Perspectives on the young clergy crisis
Since I’ve been chairing a national Presbyterian Church
(USA) committee on the Nature of the Church for the 21st century,
I’ve been gaining a different perspective on many of the larger trends of our
denomination. One thing that has been difficult to realize (and equally
difficult to communicate to the larger church) is the young clergy crisis.
Why would I call it a crisis? We’ve known for a long time about the startling decline of young clergy. The drop-out rates don't help (I can't find hard and fast stats on this... but some claim that about 70% of young clergy
drop out within the first five years of ministry, usually because of lack of
support or financial reasons). The average age of a pastor in the PCUSA is 53. And I’ve realized that the age of our leadership might be much
higher.
