Finding New Pastors
The App Region urgently needs new pastors. Nine of our churches are looking for a pastor now and it’s likely that 10-15 of our current pastors will retire in the next three years.
This isn’t just an App Region challenge, or even just an Advent Christian challenge. Barna reports that a quarter of current pastors will retire by 2030. Many seminaries are experiencing declining enrollment. It is taking search committees longer to find their next pastor.
Thankfully, our denomination is developing new pastors from through the Ministry Training Institute. Several should be ready to serve in 2024.
But our pastoral vacancies are spiking faster than we can properly train successors, which means we will need a short term strategy for addressing the situation while we continue to collaborate with MTI’s long term work.
Regional President Travis Hutcheson and I will meet with Leadership Development Coordinator Matt Larkin the first week of June to get his advice. In the meantime, lots of informal conversations are taking place among our regional and denominational leaders.
In these conversations, several ideas have been suggested. We could ask current pastors to take on additional churches, like the old circuit preaching days. Nearby churches could band together in radical ways. Stronger churches could adopt weaker ones.
One idea we are exploring is recruiting pastors from outside our denomination to join our ranks. To explore this possibility, we have visited the following seminaries and found warm reception and willing partnership.
Asbury Theological Seminary
Charlotte Christian College and Seminary
Dallas Theological Seminary (DC Campus)
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Liberty University School of Divinity
Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte Campus)
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Our first efforts toward establishing relationships with these schools has been through the App Region Preaching Team. Seminaries have been eager to help us recruit students and alumni to join this team of guest preachers to preach in our churches when needed.
The Preaching Team has several benefits:
It is helping to ensure that our churches have Christ-exalting expository preaching in their pulpits, especially churches without pastors
It is providing a low-pressure partnership with seminary administrators that we can build on
It is creating awareness of our denomination and softening resistance to our doctrinal distinctives
- We hope it is laying the groundwork for potential new pastors to become ordained in our conferences and pastor our churches
There is much more to discuss. For now, I just wanted to update you on this ongoing conversation and the efforts underway. It will be a process.
I would also like to ask you to help by:
- Searching scripture for relevant texts and truths that can shed light on our situation and give guidance for the way forward.
- Praying for God’s provision and guidance.
- Discussing these things together with one another and with regional and denominational leadership. We have two great opportunities coming up: The App Region annual meeting (July 29 in Blowing Rock, NC) and the Triennial Convention (August 7-11 in Black Mountain, NC).
- Using the Preaching Team. The more opportunities I can give the team members the better. To schedule a sermon, email me at matt@theappregion.org.
If you have thoughts on the subject you’d like to share, feel free to get in touch with me any time at 704-787-6445 or matt@theappregion.org.