Some time ago God Revealed that His Cross Matters is to be a ministry of Prayer, Encouragement and Compassion for Pastors. At the time we uncovered some startling statistics regarding the incredibly high number of Pastors that leave the ministry each day, week and month. The number of pastors who have given serious consideration to quitting full-time ministry has risen dramatically over the past couple years. Why are pastors so burned out? Stress, Isolation & Political Division Factor into Pastors’ Desire to Quit.
As of March 2022, the percentage of pastors who have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year sits at 42 percent. This is consistent with data from fall 2021 when Barna first reported on a sharp increase in pastoral burnout, and it confirms the growing number of pastors who are considering resignation—up 13 percentage points from 29 percent in January 2021 and in our opinion one Pastor stepping down is one too many. At the time I prayed my Moses prayer, “but God” however just recently God Said “it’s time”. This site has not had much done to it in a while but that is about to change. We are in the process of building a brand new site that will reflect the mission of His Cross Matters. Please be patient as it is a bit of a process to get it ready to launch.
In the mean time if you know of a pastor that is struggling or you are a pastor that is struggling please go to the contact page and reach out to us.
We also need prayer partners to join us in general prayer for pastors along with prayer for specific needs. Please fill out the contact form to apply for our prayer team.
A 2014 Forbes article entitled “Ranking The 9 Toughest Leadership Roles” claims the Pastorate ranks among some of the most difficult leadership positions. It’s right alongside, or even tougher than corporate CEOs, mayors and university presidents. We’ve heard it said that the toughest job in the World is President of the USA, followed by a university president with being a Pastor coming in a close 3rd. Pastors are often under scrutiny for every last thing they do or decision they make. We’ve had more than one tell us they thought a congregant was going to get in a physical confrontation with them. Being a pastor has been likened to death by a thousand paper cuts. We know of one pastor who’s house was bombed and his wife was gunned down in front of him and his children in their kitchen, all over a power struggle to control the church.
The average tenure for a pastor at a church is about 5 years. We have witnessed pastors not only walking away from the church but also turning their back on God.
I remember when I first came to Christ thinking how great it must be to be a Pastor and have it all together. I knew nothing of the intense spiritual warfare Pastors engage in as the attacks from satan are sometimes never ending. Years ago a Pastor told us about a member of the congregation on a flight, this was way back when they actually served a meal, and the guy next to her declined his meal. She commented to him trying to make conversation and he replied no he was not eating. Still trying to make conversation she continued to press and finally he told her, I’m a member of the church of satan and we are fasting and praying that the marriages of Christian Pastors would be destroyed. Turns out Pastors don’t necessarily have it all together and the pressures can be enormous most of the time
These circumstances and many others form the mission of His Cross Matters Ministries to minister with Love and Encouragement to Pastors and their family. More than anything we strive to be a safe haven for Pastors to talk and share their concerns without fear of judgment or gossip. I remember one specific time we were going through a really rough attack, I spent all day at work running things through my mind and I thought I had a great plan all worked out. I met an awesome Christian Brother for dinner and started spewing out my plan, he had this incredulous look on his face, and I realized as I heard it coming out of my mouth that it was all a bunch of rubbish. Sometimes just hearing ourselves say whats on our mind can really help us get a grasp on the situation.
We Need your help, a pop-up should have appeared when you opened the website, it allows you to join our prayer team if God is leading you to do so. If you have a pop-up blocker or just didn’t see the pop-up you may use the newsletter signup below, just put “Prayer Team” after your last name, or use our contact form and put “Prayer Team” in the “your message” box. We would like to have a prayer team that prays for Pastors in general as well as Specific requests as we become aware.