Several denominations have more clergy seeking positions than they have positions seeking clergy. This is particularly true for denominations that have been losing members. The situation is such that if present trends continue (and of course they never do exactly), according to one report, “there will be an Episcopal priest for every lay member of that denomination in the year 2004.” The United Presbyterians would find themselves in the same fix only seven years later.
We would remind would-be clergypersons who can’t find positions that there is a long tradition of ministers gathering a flock through evangelism. Whatever shortage of vacant pulpits certain groups may have, there is no shortage of potential converts to Christianity. In fact, many denominations are growing instead of shrinking. Although much of that growth may be at the expense of declining denominations, at least some of it is by gaining adherents from among the previously unchurched.
Nor is there any shortage of Christians who need to be ministered to. The rising divorce rate among believers is just one example of the need for counseling and other forms of mutual ministry in the body of Christ.
God may never lead you into full-time ministry, but this in no way lessens your potential to wholeheartedly serve God as an active member of a congregation. (Conversely, holding a full-time position does not automatically mean that you are a servant of God.)
The responsibility for the ministry of the church ultimately belongs to God himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, and he is not capriciously equipping disciples for ministries that don’t exist. It may be that denominations have created job descriptions and academic programs that contribute to an apparent oversupply of ministers. But let us never confuse what denominations do and the mistakes they make with the work of the Holy Spirit.
We need not worry about any excess supply of clergy. People with suitable gifts and training who faithfully proclaim God’s Word and who are genuinely guided by him will find sufficient opportunities and challenges.—D.T.
Economic Enemy Number One
In its 1978 convention in Minneapolis, the National Association of Evangelicals called upon the United States government to “take to itself a new sense of economic responsibility including a balanced budget, more careful spending and the limitations of its bureaucratic growth.” One can hope that this signals increased concern by Christians for seeking solutions for America’s biggest economic problem: inflation.
Like the sun that shines on the just and the unjust, so inflation shines equally upon the church and society. The price of goods and services is presently climbing at an annual rate of about 7 per cent in America. But inflation is not just a problem for people here.
Churches have been appalled at the financial needs of missionaries. Some of them have added a cost-of-living increase to their missionary support program, just as they have done for their own pastors. Some churches have decided not to support additional missionaries until the ones they presently help are adequately compensated. A few churches, because of rising costs, have chosen not to expand their present missionary program.
Many Americans wrongly assume that it costs less to live in other countries. But Organization Resources Counselors reports that a couple who lives on a thousand dollars a month in the states needs $1,400 to live comparably in Rome or Buenos Aires and about $2,000 a month in Manila or Vienna.
The local church is also feeling pinched. The cost of building new churches and adding to present structures has been increasing at the annual rate of 12 to 15 per cent for several years.
The purchasing power of the pastor’s salary can keep pace with inflation only if he has an automatic cost-of-living increase of about 6 to 8 per cent annually. A pastor is not getting a raise unless it surpasses the 7 per cent rate of inflation. Otherwise, he is merely keeping pace. Among older pastors, inflation wipes out early retirement. With only Social Security and little in savings through the years of active service, many pastors will find the cost of living too high to manage with their meager earnings. Many ministers living in church-provided homes could not face the cost of living and of their own housing.
Yet another area that should be of concern to the church is voluntary giving. Inflation erodes the givers’ disposable income. Discretionary funds are the largest source of funds for voluntary agencies in this country. Inflation restricts the ability of a generous spirit to give as he or she would like. The pressure of voluntary agencies to survive is real. Missions have had to cut back on needed projects. Churches have had to cut back on their 1978 budgets. Unless they are exceeding a 7 per cent growth in receipts per year they are standing still economically. But what about solutions?
William Simon, former Secretary of the Treasury, recently said that “out-of control government is the root cause of unbridled price increases.” Part of his suggested solution to the runaway economy and the erosion of the dollar is to “slow down the tremendous growth in government by first attacking the budget deficit and then by a cut in spending across the board.” He even goes so far as to find merit in the proposal to amend the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget at a level no more than a certain fixed percentage of the gross national product.
However, President Carter in a speech in April to the American Society of Newspaper Editors comes closest to exposing the root of the problem: “We want something to be done about our problems—except when the solutions affect us. We want to conserve energy, but not change wasteful habits. We favor sacrifice, as long as others go first. We want to abolish tax loopholes—unless it’s our loopholes. We denounce special interests, except for our own.”
This statement reminds us that economic enemy number one is not only inflation; it is the individual who insists on looking out for his own interests, the interests of “number one” as slang puts it, instead of being willing to change his habits, to sacrifice the loopholes favorable to himself, and in general to look to national and worldwide interests as well as his own.—C. RICHARD SHUMAKER, director, Institute of Slavic Studies, Wheaton, Illinois.
