Will the Church have pastors tomorrow?
I don’t miss the irony that it was the Friendly Atheist newsletter that alerted me to some research that Barna and others have done on the subject of pastoral succession and the question, “Will the church have pastors tomorrow?” I’ll cut to the chase.
The next generation is hesitant about identifying as Christian. Those who do identify as Christian are not going into vocational ministry at a rate that will even come close to replacing this generation of pastors.
The local church is not prioritizing identifying and equipping the next generation of church leaders. From the Barna research: “More than half of pastors (54%) disagree with the statement “my church puts a significant priority on training and developing the next generation of leaders”—a 22 percent increase since 2015. Four in five pastors (79%) agree that “churches aren’t rising to their responsibilities to train up the next generation of Christian leaders.” In short, one reason the next generation of Christians is unprepared for the challenges of leading a church may be that so few churches are preparing them.”
So, what do we do next church?
Pray to the Lord of the harvest (Luke 10.2). Why would we start anywhere else?
Plant a seed with ANYONE who might consider the ministry. You can’t start too early. I talked to Scarlet a few weeks ago after I heard the commencement address she gave at her Middle School. I told Gio (he was in elementary school) that he should pray, because he could maybe be Trinity’s Spanish-language pastor, because we would need that soon! I keep pulling Mike aside. The guy can already preach! He has the character to be a shepherd. I told Edson (in 11th grade) the same after he shared one of the 7 last words at the Good Friday service. I think 7 other people told him the same, “You could be a pastor!”
Baptize your imagination and embrace a mixed-ecology of solutions.
‘Traditional’ route. Send qualified candidates through an M.Div. program. I put quotes around ‘traditional,’ because this is not how the church has always done it.
Hybrid route. Keep qualified candidates embedded in their local community or find a healthy local community, and get theological education from a school that makes it available online or online/in-person hybrid. This has been our go-to in the last 4 years. The candidates have received rigorous theological education (from ILT, Master’s Institute, Western Theological, and Iliff) while serving in a congregation with other growing theologians. They have been given ample opportunity to preach, visit, teach catechism, lead small groups, lead the liturgy, make mistakes, grow, succeed, participate in evening and morning prayer.
Local route. There are probably good pastors already in most communities. They might also be farmers or teachers, but they are committed to Christ and his church. They love the flock. They eat up the Bible. People confide in them and seek them out for support. Let’s recognize their Call to a local congregation—no matter the size. Then let’s find ways to continue education for the rest of their lives. For that matter, lets do that with people who have an M.Div.
Resource Churches. Like the church in Antioch (Acts 11 and 13), some congregations are called to be a kind of greenhouse that resources the broader church with helpful teaching, vital community, and healthy leaders. We used to think synod offices and academic institutions were responsible for this. I think it is more naturally done from a local congregation. Identify Resource Churches and support them!
Minster Model of partnering parishes. This is an old model. Think York Minster and Westminster, etc. These are three-point parishes on purpose. We have to get rid of the resignation mentality, “Oh, I guess we have to work with other communities to survive.” Embrace the potential power of partnership! “We get to pool resources. Share one another’s burdens. Share a variety of leaders (APEST anyone?). We don’t have to rely on a solitary pastor.”
What is Trinity doing?
Check out Trinity Greenhouse, Pastoral Leadership Seminar, Intern Program, Seminarians…Over 20 involved this year in PLS. We are hosting our 26th Intern. 1 ordination last year. 2 ordinations next month (Lord-willing). 2 other seminarians have started and are on their way.
Partnering with other initiatives that are focusing attention on young adult residential discipleship communities. CLBI, Faith Greenhouse, WMPL Discipleship House, The Awaken Project…
What can you do?
Pray! Actually pray, “Lord of the harvest. There is gospel work to do, but the workers are few. Would you please raise up, grow up, and send out workers in to your harvest. Our town (or country) needs them! Our kids need them! Our older adults need them. We need someone to plant the gospel seed in our ear, so that we will keep on believing what you say. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.”
Imagine a pastor-like person in your community—young or old, looking for something to do or already doing something. Say, “Have you ever considered being a pastor. I think you would be a good one.”
Give! I have someone right now who is 40 years old. He has the gifts, character, and competencies to be a terrific and faithful pastor. He also has a family, and can’t pack up and move. He could have an M.Div. in three years if he started now and was able to give himself to the education and ministry in our local congregation. At the end of his education he would still have 25 years of future ordained ministry. I bet we would need an extra $80-100K a year for three years to make this a reality. Besides the blessing he would be to a future church, he would be a three-year answer to prayer to me. Lord knows I need help and have been praying a harvest prayer regularly. Contact me directly if you have a funding idea. Nathan (at) trinitysanpedro (dot) org.
the interesting article addresses an important issue, but it seems to stay on the surface and probably to ignore the broader picture.
(traditional) christianity in the western world generally is on a decline, the numbers of members is dwindling.
the reasons are manyfold.
and there is no quick–fix.
what i miss most in articles like that are different approaches to the problem; for instance, i would have expected sociology, systems theory, cybernetics, psychology, culture etc. which help to get a better grasp for the deeper lying problems.
also i would have expected a deeper look at those churches who grow, not through sheep stealing, but through real conversions.
the answers of of the article seem to me somewhat trivial.
would be interesting how they work out on the long term.
a professional qualified evaluation (from the viewpoint of organizational development) would be even more interesting.
what i see here look more or less like pious myths — as in pray more and harder, or believe more, etc.…
sorry to say.
i wish the author would have chosen a deeper, more academic approach instead of generalisms…
having said that, there are, however, correct observations.
we need to reach out for the younger ones, and give them the opportunity to mature, to try something out — and to fail (we need in general a high failure tolerance amongst our paid and non-paid staff).
those who lead need to to coach the younger ones.
back when i was a teacher, at a parent–teacher conference a young father once told me, in a fit of desperation:
"i really try to raise my kids right by telling them how to do things the right way — but then they just imitate me…“ (as in: how i live, how i speak and/or act…)
that was spot on.
the next generations learns by observing us…
…should make us think…
this applies to us as pastors as well as to all those who have a role or function in the congregation, and even to all members of the congregation – how do we treat each other, how do we treat others, including the younger and weaker ones, and how do we lead?
and are we able to step back from power games, and even give up power?
do we live our faith and act merciful to each other, are we willing to give each other the grace we’ve received from g–d?
that’s how we teach.
and we all know what it’s like in some of our congregations, how we treat each other…
…oh, well…
also, main questions of congregational development — which are essential part of the the broader picture — i miss in the article, like:
who are we - what makes us tick, and where are our strengths and weaknesses?
what are we here for, why has g–d sent us to this particular place - what is our task here in the community, for the community?
where do we actually want to go, and where do we want to be with our congregation in ten or twenty years; what kind of church community do we want to leave to our grandchildren?
but that’s probably just me.
(and apologies for my inchoate mastering of the english language — i usually understand more than i’m able to express; sorry for that.)
Thank you for this post! I appreciated seeing it in the "LCMC By The Word" newsletter that arrived yesterday. Now I'm trying to figure out how Substack works ;-) I am an "older" LCMC seminary student at ILT. God's blessings! Bill Gross