The calling of a part-time pastor : developing a guidebook for small church leaders in the Reformed Church in America

2016·7 MB·English

by  Siebert, Warren

THE CALLING OFAPART-TIME PASTOR:
DEVElOPING AGUIDEBOOK FOR SMALL CHURCH LEADERS
IN THE REFORMED CHURCH IN AMERICA
ATHESIS-PROJECT
SUBMITIEDTOTHE FACULTYOF
GORDON-CONWELLTHEOLOGICALSEMINARY
IN PARTIALFULFILLMENTOF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
BY
WARREN SEIBERT
JANUARY2016
Copyright ©2016 byWarren Seibert. All Rights Reserved.
Dedicatedto
mywife, Ruth,
and members ofthe West Copake Reformed Church,
foryour
partnership in the gospel.
iii
CONTENTS
ABSTRACT v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1
ABROADER PERPECTIVE 2
AHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 6
CHALLENGES FOR SMALLCHURCHES 11
CURRENT RESOURSES FOR SMALLCHURCHES 14
THE LARGER PROBLEM FACING SMALLCHURCHES 19
THE CONTENTAND PURPOSE OF THIS WORK 21
CHAPTER 2: THEOLOGICALFOUNDATIONS 23
THE CALLING OF APART·TIME PASTOR 26
THE CALLING OF ACHURCH 36
THE CALLING OF ACHRISTIAN 44
THE WORK OF APART-TIME PASTOR 53
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW 63
BIVOCATIONAL MINISTRY 64
SMALLCHURCH LEADERSHIP 84
THE MISSION OFTHE CHURCH 103
SUMMARY 113
CHAPTER 4: PROJECTDESIGN 115
FORMATAND STYLE 116
CONTENT 118
OUTLINE 122
iv
EVALUATION PROCESS 124
CHAPTER 5: OUTCOMES 126
CRITICALREVIEW OFTHE GUIDEBOOK DRAFT 126
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 134
APPENDIX A: GUIDED INTERVIEWQUESTIONS FOR SMALLCHURCH 139
LEADERS
APPENDIX B: DRAFTOF tiTHE CALLING OFAPART-TIME PASTOR: 141
AGUIDEBOOK FOR SMAll CHURCH LEADERS"
BIBLIOGRAPHY 225
VITA 231
v
ABSTRACT
This thesis-project is focused on providingassistancetosmaller churches in the
Reformed Church in America inthe process ofcalling apart-time pastor. The goal isto
produce aguidebookfor leaders ofthese small churches addressingthe unique
challenges ofministryin asmall church with apart-time pastor. To this end, the role of
part-time ministers is explored, both historical and contemporary. Thisworkincludes
personal interviews alongwith areview ofrelated literature. Theological issues
regardingthe call to ministryofpart-time pastors, the mission ofthechurch, and small
church leadership are explored.
1
CHAPTER1
INTRODUCTION
Iam abi-vocational pastor.1 Forthree years, from 2010-20013, Iserved as a
part-time pastor in asmall congregation ofthe Reformed Church in America in central
NewJerseywhile alsoworking as aRegistered Nurse in the emergencydepartment of
alocal hospital in the same communityasthe church. At onetime-not longago-my
pastoratethere would have been highlyunusual: as little asten years ago,there were
not manypart-time pastors in thatc1assis,2 norwere there manychurches that needed
to call apart-time pastor. Mostofthe congregations in the Classis ofDelaware-Raritan
were financially and numericallyequipped to supportafull-time ministerand, as a
result, ten years agothat c1assis had onlytwo churches beingserved by apart-time
pastor.3 Today, however, one halfofthe churches in the Classis ofDelaware-Raritan are
served by apart-time pastor and manyotherchurches in the Regional Synod ofMid-
1Idefineabivocationalpastorasaperson whoservesalocal congregationastheirsoloorseniorpastor
andwhoalsomaintainsadditionalemploymentelsewhere. Thismayincludeasecularjob, another
ministrysetting,orevenanotherlocalchurch. Iwill usethetermsbivocationalpastorandpart-time
pastorinterchangeablythroughoutthiswork, whileacknowledgingthatsomepart-timepastorsdonot
haveadditionalemploymentoutsidethesinglechurchtheyserve. See:DennisW. Bickers,The Workof
theBivocationalMinister(ValleyForge, PA;JudsonPress,2007),2; LutherM.Dorr, The Bivocational
Pastor(Nashville,TN:Broadman, 1988),3;;andRobertLaRochelle,Part-TimePastor, Full-TimeChurch
(Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim Press, 2010), 22-32. LaRochelledescribesindetailthevarioussettingsand
modelsforbivocational ministrytypicallyfound intheUnitedStatestoday.
2Ac1assisisaregionalgoverningbodyoftheReformedChurchinAmericacomprisedofallordained
ministersinthec1assisaswellasatleastoneelderfrom eachchurchinthec1assis. Thec1assisis
responsibleforthesupervisionofallchurchesandordainedminstersintheirbody. See: Reformed
ChurchinAmerica, BookofChurchOrder(2012), 29. IwasamemberoftheClassisofDelaware-Raritan
which consistsof30churchesasof2015.
32003StatisticalDataoftheReformed Church inAmerica, reported inTheActsandProceedingsofthe
198thRegularSessionoftheGeneralSynod(2004)436-437.
2
Atlantics4 are challenged in the same way. In fact} ofthe 136churches in the Regional
Synod ofMid-Atlantics} 61 ofthem (45%) are presently beingserved by part-time
pastors} orare seekingto call apart-time pastor} and that numberhasbeen predicted to
s
rise to amajority ofchurches (53%) within the next 5years.
A Broader Perspective
Yetthistrend is not limited to the Classis ofDelaware-Raritan orthe Regional
Synod ofMid-Atlantics. Inthe RegionalSynod ofAlbany} for example} theClassis of
Albany reportsthat 10oftheir 20 churches are beingserved bypart-time pastors} or are
vacant and seekingto call apart-time pastor} and predictthat in the nextfive years at
least 2morechurches will also be lookingfor apart-time pastor.6 Also in the Regional
Synod ofAlbany} the Classis ofColumbia-Greene} where Inowserve as abivocational
pastor} reports that 18oftheir 20churches are served orare seekingto be served by a
part-time pastor and believethat} within the nextfive years} all 20oftheirchurches-a
full 100percent-may be served by apart-time pastor'?
4Aregionalsynod isanassemblyandjudicatoryconsistingofrepresentativeordainedminstersand
ordainedeldersfromeachc1assiswithintheboundsoftheregionalsynod. Theregionalsynodexercises
generalsuperintendenceovertheinterestsandconcernsofeachofthememberclasses. See:Reformed
ChurchinAmerica, BookofChurch Order, (2012)59. IwasamemberoftheRegionalSynodofMid
Atlanticswhichwascomposedof4classesrepresenting136churchesin 2013.
5StatedclerksoftheRegionalSynodofMid-Atlantics,reported inane-mailsurveysentbytheauthorto
allstatedclerksintheReformedChurchinAmerica, on May,3, 2013.
6StatedclerksoftheClassisofAlbany, reportedinane-mailsurveysentbytheauthortoallstatedclerks
intheReformedChurchinAmerica, on May3, 2013.
7StatedclerksClassisofColumbia-Greene, reported inane-mailsurveysentbytheauthortoallstated
clerksintheReformedChurch inAmerica on May,3, 2013.
3
Thistrend is not confined to smallerchurches ofthe Reformed Church in
America. Norisit aregional pattern particularto the northeastern UnitedStates, asthe
above surveyofthe Reformed Church in America may suggest.8 Accordingto Lyle
Schaller, the small church today is "the dominantinstitutional expression ofProtestant
Christianity on the North American continent" and predictsthat bythe year 2020 almost
50% ofall Protestant churches on thiscontinentwill have lessthan 100people at an
average Sundayworship service.9 Agrowingnumberofthese churches, heinsists, will
depend upon bivocational ministers.lO David R. Rayreportsthat two-thirdsofallthe
Protestant churches in the United States already have lessthan 100people in average
worship attendance.l1 Dennis Bickersstatesthere are morethan 100,000churches in
this countrywith 50 orfewer in theirSundaymorningattendance.12 These smaller
churches will simplynotbe ableto afford the ministryofafull-time pastor. According
to Bethany DeVos, chairperson ofthecongregational carecommittee ofthe Classis of
Delaware-Raritan, the "rule-of-thumb" for ourchurches beingableto afford afull-time
pastor in today's economy isthese congregations havingan average worship attendance
8ThestatedclerksofmanyoftheclassesoftheReformedChurchinAmericadeclinedtorespondtothe
surveydespiterepeated e-mailandtelephonerequests, exceptformostintheeastern partoftheUSA.
9 Lyle E.Schaller, TheSmallMembershipChurch:ScenariosforTomorrow(Nashville,TN:Abingdon, 1994),
12.
10Schaller, 13.
11David R. Ray, TheIndispensableGuideforSmallerChurches(Cleveland,OH: PilgrimPress, 2003),xi.
12DennisBickers, The HealthySmaflChurch(KansasCity, MO:Beacon Hill, 2005), 13.
4
above 100people.13 Butthis numbermaynot hold true for long.
Dennis Bickers believesthat more and more churches inthe comingyears, even
those that were previously not considered small (100-125 averageworship attendance)
will be served by part-time ministers. "Bivocational ministers servingin larger
churches/' he writes, "will represent aparadigm shiftfor many denominations,
churches, and ministers. Achurch of125 is considered aratherhealthychurch in many
traditions./I Yet, he continues, "thesetraditions will haveto reexamine howtheyassign
or recommend ministerstothese churches./l14 What he has in viewarethe increasing
financial challengesofsupportingfull-time ministersdueto growingsalary, pension, and
health insurance requirements.1S
As we can see,the abilityto payan adequate salaryfor apastor is notjust a
concern forchurches of50 and 60 people but increasinglyis seen in churches 2-3times
that size. Accordingto HartfordSeminary's "2010 Faith CommunitiesTodaySurvey/'
30% ofmainline churches already have apart-time pastor servingtheircongregations as
the sole orsenior pastor.16 In the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant
*
denomination in the United States, nearly oftheircongregations have lessthan 100
13BethanyDeVos, reportgivenduringaregularstatedmeetingoftheClassisofDelaware-Raritan,
October8,2012, atNorthandSouthamptonReformedChurch,Churchville, PA.
14Bickers,The Work, 19.
15Bickers,The Work, 18.
16HartfordSeminary, "2010FaithCommunitiesTodaySurvey,"asreportedbyG.JeffreyMacDonald,
"ChurchesTurntoPart-TimeClergy" inChristianCentury(September18,2013),16-17.