A majority of pastors believe the church should be responsible for helping people deal with issues relating to sexual sin or sexual brokenness. Yet, fewer than one-third of pastors feel “very qualified” to address most of the issues listed in the survey.

Seven in 10 pastors (70 percent) are approached by church members or staff several times a year or more with concerns about sexual brokenness, according to a new report from The Brushfires Foundation.

Researchers asked senior pastors to identify which of 18 sexual issues they had addressed in the past year. Among those issues, marital infidelity tops the list.

Four in five pastors (80 percent) say they were approached in the past year by a church member or staff dealing with infidelity, and three in four (73 percent) have handled pornography-related questions.

“Sexual issues too often are dealt with in secret or not at all. We believe that we need to bring these issues out into the open and into the full community of the Church.”The first in a series of reports from The Brushfires Foundation and Barna Research, Sexuality & the Church in America I explores how senior pastors are addressing sexual challenges within the church.

“Pastors are encountering a lot of sexual confusion and pain over the course of a year, perhaps more than many people realize,” says Daniel Weiss, president of The Brushfires Foundation and author of the report.

“Sexual issues too often are dealt with in secret or not at all. We believe that we need to bring these issues out into the open and into the full community of the Church.”

A majority of pastors believe the church should be responsible for helping people deal with issues relating to sexual sin or sexual brokenness. Yet, fewer than one-third of pastors feel “very qualified” to address most of the issues listed in the survey.

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