In March of 2022, Barna did a study of pastors in the U.S. and found that over 40% said that they had seriously considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year, a marked increase over the year before.

What's going on? Why are so many pastors struggling so deeply? And what does this mean for the evangelical church moving forward?

In our interview today, I'm talking with Peter Orr about why he thinks we're facing a pastoral crisis

and what regular Christians can do to help stem the tide of pastoral burnout.

Peter is a New Testament lecturer at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, and the author

of Fight for Your Pastor from Crossway.

Let's get started.

Well, Peter, thank you so much for joining me today on the Crossway podcast.

Thanks, Matt.

It's great to be with you.

So you open your new book with what I would consider to be a pretty sobering quote from a pastor that you know, but you don't share his name.

And it's actually a rhetorical question. You write, or he writes, is there a day that goes by when I don't wonder how to get out of ministry?

So I guess this is my first question.

Is that a common feeling that you think many pastors wrestle with on a regular basis?

Yeah, that's a great question.

What prompted me to write the book was talking to friends who are pastors,

and more than one expressed something similar to that, that friend's feeling about pastoral ministry. So that's one thing,

but then also looking a little bit more globally, online, just seeing things on the internet,

that there seems to be a greater number than usual of

pastors pulling away from from the ministry so sadly i i think that is that sentiment that my

friend expressed is not is not unusual or unique and it seems to be increasing in frequency

the pastors are feeling that intensely the struggle of the role.

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