We Need More Pastors, Where Are They?

The aging status of the collective group of pastors leading independent Baptist Churches is alarming. This problem is impacting all of broader evangelicalism. Most of our pastors are in their late 50’s and above. A new generation of committed church leaders must rise up and not only carry on the work already established but also pioneer new mission fields. We have not been producing enough young leaders to fill the gap and I think I know some of the reasons why.

“If you can do anything other than the ministry, you should.”

I think I understand why many have given this advice over the last 20 years. They wanted to discourage men from entering the ministry who are not truly called. However, this is not how God recruits His servants. 1 Timothy 3:1 says that if someone desires to be in the ministry, he desires something good. God calls people to ministry in different ways. Sometimes he puts the desire in their hearts. To some, this advice comes across as “if you are skilled or talented enough to do something else, then do that.” I have no doubt that many of the fine pastors I know would have excelled in the business world or some other pursuit. After all, pastoral ministry makes use of all sorts of skills, intelligence, and ability. Our best and brightest must be challenged with the idea of dedicating their talents to serving God full-time should God call them.

“You have to have a seminary education to go into ministry.”

At the other end of the spectrum, the ideal of ministry preparation sets unrealistic universal expectations. A typical seminary education includes an undergrad degree plus an additional three years of grad school. When I was in seminary, this meant 96 credit hours of post-graduate study (three years full-time). It takes most students four years or more to complete a seminary program.

The difference between then and now is the cost of education. A young man graduating from high school today and seeking to enter pastoral ministry is facing a potential investment of $200,000 in education costs and 7-9 years of his life for the privilege of pastoring (or going to the mission field or teaching in a Christian School). Often, these churches cannot even pay a full-time salary. How can a church, in good conscience, place this expectation on its future pastor? No one should expect to get rich in a ministry, but it is equally wrong to demand that young people sink themselves in overwhelming debt to enter the ministry. We need to lower our educational expectations, lower the cost of education, or find a way to help those preparing to pay for it. Our goal should be to provide a way for young pastors to enter the ministry without school debt—none.  The ministry is a faith journey and trusting God to meet needs is part of that, but debt historically prevents people from stepping out on faith to serve God.

I do believe there are some potential solutions to these problems. It is time to pray desperately for harvesters in our own fields just like we used to pray for the foreign mission fields. Every generation is a new mission field to reach. Jesus called disciples to follow Him, and He is certainly calling a new generation of leaders today—they need encouragement.

Churches should consider hiring pastors with undergrad educations and help them get their seminary degrees WHILE they are serving in the ministry. This is not only financially advantageous, but it also puts a student in an active ministry that enhances the value of the education he receives in the classroom. With all the distance learning options available today, this can be accomplished from almost any location.

Churches must consider providing educational scholarships for their future pastors. Your next pastor will probably need to be developed within your own congregation—or you might not get one at all. As an alternative, Churches might need to plan to help their new pastor pay off his educational debt, but piling up debt in the hope of having a church help pay it off down the road is going to be a tough sell to a conscientious young person.

This might be the time to rethink what a Christian college should look like—especially at the seminary level. Schools with large campuses, extensive programs, and other amenities, are very costly to operate. It seems that only small schools on shared campuses or big schools with other income streams are surviving. Jesus used the rabbinical model to train His disciples and it worked quite effectively. Our ministry preparation box is collapsing. It is time to start thinking outside of it.