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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
May 2001 |
Is the United Methodist Church
facing a clergy shortage?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) -- A clergy shortage crisis in the United Methodist Church?
Not so, says the Rev. Robert Kohler, a church executive who has worked with ordained clergy issues for more than 20 years.
"People talk about clergy shortage, but I don't see it," says Kohler, assistant general secretary of the Section on Elders and Local Pastors for the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville.
He acknowledges a drop in seminary-trained candidates ordained as elders -- from 820 in 1990 to 621 in 2000 -- but says an increasing number of local pastors has more than picked up the slack. In 1990, the denomination had 1,413 local pastors; in 2000, it had 2,096.
"Instead of a shortage or crisis, I see a changing profile in pastoral ministry, with an intentional use of more full-- and part-time local pastors to address the needs for clergy personnel because there are fewer seminary graduates available, " Kohler says.
In the past, three years of seminary education has been considered the norm for United Methodist clergy, but local pastors have always played an important role in ministerial supply and demand, Kohler says. Many of the 65 annual (regional) conferences in the United States depend heavily on local pastors. At least two conferences -- North Alabama and West Virginia -- have as many local pastors as elders with seminary degrees, he says.
More 'local pastors'
To be licensed, a local pastor must complete a course involving concentrated periods of study, usually during the summer. Only six Course of Study sites existed in 1970, compared with more than 20 today, according to Kohler. Since 1990, the number of students enrolled has more than doubled from 1,000 to nearly 2,500.
More local pastors would go to seminary if they were closer to the schools, Kohler notes. "Location has more to do with whether a person goes to seminary than any other single factor." Because of this, about as many United Methodist students are attending non-United Methodist seminaries as are attending the 13 schools related to the denomination, he says. "Older candidates will not uproot their families and move a great distance to study."
Enlistment strategy
While he affirms the role of local pastors, Kohler says his agency has developed a strategy to deal with the drop in the number of seminary graduates being ordained. The emphasis seeks to enlist younger people for ministry, nurture candidates over a long period of time so they are not lost to ministry, and address the financial issues related to the high cost of seminary education.
The strategy carries with it an assumption that it is advantageous and cost effective for the church to aggressively recruit young people who can serve long careers, cutting the front-end costs of education, Kohler observes.
A centerpiece of the board's strategy is "Exploration," a national event to expose young people to opportunities for ministry, held every other year since 1990. In the 1960s and 1970s, not much happened in ministerial recruitment, according to Kohler. "We disengaged from our campus and youth ministries that were not revived until recent years. Without those connections, how were we to get to the young people?"
The Board of Higher Education and Ministry is making a special effort to track ministerial candidates, all of whom must register with the agency, so that statistical trends can be watched. Currently, 1,816 candidates -- elders, deacons and local pastors -- are in the program, a number that has not changed significantly for the past 20 years. The board also is working to track those who do not finish the program.
Governing members of the board, meeting this fall, will receive a full report profiling ministerial candidates throughout the church. A report shows that the number of candidates under the age of 30 increased from 20 percent to 30 percent during the 1990-2000 decade.
Fewer young people answer 'call'
In 1970, the average age of those entering ordained ministry was 30; today it is over 40. The tenure of clergy has also dropped significantly, from an average of 40 years to 20 years. Several annual conferences have expressed alarm at the number of clergy who are retiring. The Oklahoma Conference recently announced the employment of a staff member to work on ministerial recruitment, noting that about 100 of its 555 ordained ministers will reach the retirement age of 70 within the next 10 years. Kohler says about 25 percent of the clergy retire every 10 years, a percentage that held steady over the past decade.
Other people across the church share Kohler's concern. The Rev. Karl Stegall, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala., bemoans the fact that fewer young people are responding to God's call to enter church-related vocations. In the March issue of the Alabama Christian Advocate, he offers at least three reasons for the problem:
A society of materialism and greed, in which young people embarking upon career choices are asking, "How much does it pay?"
A climate and spirit at the local church level that do not encourage young people to hear the call of God.
Local churches, districts and annual conferences that no longer place a strong emphasis on young people answering the call for full-time Christian service.
He suggests that local churches encourage youth to respond to God's call to ministry and encourage seminary graduates in their first appointments. He also challenges local churches to "remember that the bishop and district superintendents cannot appoint any stronger persons to their respective churches than the very same churches send into ministry."