they’re “very happy” with their life and their jobs?
The pressures and the payoff of ministry
In the last few years we’ve published several essays from ministers who seem burdened by their work. They spoke of the pressures on a leader responsible for building a church. They bemoaned the conflicting demands placed upon them from the diverse publics they serve. They longed for days spent studying, teaching, and shepherding instead of managing staff, motivating volunteers, and balancing budgets.
The Time survey suggests these ministers, most of them leading megachurches, are not typical. The “Average Joes” in this week’s issue are closer to the norm.
Not that any ministry is without pressure. Lessons and sermons must be prepared 52 weeks of every year. Conflicts must be resolved. Sickness and sin must be tended to. There’s no end to the service our broken world needs.
But those who stick with ministry for a lifetime find great satisfaction in binding up such wounds. They share truth, they mentor, they help. Both firemen and effective ministers have found that crisis can be energizing when one has the means to quench it.
This can and does happen in churches of all sizes, of course. But maybe it’s seen most among unsung heroes outside the spotlight, compelled by needs around them more than some urge to exercise their gifts. (Notice how often this week’s heroes served in spite of the inability they saw in themselves.)
Nothing brings more satisfaction than meeting the needs of other people, and ministers get to do this in Jesus’ name. When we offer the hope found only in him, we touch the deepest longings in those we serve. And what could be more fulfilling than that?
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
