Where Do We Go from Here?

By Kent Fillinger

The “Great Resignation” that many prognosticators predicted post-Covid, never materialized in the church world. Yes, ministers reported higher levels of stress and indicated they thought more about quitting following the pandemic, but most ministers stuck with it and are still leading and serving their churches today. This is a statistic to celebrate! 

The “graying of the clergy” was true pre-Covid and it’s still a reality. Most pastors are in the later stages of life and career. According to a 2022 Barna report, only 16 percent of Protestant senior pastors nationally are 40 years old or younger, and the average age among pastors is 52.  

These stats match exactly with the findings from our 2023 Christian Standard church survey. Additionally, our survey revealed that close to one-third (29 percent) of the lead pastors in our study were 60 years old or older and 16 percent were over the age of 65.  

Everyone Is an Interim  

We’re all interim leaders and at some point retirement is inevitable. Therefore, church elders and boards should be proactive to ensure a healthy, smooth pastoral transition. An emergency succession plan is akin to having an insurance policy to cover the church in case of a disaster or unexpected leadership crisis. A departure-defined succession plan should be created at least five years prior to when you anticipate your lead minister will retire. 

The last year I surveyed churches about the status of their succession plans was 2018, but my hunch is that little has changed since the best predictor of future action is past action. Then, 59 percent of the 465 churches that participated in our church survey noted that they had no succession plan in place for their lead minister. Twenty-three percent said they were working to develop a succession plan. Only 16 percent said they had an emergency succession plan and 10 percent said they had a departure defined or retirement plan established. 

Developing a solid succession plan or a leadership pipeline is like exercising. Everyone knows it’s a smart idea and that they should do it, but ultimately, we’re too busy to do it. The same Barna study found that 38 percent of pastors said developing a leadership pipeline is a “top personal priority” and 40 percent said they’ve thought about the need but just “have too many other ministry concerns.” Meanwhile, 14 percent of pastors say they’ve delegated the job to others. 

We’re Not Building the Bench 

According to our 2018 Christian Standard church survey, 78 percent of churches hired their lead minister from another church and only 22 percent promoted their lead minister from within the church. 

The “leadership bench” in most churches is lacking. Seventy-nine percent of pastors in the Barna study agreed that “churches aren’t rising to their responsibilities to train up the next generation of Christian leaders.” In short, one reason the next generation of Christians is unprepared for the challenges of leading a church may be that so few churches are preparing them. 

Three-quarters of the pastors surveyed said they at least somewhat agree with the statement, “It is becoming harder to find mature young Christians who want to be pastors.” 

Suggested Solutions 

Reemphasize Retention. The adage in business is that it’s easier to keep a customer than it is to find a new one. Likewise, we need to reemphasize retaining the pastors we already have serving in our churches. I’m convinced that if churches offered their pastors multi-month sabbaticals at designated intervals and provided free counseling services to the pastor and his spouse, we could retain more pastors and not see as many leave for secular jobs or other careers. And the more we retain, the less we need to recruit and develop to fill the leadership pipeline.  

Recruit through Residencies. Several of our larger churches have created residency programs to recruit and train more people for ministry. I’d love to see some stats on the success of these programs in terms of mobilizing members into ministry, but it’s always a numbers game. So, the more people we train, the more likely we are to see growing numbers of pastors available to serve our churches.  

You need to realize that your future lead pastor may be one of your interns or residents today. For example, current Nike CEO Elliott Hill started in the company as an intern. Doug McMillion, CEO of Walmart, started as an hourly associate unloading trailers. The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, worked for GM as a student before she took a full-time job on the assembly line inspecting fenders and hood panels. And Ursula Burns was a summer intern at Xerox in 1980 but went on to serve as their CEO from 2009 to 2016. 

It’s important to give young people enough significant ministry “reps” to help them hone their gifts and realize their ministry potential. Churches of any size can engage teens and young adults to serve in ministry and then build on those experiences by expanding their roles and responsibilities as they grow in their giftedness. 

Rethink Retirement. One increasingly popular practice for older adults is what’s known as “aging in place.” Recent studies show that about 77% of older adults want to age in their current home rather than move to a retirement home or assisted living facility.  

My question is, why can’t more lead pastors “age in place” instead of retiring early and leaving to start consulting businesses or non-profit mission organizations, like so many I’ve seen in the last decade? Ministers who “age in place” at their churches could adjust their leadership roles and responsibilities as they age, as their energy decreases, and as their health wanes. 

This will require some creativity and fresh thinking from the pastor, the staff, and the eldership, but the benefits seem worth it. Pastors can “re-fire in place” instead of “retire in some other place” and they can continue to use their gifts, talents, and wisdom to “stay in the game and keep playing” as they help advance the mission of the church. Shifting from responsibility to availability might lengthen a pastor’s longevity and enable him to mentor his successor while continuing to serve in various ways to help the church.