The Coming Clergy Crisis

I always start my blogs with: What’s the good word? Well, church, today I don’t have good words. We are already in a clergy crisis in the church. What does that mean? It means there are more churches that need a pastor than there are pastors to fill them. This is especially true in my Protestant denomination. It has been that way for a while now. Statistics paint a gloomy picture. 85% of seminarians don’t last beyond the first five years and 90% of all pastors dont’ stay in ministry until retirement. But, I sense a bigger looming crisis coming post pandemic, and I offer my thoughts as to why below.

Abraham Lincoln once said: If division and destruction come to this country, it will come from within and not from the outside. I believe this to be true for our churches as well. Each and every day on my social media feeds I see fellow clergy burned out and simply under attack. And the attacks are not coming from the outside, they are coming from within their own congregations. Many are choosing to leave and seek other calls in other churches, some are just flat out done and are seeking new careers.

Listen to them in their words: “I am feeling bullied by some people in my church.” “They criticize everything I do, so I do everything I can to appease them, and nothing works”. “Had three members resign and walk out of worship simply because I said we should stand in solidarity with our African American brothers and sisters.”

What is happening? Clergy were already feeling burnout pre Covid but now there has been mounting pressure on them. Between the pandemic being politicized as well as Black Lives Matter becoming politicized, we are doing irreparable harm by bringing politics into our pews. We need to not see everything through the lens of politics, but as followers of Jesus through the lens of our faith. Christian nationalism in our churches will be part of our undoing. What is Christian nationalism, it is in its simplest definition: that the American nation is defined by Christianity and that the government should take steps to keep it that way. This is NOT Christianity but something completely different. And while we are at it, I don’t think we are all on the same page as to what Christianity really means much less Christian nationalism. One step at a time please.

Now days, a pastor cannot make a simple statement without it being brought up as politics. As pastors try to do their best to keep their people safe, part of what a shepherd of sheep is supposed to do, they are undermined, backstabbed, and undercut at every step of the way. They aren’t being political, they are being caring. I remember one time bringing up the word justice and social justice and was a labeled a liberal heretic. Let’s not forget the word justice is used more than 150 times in the Old and New Testaments, so I don’t think it’s about not being biblical.

One last point, when it comes to worship, did you not call your pastor to lead and oversee worship and much more. In my call it states the following: We call you to exercise among us the ministry of Word and Sacrament which God has established and which the Holy Spirit empowers: To preach and teach the Word of God in accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; to administer Holy Baptism and Holy Communion; to lead us in worship; to proclaim the forgiveness of sins; to provide pastoral care; to speak for justice on behalf of the poor and oppressed… If this is what you called your pastor to do, let them do it! They went to four years of schooling (one of the longest maters programs out there) and have spent their life learning and growing in these areas. Why question? Why criticize? Why try to tell them you know better? We need to remember that church is not about us. Church isn’t a country club where you pay your dues and have services rendered to you. It is a place to worship God, give back to God, be fueled through the sacraments and word to go out into the world to work for God. The church needs to be less us and more God!

If there is division and destruction in the church we will only need to look into the mirror. It starts with how you treat your pastor. Be kind to your pastor. Lift them up. Support them. Give them breaks and be kind when they fail. Lift one another up in good times and in bad times. Pay attention to them and their families. And that’s the good word for today.