Supply & Demand

From 1994 to 2015, there were 642 new entrants into ministry within the Presbyterian Church in Canada, either as students graduating from our seminaries, or joining the church from other denominations, countries or ministry tracks. Currently, 369, or 58 per cent, are still active on the rolls of presbyteries—they have a half- to full-time position as minister or church worker. Twenty-nine per cent, or 189, are on the appendix to the rolls—they do not have at least a half-time charge within the denomination. Eighty-four, or 13 per cent, are no longer on the rolls—they have dropped out of participating on any level within our denomination.

Of those 84 no longer on presbytery rolls, 18 have died and 41 have transferred their credentials from the PCC to another denomination. Twenty-two have disappeared without any official record—they may have left the ministry or the PCC. We don’t know.

Of the 189 who are on the appendix to the rolls, 66 have retired. Ninety-one are without charge; that means 14 per cent of the new entrants over the past two decades don’t have an active half- to full-time position within the denomination. That’s a high percentage of un- or under-employed church workers. This is worrying.

Hidden in plain sight in the 2015 Acts and Proceedings of the General Assembly are lots and lots of statistics. According to that book, there were 719 pastoral charges. There were 552 ministers working in congregations, and another 70 church workers who are not in congregations but work within the PCC in various chaplaincies or other work that keeps them on presbytery rolls. (These numbers would reflect all clergy or church workers, including those who entered the PCC before 1994.)

That means there are 167 vacant pastoral charges. So, why aren’t those 14 per cent of new entrants since 1994 filling those empty congregations, along with those currently un- or under-employed who entered before 1994? If only data were that simple. One speculation: the jobs may not be in parts of the country convenient to a minister’s family, perhaps.

And, according to a response to an overture in the 2015 A&P, some of those 167 vacant pastoral charges may not be able to afford a minister. Some congregations are only able to offer one-year contracts; others are only able to have pulpit supply without pastoral duties. These would not be ideal for a young minister, for example, who wants security and consistency for her family. These positions often go to retired ministers who are still able to draw their pensions and work limited term contracts. The relationship between supply and demand is complicated.

One other set of statistics in the 2015 A&P adds another shade to this generalized portrait of clergy within the PCC. The Employment Assistance Program is an initiative of the Life and Mission Agency (Ministry and Church Vocations), started in 2010. It pays for counselling and other related services for PCC employees and their families. In its first four and a quarter years the program was accessed 360 times—that could reflect multiple uses by any one individual. Of those, 80 per cent of the cases were for church employees, while the remaining fifth were for those related to church employees.

The report states: “By far the most common were personal/emotional concerns, which 152 [cases] identified as the reason they had requested counselling; 67 of these 152 [cases] attributed their concerns to stress. Couple/relationship and work-related concerns were the next most common emerging issues (61 and 50 [cases], respectively). Of the 50 [cases] with work-related concerns, 33 attributed their issues to stress. A small number of EAP clients requested counselling for family issues (30 [cases]), while the smallest group identified concerns regarding addiction (seven [cases]).

“A small proportion of EAP clients requested work-life services (17 per cent, or 60 of 360). These [cases] sought expert advice in dealing with legal matters, financial matters including credit and debt, personal health and well-being including nutrition and disease management, child/youth care, and elder/adult care.”

It is hard to say what these numbers tell us about the life of clergy and their family, without more accurate, and hence more intrusive, data. But we do know that nearly 400 times over the course of this half-decade the stress and anxieties affecting those who work for us, and their families, have been assessed and hopefully dealt with in some effective way.

What caused that stress is mere speculation. But we do know there are more ministers than there are available church jobs, that congregations are struggling and many can’t afford a minister despite having a dedicated if small membership, and that over the course of two decades a significant portion of those who trained to serve the church dissipate away from that work—some die, or retire, some move to other churches, some drop out, and some struggle with long term under-employment. And we know that some struggle with stress, which may be caused by work or is otherwise aggravated by it.

We also know that the EAP is an important tool that helps with the stresses of ministry in this century. And we aren’t surprised to learn that it, too is subject to financial pressures like everything else in the church today. It would be a pity to lose it; it’s a balm against the stresses for those who need it desperately.