From Leadership Selection to Development
As someone who participates in the Search and Call system for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I can attest to the shrinking number of ministers seeking to serve our churches. Our clergy pool is aging. In 2017, the Barna Group presented some starting statistics about the aging of clergy among Protestant Churches. In 1992, 33% of Senior Ministers (Pastors) were 40 and under. By 2017, 15% of Protestant pastors were 40 and under. In 1992, 6% of Protestant Pastors were 65 and over. In 2017, 17% of Protestant Pastors were 65 and over (The Aging of America's Pastors). I thank God for my clergy colleague who are over 60. The closer I get to that threshold the more I admire them. Still, the aging of our pastors is a sign of our present experience and harbinger of what is to come—a drought in vocational leaders for the church.
And the number of people seeking training for ministry is shrinking. Fewer and fewer people are seeking the Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree which has been the standard degree for ordained clergy for decades. ATS stands for "The Association of Theological Schools" and is the accrediting agency most relevant for graduate institutions seeking to train ministers. In a paper on MDiv Enrollment they prepared in February of this year, they reported that MDiv enrollment is at a 30 year low sitting now just under 28,000.
At the same time, I have seen a painful narrowing of our search committees' vision. The Social Media feeds of my Disciples colleagues has filled with scolding references to the Southern Baptist Convention's expulsion of congregations with female clergy. Disciples proudly tout that we have ordained women clergy since the 1870s. However, that historical data does not tell the full story. Like many so-called progressive denominations, the move to fully accept ordained female clergy surfaced in the 1970s and 1980s. Women in ministry continue to face sexism and discrimination. The discrimination and challenges multiply for LGBTQIA+ clergy. Straight white male clergy still move through the search and call process at an alarmingly faster rate than any others. Congregations seem painfully reluctant to interview, enter negotiations with, and call fully trained, talented, and faithful leaders simply because they do not tick off certain demographic boxes. The tangible impacts of sexism, racism, and homophobia on our search and call processes are larger discussions than this blog can hold in one entry. Suffice it to say, God has always called people of varying colors, genders, and sexual identities into the ministry, we are well passed the time for ministries and congregations to acknowledge those whom God has clearly called.
What I would like to address here is the congregation's role in moving forward. I often say to congregations, "new leaders are like garden-fresh tomatoes. You're only going to get them two ways--grow 'em or steal 'em." The congregation has always had the role of cultivating ministry leaders. The book of Acts describes how the believers in Joppa treasured the faithful leadership of Tabitha so much so that it garnered the head of the whole Church (Acts 9:36-43). In Antioch where Disciples of Jesus were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26), the local congregation cultivated Barnabas and Paul and then commissioned them to serve as missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). And a local congregation formed around Lydia, the seller of purple cloth and the first European convert (Acts 16:11-15). Go through the earliest history of the Church and you'll see the historian's attention to the congregations that formed the second generation of leaders.
What does that look like in tangible ways:
First, it calls for us to renew our theology of vocation. Vocation is to a person’s time and talents what stewardship is to a person’s finances. And just as the church has recently come to understand that it cannot simply ask for donations but also needs to address a person’s or family’s entire financial stability. So too congregations need to bring the spiritual and sapiential resources entrusted to the church into the living moments of discernment as people search for purpose in their lives.
The British Mystery novelist and theologian Dorothy Sayer spoke helpfully about the church's role in cultivating a larger, healthier, and more realistic theology of vocation. She said, "The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables." The first step in addressing the drought in vocational clergy is in affirming the goodness of work as work. Work is humanity's way of joining with God in co-creating and sustaining creation. Vocational excellence in whatever honest profession a person may choose, is a testimony to God.
Congregation's might devote a month each year or every other year in a worship series on vocation. It can bless people who serve in various sectors. Provide space for people to talk about the struggles they experience in their working environment. Imagine what it might be like to ask a couple of professionals to light the worship candles at the beginning of worship. What sort of difference might it make for them to hear one of their elders or their pastor say to them, "Joe, Francis, our Christian siblings, this week you have worked hard and your hard work is a testimony to God. In this hour of worship, we invite you to lay down the burden of your labor and lift up your hands and heads in praise that you may feel God's presence and find rest and renewal"? People will be more willing to hear the church talk about pastoral leadership when it hears the church affirm the goodness of all honest labor.
Second, congregations can cultivate healthier understandings of their pastors and their pastors' roles. As I listen to congregations talk about their minister, I hear three dominant metaphors surfacing for authorized ministers: pastor as our mascot, pastor as our savior, and pastor as chief cook and bottle washer. Nothing exhausts clergy more than the constant struggle to be taken seriously. The mascot metaphor needs to give way to the role of the minister as teacher (or coach if you want me to stay with the cluster). On the opposite extreme are the Churches who call ministers to save them from certain destruction. These congregations are often overwhelmed by what they perceive to be decline and operating out of a scarcity mind-set. They often see the call of their next pastor as their final solution and place unrealistic expectations on their clergy. We already have a savior. Our calling collectively is to bear witness "to the saving acts and presence of Christ" and to trust Christ above all. Finally, congregations must embrace ministry as a calling and not as a hiring.
People who are contemplating vocational ministry see how congregations treat their pastors. If they see a pastor as one who is carrying more responsibility than is humanly reasonable, over-worked and second-guessed, criticized, and talked about, they are unlikely to regard God's call as the blessing that it really is. When they see congregations and clergy collaborating together, when they witness congregations whose yes is yes and no is no and establishes healthy patterns of communication with their minister, when they see fair compensation and attentive benefits, they are more likely to say yes when God taps them on the shoulder.
Finally, congregations cultivate leadership by joining with ministers in the journey of ministry. Ask ministers about their call story and eventually someone will tell a story of a pastor, Sunday school teacher, camp counselor, or elder, who said, "Have you ever thought about vocational ministry?" The way forward can begin with such prompts, but it should not end there. People need resources to receive the training they need. The days when the typical minister went to a church related school and earned an undergraduate degree in religion where their faith was nurtured and their call was cultivated, entered almost immediately into seminary, found a congregation that worked with them through their schooling, is in our rearview mirror. It's just not how things work anymore.
People’s path to ministry takes many different shapes. I hope for congregation to become familiar with the ways that people can fund their theological education, curate lists of possible sources to receive ministry education. Invite those considering vocational ministry into servant-leadership positions as counselors at camp, interns in summer mission and ministry opportunities, Stephen ministers and other opportunities. Above all, congregation need to engage people considering vocational ministry with fewer expectations and more encouragements.
When Jesus commissioned the Church upon Peter's confession of faith, he declared that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:13-20). So, I am fully confident that the Church of Jesus Christ will not be destroyed by a temporary drought in people entering full-time Christian service. The current shortage of clergy is forcing the church to do what it should have been doing from the start--joining with God in joyfully encouraging people to ministry and through ministry. The church's capacity to search for and find pastoral staff is shrinking. The church's capacity to cultivate leaders remains unlimited.