Get to Know Your Free Will Baptist Pastors

By Danny Baer

Download the Executive Summary

Download the Pastoral Survey Infographic

With the goal to collect a variety of information to help denominational leaders better serve pastors and churches, the newly formed Committee on Denominational Research sent an invitation to participate in an online survey to pastors of churches in the National Association of Free Will Baptists by email and post card. As a result, we received 639 separate responses,*
resulting in a 3% margin of error for the survey at a 95% certainty level.

Demographics

Much of what we learned was of no surprise: our pastors are predominantly Caucasian (96%), speak English as their primary language (99%), are married to their first wife (94%) and have two-three children (65%).

We did discover 55% of our pastors are over 50 years of age, and 80% are over 40. This could indicate we will soon have a lack of preachers to fill our pulpits. However, we do not have earlier surveys to confirm the average age of our pastors is indeed increasing, and we do not have accurate statistics regarding preachers not yet pastoring but ready to assume that role. We need more data and research in this area.

It is impressive that, generally, our pastors have been ministering for some time. In fact, 35% began pastoring before age 25, and 76% before age 35. In addition, over 58% have pastored no more than two churches, and 34% of our pastors have pastored only one church.

Retirement

We found 78% of pastors have not opted out of the Social Security system with 12% of those wishing they had. On the other hand, 21% did opt out of Social Security with 28% of those wishing they had not.

We were also curious about how churches helped pastors and their retirement. We found 39% of our churches contribute toward their pastor’s retirement. We realize many of the bi-vocational pastors would have retirement through their employment outside of the pastorate. However, we would encourage all Free Will Baptist churches to contribute toward their pastor’s retirement.

One of most shocking responses was only 9% of pastors indicated they felt ready for retirement. Of the remaining pastors who responded, 36% said they are not ready for retirement, 33% said they are somewhat ready for retirement, and 11% are not sure. While 11% consider themselves already retired, over a third said they were not prepared for it.

Education

It is encouraging that 66% of our pastors have graduated from college and 29% from graduate school (20% with master’s degrees and 9% with doctoral degrees). A majority of the graduate degrees are from Bible colleges or seminaries.

It is clear our pastors are supportive of undergraduate biblical education. However, support for a biblical graduate education is not as evident. When asked to rate the importance of a Bible college/seminary degree on a scale of one to ten, over 50% of pastors gave a ranking of seven or above for an undergraduate degree, and 23% chose the highest rank of ten with a weighted average of 6.3. For a graduate degree, 64% gave a ranking of five or less with a weighted average of 4.7.

Study Habits and Personal Time

Over 85% of our pastors spend more than five hours a week studying for their sermons, with 25% spending 11 to 15 hours, and 29% spending more than 15 hours. Over 90% of our pastors utilize electronic sources in their sermon preparation.

Most of our pastors (93%) spend at least ten minutes a day in personal devotions with 26% in the 11- to 20-minute range, 35% in the 21- to 30-minute range, and 32% spending more than 30 minutes a day in devotions. Prayer time follows a close parallel to this same pattern. The majority (91%) spend over ten minutes in prayer, with 39% in the ten- to 20-minute range, 24% in the 21- to 30-minute range, and 28% over 30 minutes.

While this question was in no way meant to stir up controversy within our ranks, we thought it fitting to find out what pastors felt about the place of the King James Version of the Bible in preaching, teaching, and personal study. In response to that question, 10% believe the King James Version is the only version that should be used for preaching, teaching, and personal study; 25% feel the KJV is the only version we should use for preaching and teaching but consider other versions acceptable for personal study; and 65% of our pastors indicated other versions of the Bible are acceptable for both preaching and teaching.

Associational Meetings

About 66% of our pastors say they try to at least occasionally attend the National Association (39% yearly and 27% occasionally). Regarding state association meetings, 82% of pastors say they try to attend at least occasionally, with 68% attempting to do so yearly. Concerning local association meetings, 92% of our pastors say they try to attend at least occasionally with 82% attempting to attend each meeting.

When asked to rate the importance of these meetings from one to ten, 40% of the pastors gave the National Association a ranking of ten, with a weighted average of 7.8. Regarding state meetings, 37% chose the ranking of ten, with a weighted average of 7.7. Regarding local association meetings, 30% chose the ranking of ten, with a weighted average of 6.6.

We also asked, “How many times should a local association meet yearly?” Of those responding, 37% said two times per year, and 31% said four times per year. The remaining responses were as follows: once yearly (16%), three times yearly (11%), and more than four times yearly (2%).

Parting Thoughts

You may visit www.nafwb.org/research for more details regarding the results of this survey as well as information regarding future research of the Committee on Denominational Research.

*Many of the 808 emails were rejected by email servers and addresses were eliminated by the validation process. Finally, many postcards we mailed were returned. We deeply apologize if you are a pastor and did not receive an opportunity to complete a survey. Contact the Executive Office or associational clerk to update address information.

About the Writer: Dr. Danny Baer has been an ordained Free Will Baptist minister for over 40 years. He is academic dean at Southeastern FWB College and serves on the Board of Directors for FWB Board of Retirement. The Committee on Denominational Research—appointed by moderator Tim York at the 2018 FWB National Convention—currently consists of Dr. Danny Baer (Chair), Dr. Eddie Moody, Dr. Ron Hunter, Dr. Tim Eaton, Mark McPeak, Dr. Sarah Bracey, and Eric Thomsen. These efforts are funded by a $5,000 grant from Free Will Baptist Foundation.