BETTER TOGETHER | Free Will Baptists and the Broken Pastor Pipeline
On Mother’s Day, Axios — an American media company known for non-partisan reporting and signature ultra-short writing style — published an article titled, America’s Pastor Pipeline is Collapsing. The article began, “Fewer Americans want to become pastors, accelerating a leadership vacuum inside of one of the country’s oldest civic institutions. Why it matters: As the pastor role becomes lower-paid, higher-risk and less trusted, the U.S. isn’t just losing clergy — it’s losing a key layer of local leadership, especially in rural and Black communities.”
In other words, this broken pastor pipeline has big implications for America. The writer notes the impact upon rural areas, the areas where 50% of Free Will Baptist churches are located. What can we do?
We began addressing this problem five years ago in a series of articles (See nafwb.org/938). I encourage you to read or review those articles to acquaint yourself with the complexities of this issue.
Refresh Counseling. Axios noted the number of pastors who had considered quitting the ministry. The National Association began offering the Refresh Counseling Program in 2022, and to date, we have conducted more than 3,500 counseling sessions. This fulfills our belief the laborer is worthy of his hire. Several participants indicate the program helped them through burnout and enabled them to continue, even excel, in ministry.
Rekindle Coaching. Pastors, especially those in rural
areas, often feel isolated. The Rekindle Coaching Program allows
pastors to work with a mentor on strategy and planning. This fulfills our belief we are not meant to minister alone.
It is truly an example of how iron sharpens iron.
The Shepherding Initiative. Many churches stagnate or close when they go without a pastor. The top reason we lose churches is they cannot find a pastor. Through The Shepherding Initiative, Dr. Tim York works with laypeople to help them stay focused on the church’s ministry. He trains laypeople to conduct devotions or make hospital visits.
When we first shared this problem in the March 2021 article, Everyone’s Problem, we provided guidelines for how to pray and search for pastors and deacons and how they could serve their local churches in the meantime. In short, it appears God is pushing all of us back to Ephesians 4. The ministry of the church was never meant to fall upon one person or a small handful of people. Instead, we all are called to work together to edify the body.
If all of us are busy, serving in the manner God designed us (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12) while discipling and training others to follow our footsteps, Free Will Baptists will not only survive the “broken pastor pipeline,” but we will thrive.
Let’s stop treating church growth and ministry as “the pastor's job” and start viewing it as our shared calling. We are, and always will be, Better Together.
