Small Churches: Empty Pulpit Crisis
Lutherans try to overcome clergy shortages
Ken Walker | posted 11/12/2001 12:00AM
When Bill Heithold turned from ranching to ministry at 41, he ended up riding farther than he ever did on the range. On Sundays the central South Dakota minister logs more than 100 miles driving to three different churches. He also travels long distances to Bible studies during the week.
"It's got to be done," says the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) pastor, who counts fewer than 300 in his extended flock. "There's no way around it."
These churches are not alone. Migration to more heavily populated cities and towns has left schools, hospitals, and other institutions in rural South Dakota struggling to fill vacancies. Heithold, a pastor for four years who lives in the southern town of Winner, is one of three LCMS pastors in South Dakota who each tends a trio of congregations. Yet these churches are faring better than eight others. Vernon Schindler, president of the 118-church district, says the eight are too spread out to share a pastor, let alone to afford their own.
The South Dakota situation may signal national trouble ahead. Today 14 percent of churches in the heavily rural LCMS lack pastors. A 1999 LCMS study projects that by 2020, 30 to 40 percent of LCMS congregations will have no pastoral leadership. LCMS leaders are beginning to strengthen recruiting and retention efforts before the crisis hits full force.
The denomination of 2.6 million is not unique. In recent years, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) have all faced significant numbers of empty pulpits.
In the ELCA, the synods with the most vacant pulpits are most often in economically weak areas.
In addition, the ELCA is shrinking overall. In 1988, there were 10,030 pastors and 11,120 congregations in the ELCA. Ten years later, there were 447 fewer pastors and 258 fewer congregations.
Research requested by the ELCA Council of Bishops identified several reasons for the clergy shortfall: more small congregations able to pay only a modest "first call" salary, graduates restricted geographically because of a spouse's career or children's education, and student debt.
The survey, completed last year, reported that both rural and urban churches are having difficulty finding pastors. The study also found that 5 percent of male and 17 percent of female pastors go on leave after their first stint as pastors.
Mission Growth Ministries, a Kansas City consulting firm, recently interviewed nearly 200 current or former ministers, their spouses, and their children. It concluded that 40 percent of LCMS pastors are moderately stressed or suffering depression and burnout. Why? Low pay, unreasonable time demands, contentious parish relationships, harsh criticism, and threats. In one church, a pastor suffered a fatal heart attack after a shouting match with a member.
"It put us in a blue funk for a couple months," says Alan Klaas, president of Mission Growth, about the survey. "It discouraged us when we found out what is going on and the intensity of it."
Putting Lay Leaders to Work
New LCMS President Gerald Kieschnick calls the clergy shortage one of the most crucial issues he faces. He acknowledges that some churches will be forced to merge or fold. But he also thinks the problem will stimulate efforts, such as the lay-led Stephen Ministries, to take up the slack in pastoral care.
"It puts a focus on the priesthood of all believers," says the former Texas pastor.
The more liberal ELCA evidently agrees. Its South Dakota Synod has proposed a lay leadership program for churches that cannot find ordained clergy.
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