What Former Pastors Want You to Know

In 2004, The Pastors Institute received a grant from The Louisville Institute, a Lilly Endowment program for the study of American religion, to fund the project, “Murmurs From the Outside: What Former Pastors are Saying to the Church.” The project was designed to hear what exited pastors might say to the church and its institutions about pastoral education and support.

The two-year project focused on six pastor-attrition studies conducted in the United States in the last decade. The studies included reliable research by the J. M. Ormond Center at Duke University’s Divinity School, Hartford Seminary’s Institute for Religion Research, and Christianity Today International.

The Pastors Institute has developed a series of seminars which can be combined into a complete retreat that alert pastors to the need of forming and continuing patterns that will sustain effective ministry. This retreat gives pastors an opportunity to hear the collective voice of thousands of former pastors reviewing in a positive and up-to-date fashion what they believe were the forces resulting in their ineffectiveness.

1. “I have been impressed with the scope of Michael Ross’ knowledge about the issues pastors face and his insights about the theological and practical issues for clergy education and support.”

2. "Michael brings great enthusiasm to the classroom setting and encouragement for each student. His student evaluations are superb. Ninety-four percent of his students describe his teaching as excellent, far exceeding the university-wide average of 54%.

© The Pastors Institute, 2009