THE END IS NEAR
The Protestant church in the United States is being drained of clergy at
a rate that will
leave it without professional leaders in 50 to 100 years.
It's not the long term clergy who are jumping ship. In fact, those men
and women who
have served faithfully for 30 years or 40 years are hanging on for dear
life as the
church declines in membership, power and influence.
Rather, what's happening is that younger men and women who might have
been
inclined to enter the ministry have opted for more lucrative
opportunities. It's no
longer a matter of serving Jesus at any cost. Christian congregations
have been too
stingy for too long and young men and women are apparently not rushing
to accept the
hardship challenge.
I remember negotiating salary increases with the congregations I served. Each time more money for the pastor became the issue, the same objections were raised. One opponent would say
"I thought pastors were supposed to be dedicated", and the next would add, "I thought pastors
were expected to
sacrifice."
One congregation asked me to justify a raise by listing the things I
needed to buy - as if
they were dealing with a child who needed help spending money sensibly.
I refused to
comply with their insulting request.
It's those kinds of embarrasing incidents that drive people away from
the church and
particularly from entering the ministry.
One pastor negotiated a cost of living increase for himself, but then the
church council
punished him by taking away the allocation for the congregational
baseball diamond.
Because that was where the church
youth practiced
and played other teams from congregations in that remote rural area, the council's action hurt the pastor deeply and personally.
The pastor argued with the council and begged them not to eliminate the
money for
grass seed, fertilizer and grooming expenses for the ball park. But they
stood firm. If the
pastor wanted a raise that badly, they insisted, he would have to sacrifice in some
other way. Two days later the pastor stood on the pitcher's mound as the president
of the
congregation plowed the baseball diamond into a corn field.
I'm guessing that no young person from that congregation ever decided to
enter the
ministry. The personal costs are simply too high. The sacrifices
overwhelm. The world
beckons with better opportunities.
Every year more and more Protestant congregations are added to the list
of vulnerable
churches. That means they do not generate enough revenue to hire a
pastor, they do
not contribute to the denomination's coffers and they are virtually
useless to the
mission of Christianity.
Will those congregations find clergy to serve them as they learn how to
enter into a
dignified death? Or will they limp along on the leadership of dedicated
lay people until
they fade into a gentle repose?
Our future will challenge the church more than any other period in
history. This could be
the end of church as we know it.
Yet the end of the church as we know it, may bring an opportunity to discover the gifts of the entire church on earth. Never before has that been done.
Clark D. Morphew
Posted 2-13-02
