Developing next generation leadership is a challenge for every branch of the vine of Christ. The conversation is on the front burner for many in the Presbyterian Church (USA) whose clergy ranks are aging along with its membership. The demographic study done by the Board of Pensions, the research compiled by the Special Committee on the Church in the 21st Century, the stats from the Office of Vocation and the paltry number of graduates from PCUSA seminaries is all current evidence. The problem is well-known but what is the solution? How does a young person discern a call into ministry? And, how can the church aid in this process?
In thinking through these issues, maybe there is something we can learn from the Roman Catholic Church. A recent online article from The Michigan Catholic explains how one group of men considering the priesthood recently explored their potential call by taking a long walk – literally.
Walking 72 miles across rural northern Spain, a foreign land across the ocean, with nothing but the sack on your back and your fellow travelers takes courage, and so does becoming a priest.
Thirty-three young men from the Archdiocese of Detroit did the former from June 10-19, and Fr. Tim Birney hopes at least a few of them will do the latter as well.
The nine-day walking pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago, the famed “Way of St. James,” was the culmination of a year’s worth of effort and planning by Fr. Birney, director of priestly vocations for the archdiocese, a chance to get away and let the “quiet whisper of God’s voice” speak to the nearly three dozen young discerners.
The entire article has a lot more to say about the details of this particular trip. But for our purposes, we should consider the simple principle that future ministers should be encouraged to devote time and space to the process of discerning their call to ministry.
In our fast-paced world full of never-ending technological interruptions, young people considering a vocational call to ministry should be encouraged to go off (by themselves or with a group of others in a similar process of discernment) and spend some time and energy devoted to prayer and meditating on Scripture.
Rather than jumping right from the University into a Seminary M.Div. program … perhaps prospective Protestant pastors – those who have stated an initial desire to explore vocational ministry – could be given a month’s stipend and told to go somewhere and “Be still and know that I am God.”
The goal is not to push people away from ministry, but instead to grant an opportunity for young folks to slow down and speak directly to the Father about these decisions – even if only for a few weeks – before jumping right on into the academic and practical preparations.
In the current context of the PCUSA prospective pastors need to seriously consider their willingness to move to a rural or urban environment where they will need to serve bi-vocationally in order to support the redevelopment work that is required in the vast majority of open PCUSA pulpit ministries. The numbers are pretty staggering with more then 50 percent of PCUSA congregations under 97 members there is simply not sufficient financial support for a full-time fully-funded pastor with benefits. So, the question is not only “are you called to preach” the question is also “what kind of tent-making will you do?”
(Photo from TheMichiganCatholic.com)