1. Financial stress. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) commissioned a survey of 4,249 pastors, and found—in the words of NAE president Leith Anderson—“most pastors serve in small churches and face financial challenges stemming from student debt, low salaries, and family medical expenses.” Today, 90 percent of pastors feel financial stress in their family and church work, 76 percent of pastors know other pastors who left the ministry due to financial pressures, 31 percent of pastors work a second job to help make ends meet, and almost 60 percent of pastors do not receive health insurance or retirement funds from their church.

2. A public personal life. Increasingly for pastors, social-media presence is considered a must: Facebook updates; a blog; Instagram images. Many pastors are expected to create content not just for Sunday sermons but during the week on social media. Social media makes pastors more visible but also more vulnerable to criticism for their tastes, preferences, and political leanings. And the temptations of “image management” are subtle but powerful. “These digital tools extend the pastor’s influence, but they also increase the temptation of platform building and self-promotion,” says Kyle Rohane, managing editor of CTPastors.com.

3. The need for self-care. Ministry emerges out of a person’s character. Today that is tested by the pervasiveness of pornography and electronic gambling, or escapist behaviors such as drinking and overeating. But perhaps moral erosion begins most frequently with a lifestyle of high-stress work, few peer friendships, and neglected Sabbath rest. “Pete Scazzero’s The Emotionally Healthy Leader is helpful here, along with Andy Crouch’s newest book, Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing,” says Fuller’s Kurt Frederickson.