Pastoral leadership: crisis and opportunity

Posted on January 22nd, 2007

Archived in Clergy, Congregations

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Leadership – the ability to inspire, motivate, discern and envision in a faithful quest to follow God’s will – is the most critical issue facing churches today. Challenges abound in the number, quality, age and diversity of people pursuing – and staying in — pastoral ministry. The effects on communities across America are profound. They include the number of people who are active in churches, the extent of churches’ outreach to the less fortunate, the church’s moral influence in society and more. Hundreds of people and programs – many of which ReligionLink lists here — are offering resources, research and training in an attempt to bolster the amount and quality of leadership. Are they making a difference? It’s clear that the face of American clergy is changing. The question is how, and what impact will that new face have?

The outlook is complicated by changes in:

  • Seminarians: Fewer younger seminarians want to serve churches, and many seminarians begin ministry as a second career, leaving them fewer years to serve. The Fund for Theological Education reports that fewer seminary students today, about 60 percent, intend to be ordained and fewer still, about one-third, plan to serve a local congregation.
  • Churches: Most churches in America have 100 or fewer members, but most Americans who attend church now choose one with more than 350 members. That means most pastoral positions are in churches that pay lower salaries and tend to be geographically isolated, while promising seminary graduates may not be able to find jobs in areas where they want to live.
  • Women’s roles: The number of women seminarians and pastors has risen, but many ordained women say it’s difficult to advance into senior pastor positions and many leave ministry after just a few years.
  • Clergy status: Many pastors face low salaries, high seminary debt, high stress and unending demands from congregants who live in a 24/7 world. Public confidence in clergy has been shaken by sexual and financial crimes and scandals, but USA Today/Gallup Poll’s 2006 annual poll found that Americans rated clergy among the top six most trusted professions.
  • Attitudes about sexuality: Many denominations are embroiled in conflict over the role of gays and lesbians in the church.
  • Denominational differences: Roman Catholics – who do not ordain women and require celibacy of priests — and mainline Protestants have more clergy shortages than conservative and evangelical groups, many of whom do not ordain women.


Why it matters

From the beginning of Christianity, leadership has been critical to the growth and health of the church and its ability to spread its message and live out its beliefs in the world.

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Demographics
Background
News articles
Research

National sources

PROTESTANT

  • James P. Wind is president of the Alban Institute, which provides ecumenical, interfaith resources for congregations, and his expertise includes trends in clergy supply and demand. He is co-author of the 2001 report “The Leadership Situation Facing American Congregations.” Contact 703-964-2700 ext. 224, jwind@alban.org.
  • The Rev. Nathan Kirkpatrick directs Pulpit & Pew, an interdenominational research project that studies pastoral leadership issues. Contact 919-660-3423, nkirkpatrick@div.duke.edu.
  • Patricia M.Y. Chang, is an associate research professor of sociology at Boston College and assistant director of the Boisi Center for Religion & American Public Life. She has been studying clergy career characteristics and the supply of ordained leadership in some Protestant denominations. She co-authored Clergy Women: An Uphill Calling (Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). Contact 617-256-4364, changpc@bc.edu.
  • Ann M. Svennungsen is president of the Fund for Theological Education, an Atlanta-based ecumenical organization that gives fellowships and support to young women and men exploring ministry. The fund works with congregations on pastoral supply and quality issues. It reports that 70 percent of its fellows pursue ministry. Svennungsen, who is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, also says she is concerned about chronic underrepresentation of minority faculty at theological schools. She says more than one-third report they do not have even one person of color on the faculty and that two-thirds of the African-American scholars working in theological schools were FTE fellows. Contact 404-727-1858, asvennungsen@thefund.org.
  • Leadership Network in Dallas fosters church innovation by working with leaders in a variety of denominations and grouping them into communities focused on topics from church planting and multisite churches to “next generation” churches. Its Web site, newsletter and staff offer resources on innovative trends in ministry. Contact 800-765-5323 or 214-969-5950.
  • Adair Lummis, a sociologist of religion who is on staff at the Hartford Seminary Institute for Religion Research, has researched the process of matching congregations with pastors. Read a summary of her research, posted by Pulpit & Pew, and the full report, posted by Vanguard University of Southern California. Read a March 2004 Christian Century article, posted by Pulpit & Pew. She also has studied issues involving women clergy. Contact 860-509-9547, alummis@hartsem.edu.
  • Daniel Aleshire directs the Association of Theological Schools, which is based in Pittsburgh, Pa. The association has 251 member schools with 80,140 students total, of whom 64 percent are men and 36 percent are women. The ATS posts a number of tables on seminary enrollment. Contact Nancy Merrill, communications director, at 412-788-6505 ext. 234, merrill@ats.edu.
  • Lovett H. Weems Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Church Leadership at the Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., and directs the Lewis Center for Church Leadership. The center reports a dramatic drop in the number of young United Methodist clergy, and also posts research on clergy age trends in other denominations. Contact 202-885-8757, lovettw@wesleysem.edu.
  • Jackson Carroll is author of God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Eerdmans, 2006) and professor emeritus at Duke Divinity School. Read an interview about the survey the book is based on. Contact 919-419-0609, jcarroll@div.duke.edu.
  • Steven Smith is associate dean for doctor of ministry, James T. Draper Jr. Chair of Preaching and Pastoral Ministries, and assistant professor of preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Contact 817-923-1921 ext. 6835, swsmith@swbts.edu.
  • Licensed marriage and family therapist Barney Self is counselor for LeaderCare, a program for ministers and their families by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Read an Oct. 2, 2006, LifeWay article about top reasons for church staff dismissals. Contact 615-251-2953, leadercare@lifeway.com.

  • Barbara Wheeler is president of Auburn Theological Seminary in New York and directs Auburn’s Center for the Study of Theological Education, which does research about professional and lay leadership in the church. The Center is expected to release a survey in fall 2007 of the occupations and ordination rates of theological school graduates 5, 10 and 15 years after graduation. Contact 212-662-4315, mvr@auburnsem.org.

CATHOLIC

• Christine Schenk leads FutureChurch, based in Cleveland, which advocates ordaining married Roman Catholic men and women as priests to alleviate priest shortages. Contact 216-228-0869, info@futurechurch.org.


Demographics

AGE

  • According to research by the Lewis Center:
    • The Episcopal Church: 4 .1 percent are under age 35, 46.6 percent are 35-54, and 49.3 percent are 55 or older.
    • The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: 4.86 percent are under age 35, 49.28 percent are 35-54, and 45.96 percent are 55 or older.
    • The United Methodist Church: 4.69 percent are under age 35, 54.41 percent are 35-54, and 40.9 percent are 55 or older.
    • Roman Catholic priests: 3.1 percent are under 35, 31.7 percent are 35-54, and 65.2 percent are 55 or older.
  • The Association of Theological Schools reports that of total fall 2005 enrollment in its 251 member schools in the United States and Canada: 32 percent were under 30, 25 percent are 30-39 years old, 23 percent were 40-49, and 20 percent were 50 or older. Forty-nine percent of students enrolled in a full degree program were seeking a master of divinity (MDiv), which generally leads to ordained service as pastor or priest. Forty-two percent of MDiv students were under 30, 19 percent were 30-39, 20 percent were 40-49 and 14 percent were 50 or older. (Students in their twenties increased 3 percent from 2003 to 2005, from 39 percent to 42 percent of the MDiv enrollment.)
  • • Fifty-six percent of senior pastors and pastors who are the only clergy at their church are in their second career, according to research by Pulpit & Pew.


GENDER

• The United Methodist Church reports that 18.5 percent of its clergy are women.


Background



NEWS ARTICLES


RESEARCH


Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

  • Margaret Bendroth is executive director of the Congregational Library in Boston and co-editor of Women and Twentieth-Century Protestantism (University of Illinois Press, 2001), a book of essays on the variety of women’s roles and their influence. Contact 617-523-0470 ext. 240, mbendroth@14beacon.org.
  • Nancy Ammerman is a professor of sociology of religion at Boston University. Her books include, as author, Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners (University of California Press, 2005). Contact 617-353-3066, nta@bu.edu.
  • James E. Dittes is a professor emeritus of pastoral counseling at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and has researched clergy calling. His books include, as author, Re-Calling Ministry (Chalice Press, 1999). Contact 203-432-5303(departmental), james.dittes@yale.edu.
  • Kenneth L. Swetland is campus chaplain and professor of ministry at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. He wrote The Hidden World of the Pastor: Case Studies on Personal Issues of Real Pastors (Baker Book House, 1995). Contact 978-468-7111 (departmental).


IN THE EAST

  • Paul Sullins, an associate sociology professor at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., has called the U.S. priest shortage overstated. Sullins, who is a married former Anglican priest ordained into the Catholic priesthood, says the data has been skewed by comparing it with the 1960s, when the number of priests was at a high point. Read an article he wrote on the topic. Contact 202-319-5999, sullins@cua.edu.
  • David D. Danneberger is president of the Academy of Parish Clergy, an interdenominational organization that encourages excellence in ministry. Contact him in York, Pa., at 717-764-3569, david.danneberger@ecunet.org.
  • Leon J. Podles, who lives in Baltimore and in Naples, Fla., wrote The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity (Spence, 1999). He says female clergy have caused a decrease in male participation in mainline Christian congregations. Podles is a senior editor of Touchstone magazine. Contact leepodles@cs.com.

• Dean R. Hoge is a professor of sociology at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. His books include, as co-author, Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry (Eerdmans, 2005). Read a 2003 speech he co-authored, posted by Pulpit & Pew. Contact 202-319-5999, hoge@cua.edu.


IN THE SOUTHEAST

  • Laura R. Olson is a political science professor at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and co-author of Women With a Mission: Religion, Gender and the Politics of Women Clergy (University of Alabama Press, 2005). She says increasing the number of women in the clergy means less probability of clergy shortage. Contact 864-656-1457, laurao@clemson.edu.
  • Milagros Peña is an associate professor of sociology and director of the Center for Women’s Studies and Gender Research at the University of Florida at Gainesville. She has studied church leadership among Hispanics and is co-author of Emerging Voices, Urgent Choices: Essays on Latino/a Religious Leadership (Brill Academic Press, 2006). Contact 352-392-3365.
  • George Jacobs, a Presbyterian minister, and Gordon Jacobs, his wife, are the founders of the Davidson Clergy Center in Davidson, N.C., which provides programs for clergy experiencing burnout. Contact 704-895-6487, davidsonclergycenter@bellsouth.net.
  • Julie Ingersoll is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville, and author of Evangelical Christian Women: War Stories in the Gender Battles (New York University Press, 2003). Contact 904-620-1330, jingerso@unf.edu.
  • R. Drew Smith, a political scientist and Baptist minister, is scholar-in-residence at the Leadership Center at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Contact 404-614-8565, rsmith@morehouse.edu.
  • Marcia Y. Riggs is J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga. She wrote Plenty Good Room: Women Versus Male Power in the Black Church (Pilgrim Press, 2003). Contact 404-687-4537, RiggsM@CTSnet.edu.
  • Sally Moran of Charleston, S.C., is the author of a 2004 print-on-demand book, Women of the Covenant: The Case for Female Roman Catholic Priests. She says important issues include parish closings, the number of foreign priests (some of whom speak English poorly), loss of social services to the needy, the scarcity of Eucharistic Liturgy to the person in the pew, and the isolation of priests who live alone and serve several parishes. Contact her at JPMSMC@aol.com.
  • Kenneth Carder is professor of the practice of pastoral formation at Duke University, Durham, N.C., and senior fellow of Pulpit & Pew. He is a United Methodist bishop. Contact 919-660-3423, kcarder@div.duke.edu.


IN THE SOUTH



IN THE MIDWEST

  • The Rev. Donald B. Cozzens is writer-in-residence in the religious studies department at John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio. His books include The Changing Face of the Priesthood: A Reflection on the Priest’s Crisis of Soul (Liturgical Press, 2000). Contact 216-397-1731, dcozzens@jcu.edu.
  • The Rev. Ken Davis is director of the Program for Formation of Hispanic Ministry at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana and co-author of Emerging Voices, Urgent Choices: Essays on Latino/a Religious Leadership (Brill Academic Press, 2006). Contact kgdadmin@kennethgdavis.com.
  • Charles W. Mueller is a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. He has written about clergy-congregation mismatches and clergy job satisfaction. Contact 319-335-2491, charles-mueller@uiowa.edu.
  • James R. Wood is a professor emeritus of sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington, and is part of a team of scholars working on a project called “Organizing Religious Work for the 21st Century.” He says journalists should consider the impact of the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on women priests and married priests and says he believes there would be no shortage of priests if the bans were lifted. He also says it is important to examine how any Protestant clergy shortage would be impacted by banning gay men and lesbians, including those who are in committed, marriage-like relationships. Contact wood1@indiana.edu.
  • William C. Placher is a professor of philosophy and religion and LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. His books include, as editor, Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation (Eerdmans Publishing, 2005). Contact 765-361-6262, placherw@wabash.edu.



IN THE SOUTHWEST

  • Mark Alan Chaves is a professor of sociology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He wrote Congregations in America (Harvard University Press, 2004) and Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organizations (Harvard, 1999). Contact 520-626-2560, mchaves@u.arizona.edu.
  • The Rev. Frederick W. Schmidt is director of spiritual formation and Anglican studies and an associate professor of Christian spirituality at Southern Methodist University, Dallas. He is the author of A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1996). Contact 214-768-2292, fschmidt@mail.smu.edu.
  • Howard Hendricks is chairman of the Center for Christian Leadership at Dallas Theological Seminary in Texas. Contact 214-824-3094.
  • The Rev. Andrew Greeley is an author, sociologist and adjunct faculty member at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He also is study director at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center. His books include Priests: A Calling in Crisis (University of Chicago Press, 2004). Contact 773-256-6281, agreel@aol.com.
  • The Rev. G. Lloyd Rediger of Albuquerque, N.M., is an author, speaker and trainer and is ordained in the Presbyterian Church. His books include Clergy Killers: Guidance for Pastors and Congregations Under Attack (Westminster John Knox Press, 1997). Contact 505-821-4856, glrediger@earthlink.net.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

  • Scott Cormode is Hugh De Pree Associate Professor of Leadership Development at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He founded the Academy of Religious Leadership, an organization for professors who teach leadership in seminaries, in 1998 and created the Journal of Religious Leadership, for which he also acts as editor, in 2001. Contact 626-304-3773, cormode@fuller.edu.
  • Paula Nesbitt is a visiting associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Feminization of the Clergy in America: Occupational and Organizational Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 1997). She says a good barometer of shortage issues might be how many women who have been ordained later in life still have a hard time finding placements with full-time pay. Contact 510-652-0888, pnesbitt@berkeley.edu.
  • Edmund Gibbs is Donald A. McGavran Professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. His books include, as author, LeadershipNext: Changing Leaders in a Changing Culture (InterVarsity Press, 2005), ChurchNext: Quantum Changes in How We Do Ministry (IVP, 2000) and, as co-author, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures (Baker Academic, 2005). Contact 626-584-5284, eddgibbs@fuller.edu.


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