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| One of Mark Jeske's Change or Die ELCA speakers is from the heart of ELCA activism - St. Paul, Minnesota. Related - The Lutherans are like the NFL. |
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| Watch these three synods evaporate almost as fast - for the same reasons, UOJ, Church Growth, and radicalism. |
APRIL 7, 2016 — THE REV. DR. JOELLE COLVILLE-HANSON
The Supply of and Demand for Clergy in the ELCA: Report of the ELCA Research and Evaluation
The Research and Evaluation Department of the ELCA released a report in March exploring future trends for supply and demand for clergy in 2016.
The report explores data regarding baptized members, congregations, and pastors in the ELCA between 2005 and 2014.
Here are a few numbers from the report:
Between 2005 and 2014:
- the number of congregations in ELCA has decreased from 10,549 to 9,392
- baptized membership has gone from 4.85 million to 3.78 million
- median size of congregation has gone from 296 baptized members to 247 baptized
- median worship attendees on a Sunday declined from 91 to 70
- the number of congregations with 350 or more in worship has gone down from 676 to 376
- the proportion of congregations in rural or small town areas has not changed much – about 48%
- median income for a congregation has decreased from $151,000 to $117,000.
- the number of clergy serving congregations has declined from 9,105 to 6,868
- ELCA M.Div graduates at ELCA seminaries went down from 245 to 209
- first year enrollments in ELCA seminaries decreased from 310 to 214
In 1988 the average age on the clergy roster was 46-year-old & only 9 % of active clergy were over 60. In 2013 the average had increased to 54 with 32% active clergy over 60.75 to 80 % of seminary graduates have a geographical preference.
- Maybe more would consider ministry if they saw the clergy not being treated so poorly.
- I thought the same thing. I’m blessed to serve loving congregations, but I know there is a lot of dysfunction in our congregations that needs to be addressed in a loving but truthful manner.
- With incivility on the rise, increasing anxiety regarding decline, and the bullying of pastors (not an issue we take too seriously) this is a most excellent and relevant point.
- Where is all that was promised with ELW? The simplification, weakening, and corruption of the liturgy has led directly to a lesser regard for the Sacraments, and so why would we expect vocations to increase, or even remain stable?(For what it’s worth, I’m a young millennial, socially liberal, and all for ordaining anyone God calls, whether male or female, gay or straight, cis or trans. I just can’t believe how easy it has been for the ELCA to lose its liturgical roots.)
- Let’s concern ourselves with helping our current group of new clergy pay down their massive student debt before recruiting more people to share their burden.
- I seriously considered seminary as I felt the call to ministry and met with my synod. If you don’t have the cash to pay for undergrad and seminary they discourage attending due to the overwhelming debt of student loans on top of struggling financially due to a low-paying first call. So now we don’t have enough Pastors because not enough people are going to Seminary. So am I the only one seeing a disconnect here? I am sure I am not the only one in this situation. Praise God for the Lutheran Deaconess Association as they have entrusted me to find my own way financially and will equip me for ministry as I am called. This is another avenue I have chosen in which to become a theologically trained.
- By my calculations, we are losing appx. 800 congregations every 9 years, about 90 a year close. At that rate, in a little over 80 years, the ELCA will cease to exist as it is orginized today. We need to begin casting our nets on the other side of the boat or we are going to continue to catch no fish…aka, we will die as a movement. I do believe that we need to re-center ourselves around the means of Grace and tell God’s story in more bold and meaningful ways which relate to the 21st century. (I am a 29 yo 1st call pastor serving a congregation that is struggling.)
