Job Satisfaction in Religious Education

Religious educators hold ministry positions in almostall major denominations. To many, these jobs areviewed as idyllic; imagine working all day withfellow believers in a church setting! However, inmany denominations, little research has been done toconfirm such joy and satisfaction.Research in job satisfaction has become a routineform of assessment to determine the satisfaction ofemployees in order to insure their physical andpsychological well-being. Many variables ofsatisfaction or dissatisfaction have also beenassociated with reasons for workers leaving theirjobs. In this book, Directors of Christian Educationin the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod were surveyedto determine if they were satisfied with their jobs;to provide an opportunity for Directors of ChristianEducation to evaluate their ministry skills and sharewhat additional competencies, if any, might be addedto their education to enhance job satisfaction; andto seek information regarding their likelihood toleave ministy in the next three years.The results are somewhat surprising! In addition tothis research, the author offers recommendations forkeeping these workers for the future.