A new study exposes the stress and pain clergy endured during the COVID-19 pandemic as divisions over public health restrictions transformed many churches into culture-war battlefields.
“Polarization decreased the middle ground, diminished trust in pastoral decision-making and created a general culture of contempt in churches,” Arbor Research Group and Christianity Today’s ChurchSalary ministry reported from the survey, “The Impact of COVID-19 on the American Church.”
“The middle area in many church communities thinned to a fine line — devolving into ‘Our Side’ or ‘Their Side.’ Applying pandemic health requirements to their church required leaders to navigate a political, religious, and social minefield,” the report’s authors state.
Researchers used polling and focus groups with clergy and other church leaders to provide detailed insights into the myriad ways the pandemic shaped American churches and pastoral teams, for good and bad. No area of church or ministerial life was untouched.
“Our research indicates that American churches and pastors are still dealing with the aftereffects of COVID-19 and many of our narratives and assumptions are incorrect or incomplete,” the report says. “The reality is that many wounds have not healed, many churches are still struggling to find a new normal, and the upcoming presidential election cycle has the potential to reopen many of these wounds.”
One theme that emerged from interviews is the emotional and relational pain experienced by pastors due to political fissures within congregations. Heated disagreements about masking or in-person gatherings frequently widened into broader culture-war disputes heightened by strains of Christian nationalism and binary thinking.
“This left little or no middle ground for pastors to occupy. … And to make matters worse, every change in pandemic health measures and restrictions forced pastoral leaders to make yet another controversial decision — even not making a decision was polarizing,” the report explains.
The survey teased out five congregation types based on reactions to pandemic health measures. Extremely positive communities made up a quarter of churches, while those with mixed-positive dispositions (41.4%) comprised the majority. Mostly neutral (12.6%), mixed negative (19.8%) and extremely negative (0.9%) churches rounded out the list.
“61.2% of all congregations experienced some form of polarization.”
While most churches fell into the extremely positive or mixed positive groupings, “the reality is that only 38.8% of congregations reacted in a ‘unified’ or unpolarized way, meaning that 61.2% of all congregations experienced some form of polarization (either mixed positive or mixed negative).”
One focus group participant explained to researchers how difficult it became to work and worship in such an environment: “As a multicultural, multi-generational and politically mixed church, it was impossible to provide ministry and worship experiences that met the needs and catered to the convictions of everyone. As a result, we lost many people.”
Having to make life-and-death decisions invariably angered one side or another and took a huge emotional toll on ministers and ripped many congregations apart, the study found. “Ultimately, both congregations and communities found themselves navigating a culture that was increasingly devoid of both grace and hospitality during the pandemic.”
Another pastor related the accusations of political favoritism levied at pastoral teams attempting to remain neutral on measures such as social distancing and masks: “Following a month when over 40 (people) from our church, half our elders, and everyone on staff contract(ed) COVID, we were confronted with this. Emotionally, this led (me) to (have) an anxiety attack and revealed that I was burnt out. I nearly quit the ministry.”
The study found 54% of pastors leading mixed-negative congregations, and 33% of those in extremely negative churches, were twice as likely or more to have considered quitting ministry, or to still be considering it.
“Pastors leading congregations with a mostly mixed negative reaction were by far the most likely to consider resigning or quitting.”
“In fact, pastors leading congregations with a mostly mixed negative reaction were by far the most likely to consider resigning or quitting — almost two times more likely than those leading congregations with a mixed positive reaction,” the report explains.
Mental well-being also suffered. When asked to rate their level of concern for personal mental health due to polarization, pastors in mixed-negative churches conveyed the highest levels of concern, on average, followed by those in the mixed-positive category. “Again, pastors leading mostly neutral congregations fared the best (in terms of concern about their mental health),” the study found.
The report also describes polarization as a standoff between opposing ideologies that view their positions — in this case on issues related to public health measures — in an idolatrous manner.
“‘I think that COVID revealed that we have a lot more idols in our life than we realize,’” one pastor said. “‘And so, where I was hoping to see the body of Christ come together and lead in the areas of loving people, having compassion and caring for those in need, I was pretty disappointed to see fractions and division … right down party lines politically.’”
The toxic influence of Christian nationalism added to the intensity of polarization in many congregations, said one pastor: “It was a perfect storm of an election, COVID and Black Lives Matter. But it’s hard to separate those out. … I think we neglected to understand how powerful a rise of Christian nationalism was, and how that would affect us as a church.”
Another said the ideological movement prompted idolatrous devotion in some of his congregants: “My church endured a split due to differing political and theological perspectives related to race, COVID and Christian nationalism. While Christian nationalism influenced American Christianity prior to COVID, some persons entrenched deeper in their allegiance to nationalistic beliefs.”