From Isolation to Impact: How Pastor Cohorts Change Ministry

The text arrived at 2:00 am: “Thinking about quitting. Can’t do this anymore.” Sound familiar? If you are a pastor in New England, you’ve either sent that message, received it, or thought about sending it.

Picture this: You have just preached your heart out to forty-seven people scattered across a sanctuary built for two hundred. Church leadership is frustrated about declining giving. Your spouse is tired of hearing complaints about you over coffee in town. Who do you call?

As a pastor, should you expect loneliness to be part of your calling? According to Barna research, a significant percentage of pastors experience loneliness and isolation, with feelings of isolation increasing. A 2022 Barna survey indicated that 65% of pastors reported feeling lonely or isolated, an increase from 42% in a 2015 survey.

How about you?

Add this loneliness to the difficulty of being a pastor, and it’s no wonder that 42% of pastors report having “seriously considered leaving ministry” in the past 3 years.[1] All this adds up to frequent pastor turnover. One Massachusetts pastor recently commented, “I have just seen so many pastors come and go, and I’ve only been here eight years.”  Since church renewal in New England often takes 7 to 10 years, this is a big problem. When a pastor leaves a church in the middle of renewal, the church takes a huge step backward.

This is not a new problem. In 1541, John Calvin faced a crisis that sounds eerily familiar. His hand-picked ministers were burning out faster than he could recruit them, just three years on average. His solution was to establish pastor cohorts called the “the Company of Pastors.”  It was a regional cohort of pastors providing mutual support to one another in ministry. After its creation, the average tenure of Genevan pastors increased to 14 years. They met together to sharpen one another and for mutual accountability.

Pastoring in isolation is never a good idea. Overseed’s heart is for pastors and their long-term fruitfulness. Overseed has twenty-three pastor cohorts meeting from the green mountains to the Maine coast. These are not just support groups. They are learning communities led by experienced coaches focused on five core pastoral competencies: leading, making disciples, developing leaders, shepherding people, and preaching. The result is peer relationships, healthier pastor families, growing churches, and community impact. Pastors stay in the game, and they pastor well.

New England needs healthy, thriving pastors. Your community needs you to stay and flourish, not just survive. The question is not whether you will face challenges, it is whether you will face them alone.

Do not minister in isolation. Join pastors who are choosing community over isolation, growth over stagnation, impact over mere survival.

For more information on Overseed pastor cohorts see: https://overseed.org/pastor-cohorts/

[1] Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Fall of 2023.