The dwindling clergy: it's not just a Catholic thing

If you thought that the vocation crisis was just a Catholic problem, think again.

This comes from the Erie Times News in Pennsylvania:

Is there a Protestant clergy shortage?

Yes and no.

The answer, as in the Catholic Church, often depends on where you worship.

Some churches, especially those that are small or rural, struggle to fill pulpits. But even in denominations that say they’re doing OK, it can be more an issue of having enough people, just not in the right places.

“It is a growing problem for us,” said the Rev. Ralph E. Jones, bishop of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Over the next decade, the bishop said, the number of Lutheran ministers retiring is expected to exceed the new pastors joining the ranks each year.

He said his synod has about 90 clergy, half of them retired. Some of those continue to serve some smaller congregations on a part-time basis, he said.

Jones also said that about 80 percent of the 89 congregations in his synod have 100 or fewer people at worship. Supporting a full-time pastor can be hard for those groups, he said.

In the Presbyterian Church USA, the number of clergy is steady to slowly increasing, said the Rev. David Oyler, general presbyter for the Presbytery of Lake Erie.

“So nationwide there is not a shortage,” he said. “The challenge is people are not necessarily located where the need is.”

He said the seven Presbyterian seminaries have as many students now as in the past 10, 20 or 30 years.

And the Lake Erie Presbytery has 72 clergy, or about the same number as past years, he said. That number includes retired pastors, some of whom continue to serve among the presbytery’s 60 churches.

The Right Rev. Sean W. Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania, also considers the ordination process healthy.

His diocese ordained six priests in 2008, which he said is typical.

What is changing, Rowe said, is that the number of ordained people younger than 30 is up. The 33-year-old bishop said there had been a trend for awhile of older candidates, many of them coming to the priesthood as a second career. He believes it’s good to have a mix of ages.

Rowe said there’s not a shortage of Episcopal priests in big cities. It’s more of a problem in rural areas, where smaller congregations might have trouble affording or attracting a full-time priest, he said.

Rural areas are also sometimes more difficult for the Assemblies of God to staff, said John Palmer, general secretary for the Pentecostal denomination with 2.8 million U.S. members.

He said there were just under 33,900 Assemblies of God ministers in the U.S. at the end of 2007. About 4,700 were retired.

“We’re sort of keeping up with the population,” Palmer said.

One thing his church is doing is using weekend training for people within their own districts rather than sending them away to a seminary.

Palmer said a church in a small town might have difficulty attracting an ordained minister, the highest level of credential. But someone within the church could attend weekend training to become a certified minister, the first level. He said that person could perform funerals, weddings and Communion services for a local congregation.

Presbyterians and Lutherans also are looking at alternatives.

Oyler said the Presbyterian Church has seen growth in the number of commissioned lay pastors. They are lay people given some training and ordained as elders, but don’t become a minister with seminary training. He said they’re able to serve part-time in smaller congregations.

There's more at the link.