Over recent months the Baptist Union website has carried a survey, prepared for the BMF by Brian Jones, Minister of Christ Church Woodloes Park LEP.  Brian’s article appears in the Journal, but as some of the charts and graphs are quite large, we’re publishing the full report here.

Brian begins the article:

If you are working as a minister either in a local church or in other places you and your family will certainly have first hand experience of the joys and heartaches involved. Anecdotal evidence abounds about what life can be like but what do ministers really think about their work, the impact of ministry on their personal life, their housing, finance and ongoing professional development?

If you are a member of the Baptist Ministers Fellowship you will know that you were invited by the Officers of the Fellowship to take part in their research study, ‘Life in Ministry’ by completing a ‘Life in Ministry’ Questionnaire giving you the opportunity to answer these questions. They were interested to know what Baptist ministers felt about the key features of life as a Baptist Minister and in particular whether there were any "pressure points" where changes might need to be made or support provided either by themselves or by drawing matters to the attention of the Baptist Union. It was also felt that the questionnaire would enable feedback from a wide spectrum of members and provide a general overview of satisfaction levels in current Baptist ministry.

And if you would like to see the charts and graphs referenced in the article