On the heels of a contentious presidential election, it’s difficult to discuss trends in church leadership without acknowledging the national context—and the significant pressure it adds to ministry.
For the most part, the general public does not want clergy to weigh in on political and social issues. One-quarter of respondents ages 13+ (25%) say they would be uninterested in learning about this topic from a pastor or priest, making this the top issue they don’t want church leaders to cover. Interestingly, this holds true across people who self-identify as Christian and those who don’t, or even across practicing Christians and people of no faith; among all of these groups, about one in four says they would be uninterested in hearing clergy speak on social and political issues. And even for practicing Christians, a more devoted cohort, this is the main topic area where they would not welcome pastors and priests to chime in.
Even if it’s not coming up in their teachings, politics looms large over pastors’ work ...
