Churches are struggling to find pastors these days, according to a Christianity Today report. For smaller churches, the problem is finding candidates who are interesting in taking a limited, often part-time, salary. But for larger churches, the issue isn’t so much a prospect shortage. It’s a shortage of qualified prospects. Why is that?
“The seminaries are not preparing guys to pastor large churches,” [Don] Goehner said. “Usually, where these pastors fail is not in their preaching. … It’s in the issue of management.”
Goehner, who is president of a consulting firm that helps with pastoral searches, echoes the concern of others cited in the article. They say that larger churches have become more programmatic and therefore need more administrative capability from their senior pastors than before. Seminaries have reportedly begun to respond to this shift in their own training emphases, but maybe not enough so.
Then again, maybe larger churches need to rethink their leadership structure. Is it the best idea to put that administrative burden on senior pastors? Maybe they should be given more freedom to focus on teaching, casting vision, ministering to people, etc.
What do you think? Do our seminaries or our churches need to adjust?
