Pastors unsure of congregation members’ debt

Southern Baptist pastors have little idea how deeply in debt their congregation members are, according to a survey.

Sixty-five percent of pastors have preached about financial stewardship during the last year, but only 25 percent said they believed their congregants had “a significant amount of personal debt,” the survey of 3,500 pastor by Lifeway Research said.

That stands in stark contrast to what national statistics say about American household debt, said Scott McConnell of Lifeway Research. In 2006, the year before the survey began, household debt grew by $1.2 trillion in the U.S. That one year increase is larger than the total amount of household debt 30 years ago, he said.

The research was done at the request of the Southern Baptist Convention between November of 2007 and February of 2008. It is being used to help heal the disconnect between the pulpit and the realities that average Americans face.