Too Many Pastors
“According to PC(USA) data, there are 532 vacancies for 2,271 ministers seeking positions. The Assemblies of God, United Methodist Church, Church of the Nazarene and other Protestant denominations also report significant surpluses.” From clergy shortage to clergy glut.
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“ ‘It’s a free market,’ said Ed Stetzer, a Southern Baptist researcher.
It’s virtually impossible to track supply and demand among non-hierarchical churches, such as Baptists, Pentecostals and many evangelical groups. But researchers agree the clergy glut is even worse in loose-knit denominations that offer little job security.”
Having recently served on the pulpit committee of an independent Baptist church, I can attest to the “glut.”
I cannot speak to the issue across the board, but in independent, fundamental Baptist churches I believe the “glut” may be attributed to a variety of factors, including:
- There are no standards regarding education, ordination, etc., and many church members are either unable or disinterested in discerning the differences in such subtleties. Thus, a guy with a Th.M. or D.Min. may start on the same plane as a guy with a B.A. or even less (or, in some cases, no formal education at all).
- A church which requests resumes from a number of sources will be flooded with them, including many men who have never pastored before but who would “like to be in the ministry.”
- Realistically, if we were part of a denominational structure, many of these men would fall into different “denominations.” Without trying, we received resumes from everyone from KJV-only to Hyles-influence to GARBC to IFCA to Reformed Baptist to Purpose Driven to seeker sensitive to five-point Calvinist, etc.
This leads to another problem. The church is constantly tempted to shift what it believes when calling a pastor because “we like this guy who is just a little different.” Thus, the church must constantly be on guard and determine to define (or re-define) itself Biblically and stay within those parameters.
On the other hand, if we are talking about guys with M.Div. or higher who hold to the doctrine and philosophy of the standard GARBC/independent Baptist church (traditional worship, traditional dispensationalism, creationism, Bible exposition, etc.), I do not believe that there is anything close to a “glut.” Many of the good guys who ARE out there, though, are washed out by the “glut,” such as it is.
It’s virtually impossible to track supply and demand among non-hierarchical churches, such as Baptists, Pentecostals and many evangelical groups. But researchers agree the clergy glut is even worse in loose-knit denominations that offer little job security.”
Having recently served on the pulpit committee of an independent Baptist church, I can attest to the “glut.”
I cannot speak to the issue across the board, but in independent, fundamental Baptist churches I believe the “glut” may be attributed to a variety of factors, including:
- There are no standards regarding education, ordination, etc., and many church members are either unable or disinterested in discerning the differences in such subtleties. Thus, a guy with a Th.M. or D.Min. may start on the same plane as a guy with a B.A. or even less (or, in some cases, no formal education at all).
- A church which requests resumes from a number of sources will be flooded with them, including many men who have never pastored before but who would “like to be in the ministry.”
- Realistically, if we were part of a denominational structure, many of these men would fall into different “denominations.” Without trying, we received resumes from everyone from KJV-only to Hyles-influence to GARBC to IFCA to Reformed Baptist to Purpose Driven to seeker sensitive to five-point Calvinist, etc.
This leads to another problem. The church is constantly tempted to shift what it believes when calling a pastor because “we like this guy who is just a little different.” Thus, the church must constantly be on guard and determine to define (or re-define) itself Biblically and stay within those parameters.
On the other hand, if we are talking about guys with M.Div. or higher who hold to the doctrine and philosophy of the standard GARBC/independent Baptist church (traditional worship, traditional dispensationalism, creationism, Bible exposition, etc.), I do not believe that there is anything close to a “glut.” Many of the good guys who ARE out there, though, are washed out by the “glut,” such as it is.
Church Ministries Representative, serving in the Midwest, for The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
I suspect that there are many young men preparing for a ministry career (by this I mean a paying job) that will hit this job market like a brick wall with no other career training to fall back on
Paul, your post adds to a thought I had when I first read the peace… I wonder if clergy seeking positions in these other denominations will start/have started looking for churches outside their group, including some independent Baptist churches.
But I found it a bit hard to believe as well since I hear about churches looking for pastors all the time. But maybe that’s a good sign. If they are looking for a year or more, they are apparently being at least a little bit choosy. Let’s just hope the criteria are good ones.
But I found it a bit hard to believe as well since I hear about churches looking for pastors all the time. But maybe that’s a good sign. If they are looking for a year or more, they are apparently being at least a little bit choosy. Let’s just hope the criteria are good ones.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
When I graduated from Central Baptist in 1975 there was no shortage of churches looking for Pastors. I moved back to the Seattle area on my own to go to Northwest Baptist Seminary and study Greek under Marchant A. King and Hebrew with Herman Austel. However, I was immediately contacted by an independent church and obtained a full time pastorate also. I have never put out a resume. I do not believe in such a process. It was a compromise of principle to accept an offered Pastoral role position in a Baptist church where I ended up for 20 years. But I made every effort to have it a genuine congregational church with all associate Pastors as equal elders.
The Professional Clergy landscape started to change in the 1980s as all evangelical seminaries exploded with students in the 1970s. Starting in the 1990s to today it is not unusual for a church to get over 100 resumes. Many get over 200. They usually go through a weeding out process that often has little Biblical principle or discernment. You might call it the “random sovereign approach.” I call it the “professional Clergy dependence emergency trauma process.” God is in it somewhere but who knows where. However, occasionally there is a good outcome. The last statistic I saw indicated the average stay of the Clergy professional was 5 years and in the Southern Baptist Convention it was 3 1/2 years. The US Post office may rely on Clergy resumes flying back and forth for a good percentage of their income.
The definition of a “call to ministry” is not complicated. It is when your cell phone rings and it is a church responding to your resume.
The Professional Clergy landscape started to change in the 1980s as all evangelical seminaries exploded with students in the 1970s. Starting in the 1990s to today it is not unusual for a church to get over 100 resumes. Many get over 200. They usually go through a weeding out process that often has little Biblical principle or discernment. You might call it the “random sovereign approach.” I call it the “professional Clergy dependence emergency trauma process.” God is in it somewhere but who knows where. However, occasionally there is a good outcome. The last statistic I saw indicated the average stay of the Clergy professional was 5 years and in the Southern Baptist Convention it was 3 1/2 years. The US Post office may rely on Clergy resumes flying back and forth for a good percentage of their income.
The definition of a “call to ministry” is not complicated. It is when your cell phone rings and it is a church responding to your resume.
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