It's Real Ministry
Seen from the outside, it may be hard to tell one church from another. Those with inside knowledge can sometimes tell the building of one tradition from others. In some places it looks like all of the churches in one denomination got together for a paint sale because they’re the same colour. Congregations take great pride in the upkeep of their buildings so the condition of the structure may not give you many hints either. But those on the inside know how quickly change is sweeping through these churches that were once bastions of their community. Many of them are spending more than they take in. Sometimes it’s on building maintenance but more often it’s staff salaries primarily the minister or pastor.
Clearly, it’s not because those clergy are overpaid. Most pastors in mainline Canadian churches (Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, United Church) are not in it for the money. And that’s a good thing. Those denominations have salary and benefit charts which provide an element of justice in employment practices. But salary (which may or may not include housing), benefits, travel expenses mount up, even for relatively new clergy. For instance, in 2022, someone who has been credentialed in the United Church for two years earns the munificent sum of between $37,500 and $38,700 if they live in a church-owned home and roughly $49,000 if they are providing their own housing. This after six to ten years of university. Of course, those aren’t the only amounts the congregation is responsible for, so by the time various benefits, government requirements, and expenses are included congregations are facing significant expenses. In almost every congregation I served in more than three decades, I was the largest single item in the church budget.
Often in those circumstances congregations feel that their only choice is to enter a part-time situation. That is a phenomenon that is sweeping across the mainline congregations. In my day job, I’m privileged to share the training and education of candidates for United Church ministry. A couple of years ago I recognized that, even though a growing number of my students would spend some or all of their careers in part-time ministry, as an instructor I knew very little about those realities. My own years of part-time ministry are a long way back in the rear-view mirror of my life. I was shocked to discover that my denomination knew very little about this too. So, I went looking for some information to help my students and discovered a movement which may offer a new, healthy, and sustainable vision of church, my church and perhaps yours too. I discovered part-time and bi-vocational clergy who, simply by their existence, challenge some of our core views of the church and open the possibility of unleashing a significant new wave of Christian mission.