A shortage of shepherds

U.S. pastors are calling it quits. A 2023 study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research concluded that nearly half of Christian ministers seriously considered leaving the ministry in the past year. This isn’t only a hypothetical crisis. The Roman Catholic Church recently announced that its total number of priests in America declined by about a thousand. Its number of seminarians decreased by about the same. The conservative Lutheran Church Missouri Synod has also shown a decline in pastors since 2012. A minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church stated on Facebook that the Presbytery of New York and New England currently has no licensed men ready to take a call and has not had any new candidates begin the ordination process since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an ecumenical emergency to which our churches must courageously and faithfully respond.

The causes for the decline are no doubt varied. Roman Catholicism, for instance, is still suffering from the negative stigma attached to clerical abuse crisis, as well as its requirement that its priests remain celibate (thus putting them dramatically out of step with much of the American way of life, at least among churchgoers). Still, there do seem to be some general explanations for the loss of ministers that can apply to a broader range of churches. The most obvious would seem to be the decline in overall church attendance. If we are currently experiencing a “Great Dechurching,” then we would also expect fewer candidates to be entering the pastoral ministry. The Hartford Institute report indicated that clergy dissatisfaction was not linked to the pastor’s own health or feeling of personal wellness. “Burnout” was not the problem. Instead, the biggest issue listed was conflict within the congregation. On the other hand, optimism about a congregation’s future strongly correlated with the ministers wanting to stay at their post.

So if pastors want to keep their job, and if churches want to keep their pastors—or attract new candidates—then the two most important goals should be church unity and church growth. Churches should reduce internal conflict and attract and keep new members.

There are two ways to reduce congregational conflict that should be resisted. The first is to avoid “divisive” topics altogether. When it comes to basic social management, this assumption is understandable. We all know how to ruin a party or a family dinner. But this approach is biblically untenable. The Apostle Paul “did not shrink from declaring … the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), and Jude tells ministers that they must be willing to hate “the garment stained by the flesh” (Jude vs. 23). Avoiding the hard stuff is simply not biblical fidelity.

A second false approach to reducing conflict is to simply lean in to the current cultural siloing that is occurring across the country. More and more churches are forming around niche lifestyle values and particular political commitments. While this approach can certainly create “likeminded” bodies, these tend to be legalistic and fragile. Questions like whether to homeschool or what sorts of medical or dietary decisions to make are certainly very important, and individuals and families may be able to reach an appropriate level of ethical certainty for their own decision-making, but these are much more difficult to apply on a group level. They are often bound up in questions of individual capabilities and disposition, as well as economics and local options. These sorts of group identities also tend not to stay unified for very long. It only takes a few years for cultural winds to change and group attitudes to fracture along new fault lines. The church should not be at the mercy of the latest news monologue or election cycle.

So how should true biblical unity be maintained then? Churches should form a deep commitment to the basic and essential features that only church can offer. Churches should clearly emphasize and push to the center of their ministries the public worship of God (the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), corporate prayer (including praise, thanksgiving, and petitions), the reading and hearing of the Holy Scriptures, the administrations of the Sacraments, and the provision of counsel and assistance in times of spiritual and physical need. These things should not be extras or peripheral matters but should instead be the main thing. “We will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4).

If pastors can truly commit themselves to this kind of work, and if their people express an appreciation and value for this work, then unity is attainable and retainable.

Finally, churches that want to keep their pastors must grow. Growth creates dynamic energy, it opens up spaces for new conversations and new relationships, and it adds resources, including financial ones. This is essential for happy and stable ministry. Growth need not be dramatic or exponential, and for many healthy churches it will be gradual and modest.

Growth is also biblical. Jesus gave the church an evangelistic mandate, to disciple the nations. And importantly, this is also practical and something that only the church’s ministry can offer. People must know that they stand in need of what the church offers: the gospel. The salvation of all mankind is still the most important service that the church can provide to other people. So this message must be preached. “There is no other name given among men by which we may be saved” than in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). As more and more churches make their commitment to this sort of pastoral ministry known, then more pastors will be willing to take—and obey—the call.