CHRISTIAN HEADLINES/ Michael Foust-
The political views of church members are a concern for more than one-third of America’s Protestant pastors, who also say members too often have “strong opinions about nonessentials,” according to a new Lifeway Research survey.
The poll of 1,000 Protestant pastors, released this month, found that 44 percent of ministers say they find “people’s political views” challenging to navigate. Nearly half of pastors (48 percent) said “people’s strong opinions about nonessentials” are also a challenge.
Both answers ranked higher than “people’s unrealistic expectations of the pastor” (35 percent) – a concern that pastors have had for decades.
The poll found that:
Pastors ages 18-44 (47 percent) were the most likely to say political views are a concern. Geographically, pastors in the Midwest (48 percent) and West (50 percent) were more likely to list political views as a concern than pastors in the South (40 percent).
Lutherans (54 percent), Methodists (48 percent), Presbyterian/Reformed (51 percent) and Christian/Church of Christ (51 percent) were more likely to select “people’s political views” than Baptists (35 percent) and Pentecostals (34 percent). Continue reading…
