Mark Dawes, Staff ReporterFIVE PER cent of pastors have committed adultery while 14 per cent of the laity have indulged in the same sin. The main reason for both clergy and laity becoming adulterous relates to marital dissatisfaction followed by emotional attraction.
These and other findings are contained in the report Christians and Sex: Sexual Issues in the Church which was conducted by the evangelical medial conglomerate Christianity Today International.
53-page report may be ordered at http://shop.store.yahoo.com/buildingchurchleaders/specialreports.html
Between May and July 2003, Christianity Today International conducted mail and Internet surveys of US-based pastors and churchgoers.
A total of 680 pastors and 1,972 churchgoers responded yielding a margin of error of plus or minus 4 and 2 percentage points, respectively. The survey was targeted at subscribers of the family of publications put out by the evangelical organisation.
The survey showed that lay persons who committed adultery were typically in the median age of 28.5 years. Adulterous pastors were typically 32.5 years old.
VOLUNTARY CONFESSIONS
Very few persons were knowledgeable of the adultery of their pastor the survey revealed.
However, seven per cent of clergy who committed adultery confessed voluntarily to their denomination's government. About 20 per cent of the pastors who committed adultery voluntarily confessed their infidelity to their spouse. But no pastor voluntarily confessed this sexual indiscretion to their congregation, the survey showed.
Forty-five per cent of lay persons were likely to confess their infidelity to their spouse.This makes lay people more than twice likelier than pastors to come clean about their cheating ways to his or her spouse.
According to the report, "The most common consequence of committing adultery for both pastors and laity was an improved marital relationship at 48 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively.
However, separation ranks next among laity at 33 per cent compared to three per cent for pastors."
RECURRING TEMPTATIONS
Topping the list of recurring sexual temptations or those for which pastors have succumbed are masturbation and heterosexual fantasising. The vast majority of those surveyed (clergy and laity) said they consciously try to avoid situations that may lead to sexual temptation or sexual sin.
One-third of the pastors surveyed believe that they are more vulnerable to sexual temptation than non-pastors.
Yet 64 per cent of the pastors reported that rarely does their role as a minister put them in a position of receiving inappropriate suggestions or invitations to romantic or sexual involvement by someone other than their spouse.
Eight per cent did report that being a pastor does place them in that position a few times a year, while 28 per cent said it never does.
Ninety-seven per cent of pastors 50 years old or younger reported that they consciously try to avoid situations that may lead to sexual temptations or sexual sin. While 88 per cent of pastors 50 years and older had the same attitude.
Fifty-seven per cent of laity and 48 per cent of clergy reported that they never talk to their spouses about their sexual temptations.
Very few churches, the report noted, have established policies and boundaries to protect pastors from sexual temptations.
"The most frequent church policies are to have a window in the pastor's office door and to have the pastor do counselling with the door open. But separate from the established policy of churches, the survey showed that most pastors have imposed on themselves boundaries to reduce the risk of sexual temptation and sexual sin.
TRENDS
As self-imposed boundaries go, the survey revealed the following trends among pastors:
79 per cent said they do not travel alone with people of the opposite sex.
72 per cent do not dine alone with people of the opposite sex.
69 per cent counsel people of the door open.
62 per cent do not meet alone with people of the opposite sex.
40 per cent of pastor counsel persons of the opposite sex only with the pastor's spouse present.
36 per cent have a window in his or her office door.
According to the survey, 65 per cent of pastors, and 57 per cent of laity, do not have close friends of the opposite sex as a conscious choice to avoid potential emotional/sexual temptation or infidelity. The laity more so than pastors are likely to have close friends of the opposite sex.
ACCOUNTABILITY GROUPS
About 94 per cent of the pastors confidently declared that their spouse has not been sexually involved with someone else while married to them. While about 80 per cent of the laity made a similar declaration.
Some 15 per cent of pastors and 21 per cent of lay persons reported that their church offers accountability groups specifically for sexual issues. Furthermore, 40 per cent of pastors have been in a group that held them accountable in sexual issues as compared with 14 per cent for the laity. The majority of pastors and laity reported that they have close friends or family members with whom they are able to discuss their sexual temptations.
Concerning professional counselling, nine per cent of pastors surveyed said they had sought this kind of help in response to sexual temptation. Of this number, 78 per cent said it proved helpful.
The survey showed that 85 per cent of pastors addressed sexual issues in their sermons at least once yearly.
But one-quarter of the pastors reported that they were unsure whether their congregations wanted to hear more or less Biblical instruction on sexual issues. The laity, on the other hand, think pastors should be talking just the same or more often about sexual issues.
Sex outside of marriage and pornography are issues that pastors and laity alike believe are the most present problem within congregations. Furthermore, the survey showed, pastors counsel for porn addiction more frequently than any other sexual issue, and they think it is inflicting the most damage in their church. Nearly a half of pastors are counselling a parishioner on sexual issues several times a year or more.
Send feedback at mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com
