Forced to Leave: Forced Termination Experiences of Assemblies of God Clergy and Its Connection to Stress and Well-Being Outcomes

Although forced termination has been a subject of interest to clergy for some time, social scientists have generally studied job loss as if it was the same phenomenon regardless of occupation. Ministry work by itself has always been difficult and stressful, and termination from this occupation has been reported to be the result of a demeaning and systematic process of involuntary removal of paid and non-paid clergy-persons that includes psychological, socio-emotional, and spiritual abuse. This pilot project sampled 227 active ministers from the Assemblies of God denomination via an online survey and asked about their experiences with forced termination, as well as measures of their personal and family well-being. In general, ministers who had been forced from a ministry position had less family well-being and more health problems than those who had not been forced out.