The Challenges and Opportunities for Pastors in Supervising Staff
General CBF / Pastoral Care

The Challenges and Opportunities for Pastors in Supervising Staff

By Laura Stephens-Reed Over the course of their vocational lives, many pastors find themselves charged with leading a church staff. This is not only true for senior pastors, but associate pastors can also function in the same way within their more specialized ministry areas. The supervisory role is challenging. Most pastors enter ministry expecting to … Continue reading

A window of opportunity is opening for congregations
Featured

A window of opportunity is opening for congregations

By Rev. Laura Stephens-Reed The Theological Education Fund of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently noted on Facebook that 85 percent of clergy currently serving in the PC(USA) are set to retire in the next 10 years. Eighty-five percent. Let that number sink in. I’m guessing that the percentage is similar across most Protestant denominations, including … Continue reading

Considerations for congregations when moving from a full-time to a part-time pastor
Pastoral Care

Considerations for congregations when moving from a full-time to a part-time pastor

By Laura Stephens-Reed It is no secret that many churches, once pushing the fire marshal’s maximum occupancy to its limits, are now in numerical decline. I have my pick of statistics that I could cite, but here’s a particularly poignant visual from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research: The pews are no more than 38 … Continue reading