Shortage of clergy not easily solved

There is reportedly a shortage of clergy in the Episcopal and

Catholic churches, and the percentage of clergy 35 and younger is

dropping. Why do you think this shortage has come about? Are you

concerned? Has it affected you locally? What can be done about it?

Several factors work together to solve the issue of a clergy

shortage.

First and foremost, there is the integrity factor. God tells us

“you shall be holy men to Me ... “ (Exodus 22:31). Clergy scandals,

both financial and sexual, discourage young people from entering the

ministry. Let’s clean up our house before we ask others to move in.

There is the leadership factor. Moses’ father-in-law rightly told

him “You cannot do it alone” (Exodus 18:18). But many of us in the

clergy still try. We wrongly assume that we’re paid to do all the

work of the church. But the Bible tells us that clergy’s work is to

“Prepare all God’s people for the work of service” (Ephesians 4:12).

We must “hand over the reins” before the grave takes them out of our

hands and leaves our pulpits empty.

There is a public-relations factor. The popular media routinely

portray clergy in a negative light. These days it is more glamorous

to be a thug than a theologian.

Am I worried? No. He who started the church will see the church

through. Elijah served God during difficult and idolatrous days. Yet

even then God “ ... kept for [Himself] seven thousand men who [had]

not bowed the knee to Baal.” (Romans 11:4). God never changes,

therefore we will not be consumed.

PASTOR JON BARTA

Valley Baptist Church

Burbank

The Armenian Church also suffers a tremendous clergy shortage.

However, unlike other churches, there is no need to speculate or

guess at the reasons why. During the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the

clergy were among the first to be slaughtered by the Turks. In fact,

in a volume published in 1921, a scribe named Teotig documents the

annihilation of over 1200 Armenian clergymen -- Orthodox, Catholic

and Protestant -- detailing their suffering and ultimate martyrdom.

The numbers tell the impact of the Genocide on the Church. In

1915, the ratio of clergy to souls was roughly one clergyman to 140

individuals. Today, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the ratio

is 1 to 25,000. It’s alarming and paralyzing.

The current Armenian Catholicos, Garegin II, has made it a top

priority to recruit and educate young men for service in the church

and his efforts have been greatly assisted by the fall of communism.

Seminaries have opened in Armenia, producing scores of priests

annually. Unfortunately, the situation in the United States is not as

promising. There is only one seminary in the U.S. training Armenian

priests -- in New York. Only a handful of students are enrolled. The

greatest obstacle to improving these numbers is materialism.

It has fostered a false sense of security that focuses on rewards

for the self rather than understanding the value of service and

reaching out to others. A good place to start at a solution is to

replace the word “rights” with “responsibilities.” A priest must

understand his calling as a responsibility.

FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN

Armenian Church

Youth Ministries

Atheists United of Los Angeles doesn’t have “clergy” in that no

one is assumed to have special insight or knowledge or authority.

Participants rotate speaker roles and anyone can sign up to lead a

meeting. It’s an egalitarian, non-hierarchical group promoting free

thought. Co-president Stuart Bechman reports there’s no shortage of

people willing to run meetings, lead discussions, or work on

committees.

The Center for Inquiry West, an educational nonprofit organization

that explores and advances critical thinking, freedom of inquiry and

humanist values through education, outreach and social services, also

reports no shortage of people willing to work in the organization.

Jim Underdown, executive director, notes there was a long list of

applicants for two recent openings, even though they were not

high-paying.

Perhaps these secular organizations aren’t experiencing a shortage

of leadership talent because they’re open to all who share their

views and have a desire to contribute, regardless of gender or sexual

orientation.

SHARON WEISMAN

Atheist

Glendale

One reason there’s a clergy shortage is, perhaps, the recognition

throughout society that people don’t flock to religious services the

way they used to do, say, in the 1950s, for example. So people in the

pulpit don’t pack the punch that they did once upon a time.

I mean, the sermons may be every bit as good as what was preached

in the past, but the perception on the part of hose considering the

ministry is that the houses of worship aren’t as full as they used to

be, so perhaps the unconscious thought is, “I want to be heard by a

lot of people, not the ‘remnant’ that can be found in churches

today.”

Also, look around: the new “temples” are the movie theaters, where

we get quiet like we do in church, and then a Great Light appears on

the screen. Plus, look at all the information that is available on

television; we’re always being sold on which arrangement can give us

more channels. So with information overload that we all experience,

the position of clergyman is not as influential as it once was.

Also, one of my parishioners just pointed out to me that the

clergy doesn’t get the respect that it used to get. I am not so much

concerned about the issue of lack of clergy, unless such a lack may

be indicative of an overall disrespect of authority figures in our

society. Now that I think about it, disrespect for just about

everything runs rampant these days, so perhaps the issue of not

enough clergy is a tiny part of a much bigger picture. And no easy

answer comes to mind, as far as fixing things is concerned.

SKIP LINDEMAN

Pastor of

Congregational Church

of the Lighted Window,

United Church of Christ

La Canada Flintridge

While I realize that many denominations are experiencing a

shortage of clergy members, this is not the case in the Unity

movement. The program for ministers at Unity School of Practical

Christianity in Lee’s Summit, Mo., always has far more applicants for

ministry training than it can accommodate at its seminary.

I do not understand completely why many mainline Christian

churches are experiencing a shortage of clergy. I doubt if anyone has

an absolute answer to that question. I can think of a couple of

possibilities, however.

It is obvious that scandals involving priests in the Catholic

church have caused a problem for that movement. But, even that is

probably not the primary cause for a shortage of priests. Perhaps the

main reason for both a shortage of clergy in Catholicism and in many

Protestant churches -- and declining attendance in churches in

general -- is that churches are not giving people what they most want

and need for their spiritual growth.

Many people have simply quit going to church -- or go very rarely

-- because when they do go they are bored by the same old stuff. When

they do go to church, all they hear is the old message of guilt, fear

and sin and the consequences of sin. Churches that are growing most

these days are churches that are upbeat and positive. They are

churches that teach possibilities rather than impossibilities. They

are churches that teach people how to live better lives; churches

that teach how to love rather than fear God. Such churches seem to

have no shortage of clergy.

THE REV. THOMAS E.

WITHERSPOON

Unity Church of the Valley

La Crescenta