Over the last four weeks, Barna has been checking in weekly on the state of pastors, their families and their congregants in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis through national pastor panel surveys. In addition to these weekly check-ins, each Monday, Carey Nieuwhof and David Kinnaman, accompanied by expert guests and fellow church leaders, have presented and commented on the survey findings during a live broadcast of the ChurchPulse Weekly podcast.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the trends we’ve consistently tracked over the last month—the well-being of pastors and their people, when pastors believe they can return to worship in their usual location and the state of virtual attendance and online giving. You can watch the latest broadcast of ChurchPulse Weekly here, or, come Thursday (April 16, 2020), you can listen to the most recent episode wherever you get your podcasts.
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Overall, pastors and their congregants are holding steady despite current disruptions
This week (April 7-13) saw little change in the well-being of pastors, with 42 percent noting they are doing “very good” (vs. 36% last week), 44 percent “good” (vs. 49%) and 14 percent continuing to report they are “okay.” Just 1 percent answered “poor” (vs. 2% last week).
To the best of their knowledge, exactly one in 10 pastors (10%) reports that the people in their church are doing “very good,” while another seven in 10 (68%) say their congregants are doing “good,” a percentage that has risen significantly since last week (60%). Nearly a quarter of U.S. clergy (23%) reports their people are “okay,” another proportion that has seen significant change since last week (31%).
