It’s interesting to me that at this point in my life, I am in my early 30s, that I still get told how young I am on a regular basis. As an older Millennial, which I guess is what I am generationally speaking, I imagined a very different experience of my life in ministry. The ministers I grew up learning from were Boomers or early Gen-Xers. When I think about their stories of going into ministry, they are very different from the path on which I find myself. While the point of this post is not for me to number and lament my struggles in finding full-time service in the Church, I do want to say that it has been a significant struggle. I know I’m not alone in trying to find my place, as many of the ministers of my generation express the same struggles, but I think our generation is encountering obstacles unique to our current social context.
In early March, the Barna group released a study on the average age of Protestant ministers in America. This most recent study was a follow-up to research done by George Barna in the early 90s, and the results depicting how the average senior pastor is significantly older now than just two decades ago is striking. In less than a generation, the average age of a senior pastor has gone up by ten years, but that is not the only striking revelation. The percentages of pastors over the age of 55 has doubled while the numbers for those under 50 has shrank by half. In one sense, this is not surprising. The Church as a whole is aging, and to find that such aging extends to the pulpit should not be that surprising. If fewer adults of younger demographics are coming to our churches, then it makes sense that there would be fewer of those same people entering the ranks of the clergy. It also explains why the Church has a difficult time trying to figure out how to communicate to those same groups.
One thing I would like to highlight, though, is from my own experience that while anecdotal, I don’t believe that is so unique that it should be excluded from the conversation. My wife and I both feel called to pastoral ministry, and have diligently pursued trying to find places for us to serve. However, there is very little response to us, which again is not unique. If you ask any ministry who has tried to reach out and communicate with congregations, stories abound of those congregations taking your information and never contacting you again. What is disheartening, though, is when a well-meaning mentor, or more likely a well-meaning older congregant, tell you, “You shouldn’t get so worried. You are both young and have a long time ahead of you.” While I know that people are trying to encourage us to continue striving for the thing God has called us to, it is EXTREMELY patronizing to hear.
While I don’t think of myself as someone who is going to change the world, because if you look at the number of people who read this blog it’s obvious no one really wants to hear what I think, I am reminded of some historical people who were much younger than I and in the midst of amazing ministries. At 26, Martin Luther King Jr. was senior pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL. At 30, George S. Truett was called as pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas. At 19, C.H. Spurgeon was called to his first pastorate of New Park Street Chapel, and at 27 that church became The Metropolitan Tabernacle. At 32, Carlyle Marney was called to First Baptist Church of Austin, TX, and that was his third pastorate.
Again, I know I am none of these men, and it should be noted that they are all men which could be the subject of another post. However, the point I’m getting at is in this moment, the churches they served would never call them. Each was highly educated and credentialed before they arrived at these positions, but that doesn’t matter. I have friends and acquaintances with their doctorates who still feel looked down upon for their age. It is said that we want our pastors to be 40 years-old with 30 years of experience.
What has changed that we view youth and age so differently now?
How old does one have to be in order to be seen as an adult in their own right?
Generational conflicts abound, and so I don’t want to pile onto what is already a very heated discussion. However, there does need to be a shift in what we recognize as an age when someone is fully responsible of leadership in the Church. In order to do that, we need to recognize that such a benchmark has shifted dramatically in such a short amount of time. It is as if one is not fully capable of being a leader in our current church context until they reach middle age.
Christians, especially, should be pushing back against this. Our Scriptures are filled with examples of young people leading in the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul exhorts Timothy to not let people put him down because of his youth. The prophets, and Jesus, tell of a coming time with it will be the young who prophesy and lead the people of God.
Maybe, this is not that time, and so we need to have an ever-aging clergy, and laity, lead the Church.
Or maybe, with a Church that is aging, we need the young leaders to help us find a new way.
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