When I joined the Wisconsin Annual Conference in 1962, there was quite an amazing feeling of closeness among the pastors. I learned one of the things which led to that was the support they gave each other back during the Depression, almost a quarter of a century before. Although it later seeped away as those older pastors retired, that "institutional memory" of the better off pastors contributing to a fund so that the pastors of very poor churches got financial help to survive the economic problems of that time was a very powetrful community builder in its day.
There are two signs of some serious financial problems ahead.
One is the huge national debt resulting from our war in Iraq, a debt that will be far more of a problem than the current mortgage problem.
The other is the diminishing size of local church budgets in most places at the same time that salaries of church officials and pastors have grown to where they can no longer be afforded in many places.
When I came into the ministry, I expected it to be a lifetime employment right on into retirement. But withn a few years, it became obvious that pastors had better have skills that could help them get jobs if the church could no longer afford them. That reflected the real situation of everyone else: have more than one marketable skill and expect to change jobs several times during your career.
Seminary students had better be aware of this dynamic. Many are coming over from other employment as mid-career changees. They would be wise to keep their certifications for employment in their former fields.
Other pastors need to be thinking about what kind of work they could do to support themselves and their families as the churches diminish in their financial capacities.
BUT ALL OF US BETTER BE READY TO HELP ONE ANOTHER JUST AS DID THE GENERATION THAT SUFFERED THROUGH THE DEPRESSION . . . TOGETHER.
A colleague sent the following by e-mail:
ReplyDeleteYou’re very right about the financial stresses affecting pastors and churches. And, unfortunately, you’re very much on target regarding the declining sense of solidarity. Certainly today one searches hard for the spirit of the stronger helping the weaker very evident in our conference when I first came in back in the 50s. There’s now a sense of everyone driving their own course, struggling to survive on their own or riding solo as they achieve success. Of course, I can’t generalize from my conference's situation. So many churches are struggling here and the conference is in a growing financial bind. We’re facing systemic problems beyond the power of current leadership to deal with. We have too many small churches, for one, and more and more the financial burden of health insurance is even influencing the appointments (the cost is over $17,000 annually for a pastor and his family). Just imagine a church of 50 members assuming that cost. Our church now has been placed with two other churches under one pastor, and all three are still not able to pay their apportionments. Retired pastors agree that we all enjoyed the “good times” of the church here. We’re in a very different era.
Another friend, an episcopal candidate, wrote the following:
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Thanks, Jerry
Here's from a pastor friend:
ReplyDeleteYour blog articles are really good. May the Lord continue to uplift your writing skills to all of us.