Facebook has made me a better pastor !

Facebook has made me a better pastor. I joined the social networking site a while ago, but never used it for some time. Then, just a few months ago, I became an avid user (my friend Jae Hess claims I need an intervention, but so far I’ve managed to avoid anything so extreme). Since then, I’m becoming more and more aware of the benefits of Facebook to me as a pastor:

1.Facebook helps me connect with more people in the church. Last Sunday, I was able to greet someone with a followup to a statement they had made on Facebook! We enjoyed a short conversation and a laugh that might not have gone beyond “good morning” otherwise. And it allows me to make connections with people at their convenience, without intruding into a busy schedule or hectic home.
2.I send daily birthday greetings to members of my flock who are on Facebook. It only takes a few seconds, but it’s such a blessing to have that brief connection. I can’t help but believe it means something to send those greetings.
3.I’m in the loop. Through Facebook, I’ve been much better informed about the lives of my brothers and sisters: who’s on vacation, who’s having surgery, who’s having a bad day, and so on.
4.I pray via Facebook. I have had multiple opportunities to include a short prayer for a member of the church, and I’ve linked my daily prayer blog to my profile page, so my church family can gain a sense of what I’m praying each day.
5.It makes me “normal.” As normal as a pastor can be, that is. People can see on Facebook if I share an interest of theirs, or keep up with the semi-normal pursuits of my daily life.
6.It extends my example when I mention that I’m on a date night with my wife, or “sabbathing,” or “complining before bedtiming,” for example.
7.It helps me learn names. I have actually studied photos of people in the church whom I’ve “friended” on Facebook to try to improve my recollection when I see them at church. And just yesterday we got a program tab with a newcomer’s contact info on it, and I wasn’t sure of the last name...until that person asked me to “friend” her on Facebook!
8.It has increased my photo library of church things. Last week, after a child dedication on Sunday, a friend posted photos of her child’s dedication and “tagged” me in the picture. I copied those photos to my own files.
9.Facebook gets the word out. A few months ago, my church got a donation of brand new white boards. We installed those we needed and had one left over. I saw a ministry friend’s update on Facebook saying he was shopping for a white board. I sent him a message and a few days later he had a brand new board at no cost.
10. It encourages me and invites prayer for me. A while back, I was having a really crummy day, and said so in my update. Within minutes, a bunch of friends assured me they loved me and were praying for me. For a guy whose tendency is to suffer alone, that’s a huge benefit.
11. It makes me laugh. With all the stresses that come with public ministry, having an occasional friend poke fun at me---or me at them---makes the load a little lighter.
12. It makes me look cooler than I really am. At least, cooler than pastors who aren’t on Facebook, right?

I’m sure I’m forgetting or overlooking a few more ministry advantages to Facebook. Feel free to add your own in the comments. And, by the way, it’s not as time-consuming as most people think. I keep my Facebook page open in the background and check it a few times a day, max. Honestly. Seriously. No, really. No kidding. I’m being straight with you. Oops, just got a message on Facebook. Gotta go.

Bob Hostetler
Former
USA East

What do we learn when we take off the Red Epaulets? Part -2-

My next career is as a Life Coach, I have done the Cert IV in life coaching and will soon have the piece of paper that says that is what I am, and I am wishing that I had done this as a SAO in my first year out, what I am learning is not necessarily new, but it is stuff that has taken me nearly half a century to pick up and I see this as one of those activities that can very quickly put ‘old heads on young shoulders’. What has impressed me so much with life coaching is that it is all about people and why they do what they do, and how they can literally fulfill all their hopes and aspirations. Within Fundraising we often find that we are over educated on ‘How too..’ but deficient in the ‘Why too..’ (excuse my grammar). Within the Church/Army, and I was guilty of it as well, we focused on ‘this is what we believe, and this is how we do it, rather than realizing that our oft quoted uniqueness also attaches itself to our beliefs as well. I have read with dismay over recent months words that seem to divide us into Real Christians whose beliefs are as the writer feels they should be and the rest of us who it seems should be bowing to their greater knowledge or revelation or enlightenment. A recent discussion on the Army’s lack of recognizing spiritual gifts, in my experience is that it is often a veiled excuse around ‘I have not got the exulted position that I should have so I am going to take my marbles and go home’. It’s a very sad destructive power play to hold the army to ransom and justify bizarre actions. I also have examples from my end of the world. In many of the discussions of Spiritual gifts we gloss over the fact that they need to be recognized and validated by the faith body; that means the congregation and also the organization to which we are aligned too. ‘Complaining about the DC’ is such an antiquated means of justification that it needs to be left behind.

So in one of my current roles of fundraising trainer I am in the process of putting together a seminar where we look at Professional Development, the ‘How too’ stuff but I also want to add to that the ‘Why too’ in the form of developing life skills. My philosophy is that if you make better people they will be better fundraisers. This can be extrapolated out to any profession.

So in all this I have learned that the importance of people is what, for me, this life is all about. I have a strong faith and in my fantasy moments I do see myself one day walking the Streets of Gold meeting my maker, meeting all the people of faith from the east and the west who will sit down in the Kingdom of God. There are questions that I want to ask of the Founder and I have already planned the Army Band that is going to welcome me in to heaven, made up of all the people that I have played with or wanted to play with over the years, the music is also planned, and I want to talk with my mum who died before I realized how important people are in our lives. Yes, I know it is fantasy and possibly will be very different; but in that time the people who come from the east and the west to sit down in the Kingdom of God, will not be judged on what they did, nor will they be judged on what they believe.

Officership, Fundraising, Life Coaching and so many other things that I, and all of us, have done have one thing in common. It’s all about the people. One of the principles that are promoted through Life Coaching is 'you get what you focus on’. I want to focus on people and how I can support and encourage them in their individual journey. What they believe or how they do it is their responsibility. There is no greater compliment that anyone can receive but to be called Barnabus – Son of Encouragement.

Peter Fletcher
Former Officer
Australia

What do we learn when we take off the Red Epaulets? Part -1-

It was July 1991 that I terminated my officership and began a new life that I was ill equipped for. When you have been a Corps Officer for nearly 20 years, with a couple of stints in PR; you are well qualified to be an Officer, but in my case felt that my effective working life was over. However, I believe that I had an advantage in that for the last few years of my officership I had read the Saturday Melbourne Age classifieds and actually circled jobs I thought that I could do. My motivation at the time had nothing to do with looking for a job, but I wanted to prove to myself that I had value that the world might recognize to give to the Army. Being an officer at times felt like being in a Truman like existence where I had little connection with my people in the real world; I did not have to relate to the world in any significant fashion, I did not understand what the pressures they were under and I had contact with a few fellow officers who I perceived were taking advantage of this secure, lifetime existence that would take them through to retirement and beyond without too much effort on their part.

The result was that when I left I sat for two months in a men’s shelter pondering the meaning of life and not coming up with too many answers.

It has been 18 years since that sad event took place and I am at times haunted by the ‘what if’s’, and the thoughts about what I could have been and where life would have taken me; but it is as we all know a fruitless exercise that leads to some very dark places. As I sit here this morning am tempted to ruminate on what has become of ‘Fletch’ as I have become affectionately known to some and dismissively known to others; what have I learned, what difference have I made in people’s lives and what is to become of me.

When I left I was given the opportunity to be a promotion officer for the Uniting Church and this gave me the opportunity to visit local congregations to promote the wider work of the church and assist them in their stewardship and fundraising activities; this led on to a career in professional fundraising and I have had a fantastic time. Incidentally most of the fundraising principles that I have come across are based in the scriptures and yet most churches look at stewardship (fundraising) I such a legalistic and negative way that it is scary in the extreme. I have been involved in this profession in three countries now and taught and spoken at conferences around the world; it has been an exciting adventure.

However, over recent years I have found that there has developed almost an arrogance in some areas over some aspects of the profession where it is all about facts and process. “This is how it is done and you need to be able to tick all these boxes to say that you can do it’. I have felt for a long time that so many organizations want to know ‘what have you done?’ ‘How much Money have you raised?’ And ‘what is the biggest gift that you have achieved?’ My take on this is the same as It was when I was an officer Fundraising is more about people than it is about money. As an officer my take on this was that Officership is not about theology, or practice, or commitment or the verities of Salvationism; it’s about people.

Peter Fletcher
Former Officer
Australia

THE GAY THING -Part Two-

In my lifetime the church has railed against divorce and, mostly, relented. There are now churches that say divorce is okay but remarriage is not. There are churches that say divorce and remarriage is okay. There are those that say one set of rules applies to those in leadership while another applies to the congregation. There are others still that hold firm to the belief that divorce is wrong period, the end. We live longer lives than ever before. We are different people at 50 that we were at 20. We are different people at 80 that we were at 50. I’m not suggesting divorce is the answer but I am suggesting life changes and life goes on. We now have divorced soldiers; often in positions of leadership. A divisional youth band leader I know has divorced twice and is married to his third wife. We have divorced officers. We have remarried officers. We have divorced officers, now soldiers, married to active officers. How far we have come; congratulations Sven and Glad!!

Which church is right? How about which territory is right? What’s working in England isn’t even a glint in an eye stateside. Personal interpretation is in the eye of the TC? Whoever was so loving and ‘liberal’ as to ‘allow’ and bless the Ljungholm/Thompson is rockin’ this Army. In the vernacular of the 70’s – right on.

Segregation was the norm; a norm of which we should be ashamed. Mixed race marriage? I think not. Mixed race children? Here in the states they were destined to be called names and ostracized. People, Americans, actually believed other people were less smart, capable, fill in the blank, based on color alone. When I saw the film Australia I saw that we were not alone. The half cast ‘creamies’ were taken from their aboriginal mothers and sent to camps run by churches determined to westernize them including, if necessary, marrying them off to white citizens. The church was determined to “breed the black out of them”. Caste systems exist in India. South Africa labels everyone white, black, brown, and yellow. Just a few examples but thank God for people like Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela for teaching us to abhor such a way of life and to believe everyone is equal in the eyes of God and civil rights.

Trust me on this, I know people who still think black people are inferior and should be subjected to lives of inferiority. I am not proud to know these people. They are covert but to quote Cyndi Lauper, “I see their true colors shining through”.

Pro-life, pro-choice, or anti-abortion? I am pro-choice for selfish reasons because I want to be able to choose for myself. But I am also of that ilk because I believe all women should be able to choose for themselves. Not all women believe in Christ or even God. I find it presumptuous that we should dictate to them how to live their lives. Women who may be in vicious, horrible circumstances we cannot even begin to comprehend. There are those who will say some are using abortion as birth control. And you may well be correct. That does not mean all. Each person and situation is individual. Each pain is personal. Each decision is difficult. I know we are to preach to the ends of the earth but I also know the reality of having taken women, before and after Roe V Wade, for abortions. It’s not pretty. Even less so in a dark, dirty, after hours, illegal environment. And when does life begin? It’s 2009, time to stop disclaiming science and begin figuring out how to incorporate the ever increasing knowledge base into our belief system.

Interestingly, several people I know who refer to themselves as pro-life believe in capital punishment and/or abortion in cases of rape or incest. I’m not quite sure how that gels with pro-life because they are still lives. At least in God’s eyes. Or so I’m told. And don’t even get me started on people murdering the supposed murderers. Justification for what?

And the last of this week’s controversies, homosexuality. Again, though we oft feel compelled or commanded to tell everyone including non-believers how to live, I say live and let live. I so agree with Anonymous Active SFOT that what people do in their bedrooms is their choice alone. And Sven, as always, articulated so well that as in most other relationships it has much more to do with love than sex. Not to mention science again. Brain research is showing differences in straight versus gay as well as in such things as narcissists and sociopaths. Love is hard enough to find so grab it when you do. If you are hetero, then good for you. If you are homo, then good for you. If you are lucky enough to find unconditional love in either state, then great for you. I’m not talking about sex, or infatuation, or casual relationships. I’m talking about truly finding someone to love unconditionally and for you to love back unconditionally. Take it, hold it, keep it…however it comes to you.

How we integrate that into the church and leadership/officership may be a challenge. Celibacy? I doubt it. Many of those single, widowed, divorced officers and soldiers you think are celibate are not. There may be some but that is not the norm. Sex is a normal part of a healthy individual’s life. Think about this guy in Wisconsin. I’m not saying they are or are not having sex. I’m saying they are in love and for most healthy people the two usually go hand in hand. They are in love to the point that he was willing to break the rules and, in the end, lose his job and ministry.

So how do we come to grips with all of this? Love.

Not the sex kind. Not the kind that is determined by if we are straight or gay, married or not, black or white, male or female or any other categorizing but the Christian kind. After all these years, I still continue to be amazed at the things we do in the name of trying to save souls. That always seems to be the end goal. We serve meals, visit, do whatever it is we are doing that week but always with that statistical goal in the back of our brain.

Perhaps it is time to forget about numbers and cut the judgment calls and simply love them for who they are, how they are, with no end result in mind. Let the chips fall where they may. Love them into the fold. Love them into the Saviors arms. His arms will welcome them even if they are women, divorced, non-Caucasian, post-abortion, or gay. His arms will welcome them if they are the polar opposite of all those things. His arms will welcome them if they are anywhere in between. Let’s leave the saving up to Him and we’ll just do the loving.


Deb Taube
Former
USA East

I'M NOT WHERE I OUGHT TO BE

I am 35, a wife, and a mother of two. I love my life but I know that I am not where I belong.

I began attending army meetings and youth activities when I was 12 years old and my life was built around that. There I found friends and people that truly cared about me. I'm not saying that my family didn't care, but this was a deeper, different care. GOD was there.

For as long as I can remember I was army all the way to the bone. I was accepted no matter what. I worked at camp, went to youth councils, and participated any where I could. I loved the army; I was army!

I am from ALM and then I moved to Texas to get away from my home. I did all of my testing and everything else required to get into the training college. I went to assist at a corps and then I went to work at camp before we left for training. I was a Messenger of Hope in the USA Southern Territory. I truly loved it... tt was my life.

During my second year I met my future husband at a Future Officer’s Fellowship retreat. I was going to finish my second year and he was going to do his ‘first year’ and then we were going to get married and go back in order for him to finish his second year. Well, in May, just before my commissioning, I was told that I wasn't deemed ready. The officer at the training college wanted to tell my ‘family’ (the people that I had just spent 2 years of my life with) that I was leaving for personal reasons, however, I told him that I wouldn't let him lie to them. I went and sat through him telling them why I was leaving. To be honest, I felt as if my soul was being taken from my chest.

We decided that we would get married and go assist an officer that we were close to. The DC in Texas was happy, the DC in Florida (where my husband is from), and the DC where we were going to go (ALM) was all for it. Well, one officer decided that he didn't want us in the division there, and that really hurt. I decided that I wasn't going back and it was like I had killed someone. But I think I was the one that was hurt.

Well, we got married and we didn't have much to do with the army for a while. I guess it was about 3 years before we went to work for some friends. It was great. We were with the army for about 4 years until some other friends (that were officers) did some ‘bad stuff’ and they tried to put us in the middle of it. That was not a good thing. Again I felt as if my life was falling apart.

I guess it has been about 9 years since I have had anything to do with the army. I am happy with my life but I know that it isn't complete. I made my husband and my children my world. I didn't have any contact with anyone from the army. I know that I was running from my calling. If I got in touch with anyone, they would ask that question,"When are you going back."

My husband doesn't want anything to do with it and that hurts me more than anything in the world. This is the first year that we have been back to the corp. Not our home corps, but one that is about 3 hours away. They want my children to go to camp and I would love that. I hope that it works out for them to go. I want them to have that in theie life because I believe that it saved my life.

So that is where I am right now. I love the army but I am afraid that I will get hurt once again and I don't like to even think in that direction...

(name on file)
Former Cadet
USA South

FROM THE PULPIT TO THE PEW !

Sometimes I feel just because we are ex-officers it may appear that we are no longer useable, available or even approachable!

Because we are no longer wearing red, that does not automatically indicate we are not still called or available for ministry. Why is there such a gulf fixed from the pulpit to the pew? Is it our own making or is it that others are not sure how to treat us? Maybe there are times our congregational leader(s) may feel uncomfortable and rather than check on our status, would find it easier to just ignore us. Is that the situation for anyone?

Initially my "Pulpit to Pew" transition from red on my shoulders to nothing or even blue was an emotional and sometimes almost a phsychologicall roller coaster experience. I did resign from Officership of my own free will, it was my choice but I was still called and very much aware of that. However, the thoughts, feelings and treatment was everything from frustrating, challenging, and even upsetting at times. Maybe the thoughts and feelings were self induced, but certainly not always.

For those who may be just experiencing the transition, take heart, time does help heal some of the transitional experiences. But let me encourage you speak up and share with colleagues and even through the FSAOF on FACEBOOK. Don't box yourself in and feel alone.

In these days, fortunately I find myself being very appreciative. To a large degree I am truly blessed and able to, a degree at least, still fulfill my calling. I have been hired part time as a Lay Pastor . Wearing blue and not red on the shoulders, but for me "once called, always called", so if it is blue or red, God has opened doors for me and I am truly grateful. Even though the hours are few, the blessings are numerous and rewarding. God has been blessing the work and the joy of ministry is just wonderful.

So if you are in the Pulpit and thinking about being in the pew? Think again! Be sure you are ready and really know the pew is where you need/must be. Personally, I don't think I was ever, nor will I ever be ready for full time pew occupancy. The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Weeds still grow there, maintence and hard work with all the stress is still a factor. But know, truly know that God is faithful be it pew or pulpit; He still reigns.

Blessings one and all.

Former (name on file)
Newfoundland
CANADA

MY KIDS IN THE MINISTRY? I DON'T THINK SO !!!

Perry Noble, in his blog (perrynoble.com), writes about one of the leaders he’d like to meet with. Speaking of Larry Osborne of Northcoast Church (a multi-site church in California), he says: The words of wisdom he shared that day were awesome…but the thing I remember the most was when he talked about how his main staff guys had been with him since the beginning…how none of them had flamed out or failed morally…and how nearly all of their children were in ministry as well.

Hearing him say that lit a fire in me and every ounce of me screamed, “I WANT THAT FOR ME AND THE TEAM I SERVE WITH!” I do, too. Please, Lord. BUT the phrase above about how nearly all of Larry’s coworkers’ children are in ministry made me realize there’s something wrong with me. A few weeks ago my daughter emailed me after reading a blog entry (it may have been on this blog or on my prayer blog at bobhostetler.blogspot.com). She said she wasn’t sure she should read my blog because I sometimes get so honest about the hurts I experience in ministry. I emailed her back not to worry about me, that it just kinda goes with the territory, and then I wrote without thinking, “that’s why I’m glad you’re not a pastor.”

Wow. Something’s gotta be wrong with me, to write that, right? It’s totally sincere, but once upon a time I would have been thrilled if my children had chosen full-time ministry (I should say: the lovely Robin and I have always prayed hardest for our children to be in the center of God’s will, not for any particular path, and we’re intensely proud of the people they are and the way God has gifted them and is using them). Now, though, to say to my daughter that I’m glad she’s not a pastor....that’s an awful thing to say, isn’t it? About this high calling of pastoring?

But, alas, it’s true. Now, I do say to young men and women when they ask me for guidance about entering seminary or going into ministry or planting a church, “If you can possibly do ANYthing else, DO IT!” And I mean that wholeheartedly. Ministry ain’t easy, and it can be incredibly hurtful, and it’s only worth it if you’re called to it by God, if it’s a call you can’t escape. And, when Robin and I dedicated our children, we vowed not to hold them back from the service of God even if it meant pain or poverty or persecution, and we haven’t strayed from that commitment. But I must admit that being a pastor has been so hard and hurtful in recent times for me that I would grieve to see my children experiencing such attacks and such ill-treatment (at times). In fact, as I proudly sat under my son’s leadership in worship last Sunday (afterward, actually), I had a moment when I actually WORRIED about what God might be preparing him for and leading him toward. That’s wrong, right?

I know, of course, that I’ve been in a season of trial and testing in the last year-plus. I’ve pouted under the broomtree a lot in the last year. And I have hope that that season will soon come---maybe IS coming---to an end. I know I have more people praying for me today than at any previous time in my LIFE! And I know that God has great plans for his people, Cobblestone Community Church. So I hope among those plans is a healing and restoration of my heart in such a way that I will soon repent of my words to my daughter....and my fears for my son.

Bob Hostetler

USA East & NHQ

THE EXIT Part -3-

A second issue is the authors’ assumption that collegiality among pastors, though important, is inherently limited because “ministers feel unavoidable competition with each other, which gets in the way of forming healthy support groups.” But is such competitiveness inevitable? Or is it possible for denominations and judicatories to create conditions under which competitiveness becomes less likely and strong collegiality more common?

By conceiving of collegiality in terms of “support groups,” the authors fail to appreciate the potential for strong forms of collegiality that have the character of friendship, in which fellow pastors share each other’s lives and help shape each other’s character. Friendship sustains pastors over time and not simply during crises—it is the kind of collegiality that is crucial to the cultivation of self-knowledge, relational intelligence, the capacity to remain dynamically engaged with one’s work and the ability to identify and negotiate conflict, all of which are relevant to preventing the dynamics that cause clergy to leave pastoral ministry.

In his book on the experiences of Roman Catholic clergy, The First Five Years of the Priesthood, Hoge claimed that one of the most important findings of his research was that priests left the ministry because they “felt lonely and unappreciated.” Loneliness was the one factor always present among the various reasons priests resigned in their early years of ministry. Hoge claims that when loneliness “is absent, resignation from the priesthood is unlikely. Whether a priest is heterosexual or homosexual, in love or not, it will not drive him to resign unless at the same time he feels lonely or unappreciated.”

This same dynamic appears to be present among Protestant clergy. The indication of loneliness and isolation among pastors who leave parish ministry warrants a more positive view of pastors’ potential for collegiality and calls for a vigorous exploration of the conditions that encourage noncompetitive relationships between clergy.

Precisely because this book succeeds in providing us with an unprecedented, multidenominational reading of why pastors depart from ministry, it is bound to leave readers asking for an equally in-depth discussion of why pastors stay and how they thrive.

THE EXIT Part -2-

Leaving ministry is hard to do, and ex-pastors said “there are at least parts of ministry” that they miss. “Their accounts were remarkably consistent: they most missed leading worship and being a meaningful part of people’s lives.” Pastors who had left ministry under circumstances not of their own choosing or who felt that they had in some way been mistreated mourned the loss of pastoral ministry most intensely. The researchers note that “several interviews were interrupted when pastors cried.” Former pastors who were content with their new vocational setting also told of their love for local church ministry. The sense of loss says something important about the good that is intrinsic to the work of pastoral ministry and about how this work shapes a way of life that is not easily transferable to other vocational contexts.

The gap between the ideal and the reality of pastoral ministry also matters. A significant gap between pastors’ ideal about how long it should take to accomplish particular tasks—preaching, teaching, pastoral care, administration—and the amount of time it really takes has a direct and predictable bearing on their level of stress and dissatisfaction. Striking a balance between what one wants to do in ministry and what one has to do is crucial.

This raises the critical question of encouraging pastors to manage their work in ways that take into account both their particular skills and capacities and the full breadth of demands and tasks that make up pastoral ministry. A correlative question is how congregations might become more active in helping pastors strike this balance.

There are two issues on which I would have liked to see the authors elaborate further. They assert in one of their introductory chapters that pastoral ministry is no more difficult today than it was four decades ago. Hoge and Wenger concede that ministry is different—indeed, they mention both differences that have emerged in Protestant life since the 1960s and differences in seminary graduates. However, they contend that the differences do not translate into a greater degree of difficulty. They leave unexplored the social and cultural changes of the past 50 years and the possibility that these changes have made pastoral ministry more difficult as well as different. The proliferation of communication technologies, the changing structure of everyday life (due largely to technology), the growing complexity of family life, the changing understandings and norms of sexual conduct and the expansion of consumer culture (as evidenced by unprecedented levels of consumer debt) are only a few of the conditions that present pastors with new kinds of demands.

The authors’ apparent dismissal of this possibility is puzzling, and it prevents them from raising questions about social and cultural factors that may contribute to the negative experience of pastors. Addressing these new challenges would not diminish the challenges of past decades; nor would such a discussion need to claim too much for current circumstances. Rather, it would help pastors to make the connection between larger cultural shifts and their experience of the work they are called to do.

Part 2 of 3

THE EXIT Part -1-

Why do pastors leave the ministry? Several common issues emerge from the research of Dean Hoge and Jacqueline Wenger: preference for another form of ministry, the need to care for children or family, conflict in the congregation, conflict with denominational leaders, burnout or discouragement, sexual misconduct, and divorce or marital problems. Of these factors, which form the basis for the central chapters of Pastors in Transition, two are especially important: conflict and a preference for specialized ministry. A close third is the experience of burnout, discouragement, stress and overwork. As the authors explore these factors, they provide significant insights into what can be done to help people stay in ministry.

Hoge and Wenger’s study is part of the larger Pulpit and Pew research project on the state of pastoral ministry, based at Duke Divinity School and funded by the Lilly Endowment. Hoge has authored two previous volumes (one coauthored with Wenger) on the status of the Catholic priesthood. Pastors in Transition is the first book-length Pulpit and Pew publication to examine the state of Protestant clergy.

The authors conducted extensive interviews with clergy who have left parish ministry, voluntarily or involuntarily, and with denominational leaders from five church bodies—the Assemblies of God, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the United Methodist Church. The narrative is peppered with numerous quotes from clergy and enhanced with helpful graphs and concise summaries of the findings.

Hoge and Wenger learned, first of all, that polity matters. This finding is most clearly illustrated by the high degree of dissatisfaction expressed by United Methodist clergy in relation to their denomination’s deployment systems and the level of support they received from judicatory officials. Among the denominations included in the study, “the United Methodist Church stands out for the level of centralization, supervision, and commitment to its clergy.”

The denomination sets up a standard of dependence between clergy and denominational leadership that is hard to live up to. Furthermore, social trends such as greater freedom of choice and the tendency of pastors’ spouses to be working outside the home have made the itinerant model increasingly difficult to implement. The authors conclude that “the more a pastor’s career is determined by his or her denomination, the more conflict that pastor will potentially feel with denominational leaders.”
Conflict in the parish also looms large. The top five conflict issues cited by pastors who left ministry were pastoral leadership style, church finances, changes in worship style, staff relationships and building projects. Organizational and interpersonal issues, rather than doctrinal differences or hot-button issues such as homosexuality, were the most likely to motivate pastors to move on. “Most notable about the main conflicts experienced by ministers who left parish ministry is their ‘everyday,’ prosaic nature.” As they reflected on this finding, Hoge and Wenger “came to believe that the conflicts most often experienced by our participants are ones that could probably be resolved and in the process offer growth experiences for both pastor and congregation.”

The importance of collegiality to pastors’ flourishing emerges in several places in this study. Isolation and loneliness contributed directly or indirectly to pastors’ moves out of local ministry. Of those who left due to sexual misconduct, 75 percent indicated that they were lonely and isolated. In all five denominational groups, the top motivating factors for leaving were the same. Pastors reported:

“I felt drained by demands.” 
“I felt lonely and isolated.” 
“I did not feel supported by denominational officials.” 
“I felt bored and constrained.” 
Furthermore, Hoge and Wenger discovered a consensus among judicatory officers regarding pastors who have left local church ministry: “These pastors tended to be loners in the district or presbytery, for whatever reason not part of ministerial friendship groups or action groups.”