Thom Rainer: Ten Things Pastors Like Least about Their Jobs

Let me state the obvious: Pastors are humans. That means they have preferences, likes, and dislikes. So I did an unscientific Twitter poll to find out what pastors really don’t like about their jobs. By the way, one pastor cautioned me about calling their ministries “jobs.” I understand, but it’s hard to fit “God-called vocation and ministry” into a 140-character Twitter question.

I was surprised at the variety of responses. Pastors are certainly not monolithic. No one response was greater than 20 percent of the total. And I was surprised at some potential responses that did not show up. For example, as an introverted pastor, I liked counseling the least of all the work I did. But no pastors mentioned counseling as a least-liked aspect of their jobs.

Here are the top ten responses. They are listed in order of frequency of response. Read more