A new poll from Gallup was just released. Turns out that Pastors aren’t the most trusted profession.
Not even close.
Nurses, Doctors, Pharmacists, High School Teachers, Police Officers, Accountants, and Funeral Directors all score higher on the public trust scale than Pastors.
In fact, only 37% say they feel pastors are ‘very high or high’ in ethical standards or honesty.
And 43% feel that pastor’s ethical standards and honesty are ‘average’.
What does this mean?
As a pastor or church leader, you can’t rely on being automatically accepted as an honest broker these days. In fact, the reality is that more people will look skeptically at you because of your position.
What does this mean?
- You have to earn trust by being trustworthy.
- You need to put safeguards and accountability in your work and personal life so that you don’t feed into the stereotype of the culture.
- You need to be real and transparent with those inside and outside your church.
- You need to offer more value than you take in your community (personally and as a church).
Does it bother you that your profession is viewed as less trustworthy than accountants or funeral directors?
There’s only one way to change that… and YOU have the power… today and every day… one-on-one and in the crowd.
Do what you say you’ll do. Act privately the way you act publicly.
Let’s restore the trust of the pastorate. We can do it. You can do it.
Let’s get on with it!
