Pastoral leadership: shortage or shift?

The number of seminary-trained, ordained United Methodist elders in full connection has dropped, triggering worries about a current and future clergy shortage. But is it a true shortage, or a shift in what United Methodist ministry looks like in the 21st century?

"It all depends on how you want to define the shortage," said the Rev. Robert F. Kohler, assistant general secretary of the section on elders and local pastors, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn.

A large number of people entered ministry as a second career in the 1970s, Kohler told the United Methodist Reporter last year. This led to a wave of retirements in the 1990s, as those who had been in ministry for 20 years retired at about the same time as those with 40 years of service, he said.

Kohler's office recently compiled some statistics on trends in pastoral ministry between 1981 and 2000. These statistics show that the number of ministerial candidates entering probationary membership has decreased by 39 percent. Coupled with that is a 64 percent increase in the number of persons serving as local pastors, who typically are laypeople appointed by their bishops to lead a particular congregation.

"Where we have the acute shortage is where we lack pastors to do specific kinds of ministries," said Dr. Deborah Cronin, associate director of the South Indiana Conference's Council on Ministries. "For example, every congregation says they want to grow. To grow you have to have an entrepreneurial, Type-A kind of person, in terms of growing in numbers. And God only makes so many of those."

The North Indiana Conference is seven pastors short for full-time appointments, said the Rev. David Schramm, Kokomo District Superintendent and statistician for the conference cabinet.

Reasons for the shortage

One reason for the declining number of ordained elders is a decreased emphasis on efforts to attract younger people into ministry, Kohler told the United Methodist Reporter. Youth recruitment was strong in the 1950s, but faded in the 1960s and 1970s. A turnaround began in 1990 with the first "Exploration," which brought young people together to explore a call to full-time Christian service. "Exploration" events are now held every other year, and many students who attended the first event are in seminary, Kohler said. Locally, a Bishop's Convocation on Youth in Ministry is planned for August 2002.

Another factor, some church leaders say, is a changing church and world. Potential clergy may be less inclined to uproot their working spouses and children, or commute long distances, to attend seminary -- or, later on, to move from one charge to another.

"There is a lot of hand-wringing these days over the clergy shortage. . I am convinced the main impediment in our church is something we call itinerancy, the system whereby bishops decide what is best for pastors and congregations," wrote the Rev. Paul Nixon, pastor at the east campus of Gulf Breeze (Fla.) UMC, in a July 2001 United Methodist News Service commentary. "Thousands are hearing the call, but most are not being called to itinerate." Many gifted women and men in their 30s, 40s and 50s are deeply called to ministry, Nixon said, but many of these are married to equally gifted persons -- a physician with a practice that has taken years to build, for example -- who cannot itinerate.

The economics of time and money also play a role: "I think the cost of seminary education is a significant issue, more for older candidates for ministry," Kohler told the Hoosier United Methodist News. Furthermore, the path to ministry requires four years of college, three years of seminary and a three-year probationary period, "and that's the shortest route," he said.

Though seminaries are full of Master of Divinity candidates, a number of those training for pastoral ministry do not follow through. Kohler is trying to figure out why.

Cronin said it's difficult for many pastors today to sustain a marriage and a family life. "Some folks have chosen their family as opposed to the church, and I can understand that," she said. "Part of that could be that a spouse may not have the same commitment to pastoral ministry that the minister does, and no matter how you try to keep the two separate, it still involves both people."

Also: "I think we've had significant numbers of people go to seminary who never had a genuine call to the ordained ministry," she said. "I have some real problems these days about encouraging somebody to go to seminary who doesn't have a very clear call, simply because of the extraordinary cost of it. Someone with a $25,000-$50,000 debt that never had a genuine call -- that's very sad."

Local pastors

Local pastors must undergo some education and training, but not on the scale of a Master of Divinity program. These costs are generally paid for by the annual conference or the denomination, Kohler said.

The Indiana Area Extension Course of Study School is an extension of the Garrett-Evangelical School of Theology Course of Study School, operating under the authority of the GBHEM. The five-year, part-time program includes studies in the Bible, Wesleyan theology, church administration, pastoral counseling and more. Tuition for 2001-2002 is $400; scholarships from the annual conferences and districts cover part of this, and students pay for textbooks and personal expenses.

Few students in the course of study for local pastors would attend seminary, Kohler said. Age tends to determine which avenue is chosen; the average age of those in the course of study for local pastors is over 50, and the average age of seminary students is 35, he said. "So those under 35 generally go to seminary, and those over 45 would be in the course of study, only because it does not make economic sense to go to seminary."

However and whenever they're prepared, local pastors are increasing in number and being put to work. "In my district, probably fully one-half of the churches are being served by either local pastors or other-denomination pastors," Schramm said.

Other denominations are in similar straits. An October Disciples Today article by the Rev. Kenneth W. Moore, regional minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Nebraska, said that only 4 percent of Disciples ministers are age 35 and under, and a large number of retirements are expected soon. More American Roman Catholic priests died in 1999 than were ordained. At the end of 1999, 34 percent of Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations were without pastors.

Jack Marcum, in a commentary in the Presbyterian magazine Monday Morning, questioned the meaning of the phrase, "clergy shortage." Does it mean a literal shortfall, or is it "shorthand for a more nuanced view . that emphasizes the growing number of tiny congregations and increasing constraints on the calls ministers will consider?" he said. He concluded by saying that making more use of commissioned lay pastors seems to be the best option.

Solutions

Other than the increased employment of local pastors, what can the UMC do to ensure the future of its leadership?

The Disciples Today article quotes a study funded by the Lilly Foundation on the shortage of ministers in the Lutheran Church. "What they discovered was that the main reason why young men and women were not entering the ministry was because no one had said to them, 'Have you ever considered being a minister?'" Moore wrote.

The Rev. Mary Ann Moman, associate general secretary of the GBHEM's Division of Ordained Ministry and a former senior pastor of St. Mark's UMC in Bloomington, said studies show pastors aren't inviting people into the ministry. "One of the things our division is doing is to try to reclaim that voice of invitation," she said.

Forgive us our debts: Seminary student loans burden clergy

Like other denominations, the United Methodist Church is running low on seminary-educated pastors, and many of those pastors are running high on debt.

The Rev. Lamar L. Imes, professional human resources director for the North Indiana Conference, has in recent years seen students graduate from seminary with anywhere from $2,500 to $37,000 in student loans. "Our concern is, how in the world does a person who is beginning ministry at a salary level of about $26,700 pay off a $37,000 student loan?" he said.

"People make house-payment type payments on education," said Dr. Deborah Cronin, associate director of the South Indiana Conference's Council on Ministries, and this puts a strain on a family's finances. "I think it's a hideous thing that we ask seminary students to do that. Absolutely hideous."

In many cases, the debt is not entirely from seminary, said the Rev. Mary Ann Moman, associate general secretary of the Division of Ordained Ministry, Board of Higher Education and Ministry in Nashville, Tenn. Consumer debt and undergraduate student loans may also be included. "The horror stories you hear are not, for the most part, about seminary debt, but an accumulation of debt."

And all of this contributes to the snickering, nervous laughter and even outright lies, Cronin said, when the question is asked at ordination: "Are you in debt so as to embarrass your ministry?"

How did things get to this point?

"There was a time in the history of the church when there was a commitment to pay for seminary education, and that commitment has changed over the years," said Moman, a former senior pastor of St. Mark's UMC in Bloomington. These days, less support tends to come from the student's home congregation, she added.

The cost of a seminary education has increased 140 percent over the last 20 years, Imes said, citing statistics from Auburn Theological Seminary in New York. In that same time period, "we've dropped the amount that we've been setting aside in the Ministerial Education Fund by about 50 percent," he said. Further, average clergy salaries have not kept pace with inflation, "so if the average student loan payment for entering clergy were $250 a month, for instance, we're figuring that's about 14 percent of the pastoral compensation (of the minimum salary)."

A denomination-wide task force, formed in response to a 2000 General Conference resolution to help seminary students deal with their financial burdens, has begun to tackle these complexities. A Service Loan Task Force has formed in the NIC as well, and came up with several recommendations.

The NIC currently gives out what it calls "grant/loans," but not until after a student graduates from seminary -- to ensure that the recipient actually goes into ministry, Imes said. The grant/loan is paid off in five years of service. If the pastor leaves the ministry in that five-year period, he or she must repay the remaining amount.

Moman said she does not think the prospect of debt discourages people from entering the ministry. At the same time, one way to encourage them is to help pay for their education, she said. "Does the church have a commitment to its students? I think that's a very important question for us. Does the annual conference have a commitment to see that folks entering ministry are being cared for not only spiritually but financially?" she said.

Cronin agreed: "If we can raise money for this, that and the other, it seems to me that annual conferences ought to be able to raise money to help reduce debt load."