Pastoral Abuse: The Dirty Little Secret
In previous articles, I’ve written often about the graying of the pulpit in the American evangelical church. The average age of pastors is increasing at an alarming rate. Within my own denomination (Assemblies of God), the current aging trajectory says that by the time my five-year old granddaughter graduates college, the average age of an AG senior pastor will be 67 years old; by the time my four-month old granddaughter graduates college, the average age will be 68 years. Why this is not causing a five-alarm call to arms is beyond me. I’ve written about this every spring for the past several years and will continue to do so. Watch for this article in just a few weeks.
One of the reasons for this aging of the pulpit is the diminishing number of young adults entering vocational ministry. The supply is not meeting the demand. Case in point: the AG. Ten years ago we formed a new plan to increase the number of young ministers but it has not proven effective. In fact, in real and proportional numbers, today, the AG has fewer ministers under the age of 40 than we had ten years ago. Consider just these two alarming facts from 2020 published statistics:
Fewer than 1 in 5 credentialed AG ministers is under 40 years of age.
That percentage is decreasing every year;
The number of AG U40 credential holders has decreased in 15 of the last 20 years,
8 out of the last 10 years, every year for the past 6 years.
Recruitment is not the only issue at hand, to be sure. Other factors include:
- People are living longer, remaining active longer;
- More people are entering the ministry later in life;
- Financial pressures on young pastors are causing them to leave the ministry;
- More young adults believe they can make a difference doing something else without all the baggage of the institutional church;
But let me draw our attention to another factor not often discussed or considered: the church’s failure to steward its young pastors. More strongly stated: the church’s misuse and abuse of its young pastors.
PASTORAL ABUSE:
Can you imagine the following scenarios for young staff pastors:
1. after six months of service you are fired because, “you’re just not fitting in.” Two days prior, you and your senior pastor had spent much of the day planning and the meeting ended with a “well done.”
2. not being able to gain access to your senior pastor more than once in a year, and then being told you are being dismissed because “it’s just not working out.”
3. having weekly meetings with your pastor for three years, and then suddenly being let go without explanation or apology, no place to go.
4. being shunned by your senior pastor.
5. being personally shouted at in staff meetings in the presence of fellow staff members.
6. you or your spouse being reprimanded from the pulpit during Sunday morning sermons.
7. going to your senior pastor to ask for help with a difficult but not overly serious personal problem, only to have him use it as an excuse to fire you.
8. asking your pastor for a one-on-one time every month for mentorship and your pastor telling you he doesn’t have time, he has more important things to do.
9. being merely accused by a church member of wrongdoing, and without an investigation or hearing, being fired.
10. being warned by a pastor that confidential information could and would be used against you if you ever, here or later in another church, ever spoke negatively of him.
11. being a bi-vocational pastor, and, after a full day at work, you are expected to work at the church, and, to make ends meet, your spouse has to get a part-time job, all as you raise a young family.
12. working 50-60 hours each week, unable to feed your family on your salary – no raises in salary and no health insurance or retirement plan.
I don’t have to imagine these scenarios: I’ve heard them all. And I could go on and on and on with the list. By the way, the above examples were not only told to me by victimized staff members, but several of them by victimizing senior pastors.
Far too many staff pastors know what it is to be misused and abused by their senior pastors. Far too many called and quality young ministers are giving up and walking away as a result. The Evangelical church is hemorrhaging our future as called and qualified young pastors give up and walk away, unable to bear it any longer.
MISUSE
Pastor Jesus walked with a pastoral staff of twelve individuals. Walked. Not just the highways and byways of Israel, but life. Jesus did life with them, mentoring and investing in them. To adapt a statement of Gordon MacDonald, with a world of millions to reach, Jesus chose to mentor his pastoral staff. With the real opportunity to preach to thousands every day, Jesus chose instead to spend His days mentoring his pastoral team, drawing aside from time to time to preach to crowds.
And the longer Jesus was in ministry, the less time Jesus spent with the crowds, the more time He invested in The Twelve.
After Jesus’ ascension, The Twelve turned the world upside down. How? By each one preaching to thousands? No, by each one strengthening each other as they continued doing life and ministry together.
And then by taking men like Barnabas under their collective mentoring wing before sending him out to pastor in Antioch. The first action of Pastor Barnabas was to find an assistant pastor: Paul. The two did life and ministry together until God’s call came to take the Gospel to unreached nations. Barnabas and Paul later parted ways, in the will of God I believe, even if the two did not handle the transition well.
Of Barnabas and his future, we know little. But the author of Acts, Dr. Luke, was a fellow traveler with Paul. Along with men like Silas, Timothy, Titus, Epaphroditus, and others, Luke was a mentoree of Paul, who continued the ministry model of Jesus, mentoring and investing in men to whom he could entrust himself and his ministry of the Gospel.
Even the one who was the cause of the dispute between Barnabas and Paul, John Mark, later came back under the mentorship of Paul. For at the end of his life, in prison, Paul sends not only for his books and winter coat, but for young Pastor John Mark. Certainly, Paul wanted John Mark’s companionship, but Paul was also determined to continue investing in young ministers as long as possible. It is worth noting that John Mark’s primary mentor was the apostle Peter, one of The Twelve who were mentored by Jesus and, in turn, mentored Barnabas, who mentored Paul. In John Mark, the mentorship circle was made complete.
When we consider the life and ministry of Jesus, and of Paul, it is clear that when a senior pastor neglects mentoring younger pastors it is a misuse of both the senior pastor and the staff pastor. It is misuse in at least four ways:
First, it is a misuse of the staff pastor in that he is ministering without the guiding hand of a more experienced minister. How much more effective could a young minister be with the counsel and personal development in the hands of a godly mentor?
Second, not only could the young pastor profit enormously from this time with her pastor, but in mentoring young ministers, the senior pastor is multiplying and maximizing her own ministry. Failing to give her pastoral team the benefit of her life in ministry is a misuse of his own time, abilities, and experience.
Third, the failure to mentor younger ministers hamstrings the church of the future. When a senior pastor focuses only on the here and now, he misses the unique opportunity to minister to the church he pastors and the church around the world for generations to come. To mentor young ministers is to steward well the years of experience a godly pastor has gained. In mentoring, the experienced pastor passes his wisdom on to the next generation rather than have it buried with him when he reaches the end of his race. How the church needs this wisdom handed down to its leaders! But it doesn’t happen in a Sunday service preaching to crowds. It happens at tables when the senior leader rises to his feet, takes off his clerical collar, and washes the feet and lives of his charges with his wisdom, challenge, care, and encouragement.
Fourth, when a senior pastor misses the opportunity to mentor one of her staff, she cheats the churches that this young pastor will later serve if and when he moves on. These churches will need their pastor to be everything he can be. But if those who were in a position to help form the life and ministry of the young pastor do not do so, they miss their opportunity to bless congregations in the future around the world.
A FINAL THOUGHT
Statistics say that most young ministers will not survive their foray into vocational ministry. They will walk away, give up, quit. The exodus has already begun. As we have already seen, the pool of credentialed minsters under the age of 40 is not growing but shrinking.Even now, churches cannot find youth pastors, children’s pastors, worship pastors.
One can only wonder how many of those who do survive will thrive in ministry over their lifetime. Denominational leaders won’t know, but local congregations and ministries will know. Will they ever.
For far too long, the church has turned a blind eye. We have called young ministers to serve our churches and ministries, to faithfully fulfill God’s calling on their lives. And yet, in many cases, we have used them, misused them, and even abused them without a thought to their well-being or their lifetime call from God. As a result, many a wounded warrior has left the battlefield of ministry. Others continue in ministry, but not in strength, surviving but not thriving – only time will tell if this pastor makes it. Only time will tell what effect our misuse and abuse of young pastors will have on the Church of Jesus Christ.
May God give us eyes to see that one of the church’s most critical ministries is to its young pastoral staff members, stewarding them, their families, and their ministries. To the glory of God, the strength of the church, and the salvation of many.
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