We asked pastors, ministry staff, and volunteers 43 questions about how they actually do the work. Start with the interactive pay lab, then read what we couldn't stop thinking about.
We went looking for a gender pay gap and found something that matters more. Among people on payroll, men and women earn about the same. Far fewer women are on payroll at all.
Twenty years of experience is worth almost nothing. Sunday attendance is worth tens of thousands. Ministry pay responds to the building, not the person.
When we asked who's in the room for annual planning, nearly a third of leaders gave the same answer — and that answer travels with exhaustion in every direction we looked.
Part-time leaders are paid for a fraction of the week. Their exhaustion doesn't arrive in fractions — it arrives at nearly double the full-time rate.
Every ministry here exists for kids and teenagers. Most make their biggest decisions without a single one of them present — and the ones who don't look different in ways worth noticing.
Fifteen findings — one comparison each, two minutes each. Every claim was tested twice: once raw, then again holding church size and volunteer status constant, because those two things drive most answers in this survey at once. Nine findings we went looking for failed that second test and are published as rejected rather than quietly dropped.
Three in ten ministries never train their volunteers. Those leaders report more exhaustion, more discouragement, and more doubt about their own faith.
Three in ten leaders are the only voice in what gets taught. Making that call is the job — but the leaders making it with nobody to consult report more strain.
One in five ministries has no planning process of any kind. Against those who run a real annual session, the exhaustion gap is eight points.
Only 16% of leaders let parents shape what gets taught. Where they do, reported parent engagement is twelve points higher — the largest positive gap we measured.
One in five ministries includes the kids in annual planning. Those ministries report better parent engagement too — the effect carries past the students themselves.
When senior leadership sits in on ministry planning, the ministry leader reports less burnout. It is the clearest protective factor in the survey.
One in five leaders looks nowhere for new ideas. They are markedly more likely to feel pressure to grow the numbers.
Eighteen percent of leaders tried nothing new in twelve months. Burnout among them runs ten points higher than among monthly experimenters.
Eight percent of ministries have no regular way of talking to families. Their leaders report the highest exhaustion gap in the survey — eleven points.
Twenty-seven percent name being too busy as their biggest planning obstacle. They are the leaders most likely to feel under-resourced.
Leaders who listen to ministry podcasts report less exhaustion, fewer resource complaints, and are meaningfully more likely to say they're doing okay.
The cheapest volunteer appreciation tactic in the survey tracks with a five-point drop in the leader's own discouragement.
Training volunteers monthly rather than annually is associated with a leader who is five points more likely to say they're doing fine.
The ministries running five or more major events a year report less exhaustion than those running two or fewer. This is the opposite of what we expected.
A third of leaders plan teaching a week at a time or not at all. The thing that tracks with it isn't exhaustion — it's doubt about their own faith.
Every number on this site came from ministry leaders answering these 43 questions. Add yours — about ten minutes, no email required, and you can skip anything you'd rather not answer.