Hey Church – Pastors Are Not a Commodity

There was once a time when I saw being a pastor as being one of the highest goals of my life. Don’t get me wrong, there were some awesome moments where I lived out my call. Yet being treated as a commodity by denominations through multiple licensing and ordination deferrals along with congregations that are backstabbing, have unseen expectations and expect low standards of living for their pastors – the combination inevitably puts the pastor in the middle.

For a while I thought that my concerns were my own – perhaps an autistic and bisexual person is not cut out to be a pastor. Then I heard the stories from my fellow clergy. Then I realized it wasn’t just me. The accounts here are my own but are also similar to struggles fellow clergy have dealt with.

The Denominations

When I first entered candidacy with the United Methodist Church, all hopeful and wide-eyed, it took me a whopping three deferrals from my candidacy committee to become a licensed pastor. Each one of these deferrals hurt. It was like in the UMC, at least the conference I was a part of, deferrals were part of the process of ‘getting to know you.’ I’ll advise you that licensing is not ordination. It simply allows a person to exercise the role of the pastor in a specific congregation. The license also needs to be renewed every year.

Another word about licensed clergy. The UMC is relying heavily on these clergy to lead their churches while few are going through the high price of going to seminary and the extremely long and arduous process of becoming ordained. I also believe the denomination is using licensed clergy as a kind of commodity that they can control. Many of them are not fully theologically educated and cannot vote at annual conferences.

When I asked for a full-time church appointment with the UMC, I was told to go to seminary and get ordained. I went to seminary, accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in debt, graduated, I still was deferred on my first ordination meeting for denominational residency. I tried to be as open and candid as I could, but when I revealed some ‘human’ sides of myself, the committee bulked.

This leads to unrealistic expectations that the denominations have on the part of their clergy. It feels like they do not want you to be human. Forget the ‘biblical qualifications’ of ‘overseers and deacons’ in 1 Timothy 3, it does not match up to what we have going on in our time in the 21^st century and what is authentically real. I’m not saying that pastors should not have a high standard, but let us be human, too.

Unrealistic expectations do not extend to only a pastor’s personal life, but in work life, they want you to be a rising star that will rebuild their kingdom of days ago. The term they use here is ‘effective’ clergy. Something difficult to nail down and define. So, they often judge it primarily by church attendance on Sunday mornings and a number of other statistics. Judging a pastor’s work on how many people are in the pew and how much money is collected is only seeing the tip of the iceberg of the minister’s work.

Lastly, the denomination often puts the pastor in the middle. The local church wants its agenda done, and so does the conference/synod or other. Sometimes these contradict. Oftentimes I have seen required work that comes from the conference that the congregation has no interest in doing. I’ve seen the conference at times make the pastors work harder on occasions.

Local church

The local church is seized by the culture wars these days and it often forces the pastor to choose a side. I was educated in seminary that I must also take a stand for justice, for the marginalized and poor. When I did that in a very public way, the churches I served came down on me hard, and there was little support from the top (denomination).

Local churches have a lot of unseen expectations. Like the widow in the church that expects to be visited at least once a month. Ignore these expectations and there is hell to pay. I call these unseen expectations ‘land mines.’ Most churches have them, and they are ready to go off on your pastor at a moment’s notice. This goes along with unrealistic expectations on the part of the local church.

Attend every event. Go to text study. Be involved in community events and organizations. Design Vacation Bible School. And while you’re at it, double our membership attendance in the next year please without making any real changes! Need I say anymore? If you don’t do this, count on backstabbing, or ‘we’ll find someone better than you.’

This is what I call ‘grass is always greener’ type of thinking and it happened in a United Church of Christ parish I led which attacked me while I was on vacation. I came home without a job. My family and I were devastated. However, most churches are unaware that the field of pastors is thinning and, like me, pastors are joining the great resignation for these very same reasons.

And the standard of living. I always knew that being a pastor would never get me rich. And that was okay. It was about the call. But when churches expect to have a ‘young’ family (what they often want is two people for the price of one) but are unwilling to modify their parsonage to 21st century standards, there is a disconnect here. Just one example. Churches want much from their pastors, but do they deliver the needs of their pastors?

Conclusion

I would love to return to pastoral ministry. There are times I miss it so much I could cry. And there are other times I think of the pain it’s caused. If any denominational leaders or church leaders are reading this, let your pastor(s) do their jobs. Let us teach, preach, and do justice. Hold us accountable for our gifts – but let us do our jobs with some respect. Defend us when needed. We love our jobs, but many of us are simply at the end of our ropes.

Sincerely, a former pastor.