Would you spare five minutes to help a friend of mine help pastors (even yours) improve their marriage?
As you know, Christian leaders are often misunderstood folks who carry a ton of stress to engage their callings as ministers every day.
This is just a small and tangible way you can help give back.
Mike Hughes is a pastor in Florida who’s conducting graduate-level research regarding the impact of marital stressors on the pastor and his family.
The anonymous survey takes only 5-10 minutes to complete.
Two ways you can help:
1. If you’re a married male pastor in a tradition church setting, this survey is for you. There is a separate survey for the pastor and another one for his wife.
Here is the link to the survey.
2. If you don’t fit the above category, would you please forward this blog to at least one male pastor on staff at your church? Your strong encouragement to complete the survey is likely all it would take for him to agree.
Either way, this research is important and will help make a difference in our understanding how best to help ministers effectively address marital stress.
On behalf of those who shepherd ministry folks on a regular basis, thanks in advance for your help!
P.S. Here is part of Mike’s original email language, for those interested in a bit more information about the survey:
We’re surveying pastors and pastors’ wives for the purpose of evaluating their marital satisfaction, stress level, and identifying the unique marital stressors of serving in the local church. By “stressors,” we mean those problems, challenges, and heartaches, that come with the job of being a pastor or pastor’s wife, which put pressure on the marital relationship, affecting it negatively.
While it is a distinct privilege and honor to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the local church, pastoral ministry can be difficult on both the pastor and his wife. The pastorate is a tough and demanding vocation, one that is not always understood or appreciated. Therefore, it is imperative that pastors and their wives understand the unique marital stressors they will face, and know how to handle them correctly. How well they do this, will often determine the future of their marriage and consequently, the church they serve. Thus, there is much at stake in gathering as many responses as we can.
The survey results will be used at a future time to better educate, counsel, and encourage pastoral couples to remain faithful to each other, and the church they serve.
So, would you please help us by completing this survey? It will only take 5 – 10 minutes, and it’s completely anonymous – your responses cannot be tracked back to you or your church, nor will we ask you for any personal information that could be used to identify you. You’re safe here, we promise! This is a completely anonymous survey.
This survey has been approved by the Anderson University Human Subjects Committee (Anderson, South Carolina) for the purpose of graduate-level research.
By answering these questions you acknowledge allowing the responses to be used for research purposes. Again, ALL survey responses are completely anonymous.
Thank you!
Mike & Debbie Hughes
Pastor and Pastor’s Wife
Florida
