Higher Calling, Lower Wages: The Vanishing of the Middle-Class Clergy

[brooklynite]

The Atlantic:

For someone seeking a full-time job as a church pastor, Justin Barringer would seem to have the perfect résumé. He’s a seminary grad, an author and book editor, and a former missionary to China and Greece. But despite applying to nearly a hundred jobs over the course of two years, Barringer, who lives in Lexington, Kentucky, could not secure a full-time, salaried church position.

So he splits his time among three jobs, working as a freelance editor, an employee at a nonprofit for the homeless, and a part-time assistant pastor at a United Methodist Church. “I am not mad at the church,” Barringer says. “However, I wish someone had advised me against taking on so much debt in order to be trained for ministry.”

Barringer’s story is becoming increasingly typical as Protestant churches nationwide cut back on full-time, salaried positions. Consequently, many new pastors either ask friends and family for donations (a time-honored clerical tradition) or take on other jobs. Working two jobs has become so common for clergy members, in fact, that churches and seminaries have a euphemistic term for it: bi-vocational ministry.

...snip...

This trend dovetails with other recent developments that are troubling to many religious communities. Not only is church attendance in long-term decline, but financial giving by church members is at Depression-era lows. Meanwhile, seminary students are taking on ballooning debt for a career that may not exist by the time they graduate. This trend began before the Great Recession, and has only worsened since then.

Is part of theproblem Divinity schools overselling the prospects of gainful employment, the way Law Schools have?

[okasha]

1. The middle class is vanishing.

It's a phenomenon that's affecting occupations across the board.

[edhopper]

2. The same problem is happening to places

like Golf Country Clubs and Tennis Clubs. The middle class just doesn't have the extra money to support ancillary activities. There are also more demands on people's time as well, so we see a fall off on time spent on these things.


And no, I am not equating Church with golf, just that both need disposable income and extra time to survive.

There are only so many wealthy people to spread their money around.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. part-time assistant pastor - does that mean the senior pastor is full-time, for one church?

If so, that's not bad. In England, I think the churches tend to outnumber the pastors.