ATTENTION PASTORS! - Request for Help on Research
Posted by: jpeters <jpeters@...>
Dear Fellow Pastors,
Do you realize:
--The average Protestant minister stays less than three years with a church. (westminister.com newsletter).
--The number of forced terminations reported in 2000 by 26 state SBC conventions was 987. (LifeWay News--August 2001, Charles Willis).
--23% of U.S. pastors say they have been fired at least once; 70 % said a faction (typically fewer than 10) forced them out; and 41 percent of congregations who have fired pastors have done this at least twice before.
(Clergy Killers, David L. MIller).
Men, this adds up to A LOT OF HURTING FAMILIES. Wouldn't it be great if we could find a way to curtail this kind of thing to some degree? This will happen only as we talk about the issue, record our findings, and seek ways to deal with the problem/s. This is where you come in.
My name is Jerry Hall. I was a Baptist pastor for twenty-five years. I resigned from the Pastorate in December 2001 and have been teaching in a Baptist University since January 2002.
I am presently working on my dissertation for the PhD in Organizational Leadership. The topic for my research deals with Clergy Turnover, Clergy Termination and Clergy Forced Resignation.
At this point I am considering using the "Case Study" as my method of research. This will require that I have three groups of men who are willing to provide information about their ministry experiences:
1) A group of Pastors who have NEVER been fired NOR forced to resign.
2) A group of Pastors who have not been fired but have been forced to resign a church or churches.
3) A group of Pastors who have not been forced to resign but have been fired directly by a church or churches.
Involvement in the research will entail the following:
1) A willingness to complete a Demographics questionnaire providing basic information about yourself and the church or churches you have served. This would include such things as: Age, formal Education level, how long you have served with churches, denominational affiliation, size church/es, etc.
2) A willingness to undergo a personal interview by me to talk about being fired or forced to resign a church or churches.
3) A willingness to complete a "Leadership Style" inventory that will indicate the leadership style that you generally use.
4) A willingness to sign a "release statement" giving me permission to use the information you provide for research data purposes.
NOTE: While all the data will be used to satisfy the needs of the research, rest assurred that NO information about the Pastors or the Church/es you serve/d will be revealed in such a way as to violate your privacy or that of the church/es.
I will be happy to provide any Pastor, who assists in the research and who wants it, a copy of the research findings when the dissertation is complete (which must be within the next 14 months).
I am estimating that filling out the questionnaire, doing the Leadership Style inventory, and doing the interview will take about two hours -- maybe a little less.
Please email me personally at JHall43@aol.com if you are willing to help with this. It is crucial that we find some answers and remedies. There are too many families being terribly hurt by Clergy Terminations.
I hope to hear from you soon. God bless,
Jerry Hall