calls by early fall. But she also is ordaining a new pastor soon who has waited more than a year for a call. A few years ago, Crist remembers, there were more churches seeking recent graduates than the number of students coming out of seminary. The change, she said, is “startling.” Crist wants to streamline the process by which seminarians are placed and pastors receive new calls. “We need more flexibility in how the church offers call and compensa- tion,” she said. An additional concern, she said, is for pastors, some of them recent graduates, placed in congregations that have voted to leave the ELCA or are in the process of doing so, against the desire of the pastor. “We feel a responsibility for those pastors,” Crist said, and some of those might be moving to a congregation that could have received one of this year’s graduates.
It may take a year Andrew Chavanak, who gradu- ates this spring from Gettysburg Seminary, said some seminarians get discouraged because of the dearth of possible calls. Although the situ- ation varies in different parts of the country, “we were told that we could expect a pretty significant delay between graduation and first call,” said Chavanak, assigned to Region 4 (Missouri and Nebraska to the Gulf of Mexico). “So they told us to make preparations to have somewhere to live.”
In some cases it may take a year for a recent graduate to get an appro- priate call, he added. “We approach this with hope and
faith,” said Adam Sornchai, another 2011 Gettysburg graduate. He knows one bishop who won’t have a semi- narian assigned to his synod unless there is a possible call available. “We are told the call process is
to serve the needs of the church,” Sornchai said, so while graduates list regions and synods where they would like to serve “you might not always get your preference.” Norma Malfatti, another Gettys-
burg spring graduate, said she plans to care for her mother and grand- mother, now living in Florida, in the years ahead. So the prospect of a delay poses additional problems. Malfatti, assigned to Region
7 (Virginia and Tennessee to the Gulf), also said “many synods are talking about part-time calls and bi-vocational calls, and most of us are not prepared for that. We entered seminary expecting a ‘regular’ full- time call.”
Despite the anxieties, she said some of her classmates have already been told they will soon receive pro- files of congregations interested in calling a recent seminary graduate. “Most of us trust in God and rely on the Holy Spirit to work well,” she said, “and that is where most of my class is.”
Still, she admitted that reality sug- gests recent graduates may need a “backup plan” to carry them through the time when they are without a call. To some, this may look like a surplus of pastors. But that’s not the case, said Stanley N. Olson, president of Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, and former voca- tion and education leader for the ELCA. The number of retirements is expected to increase soon. The type of calls available to both new and experienced pastors is changing rapidly, he admitted, and people are more likely to find calls in less tra- ditional settings, congregations “in transition” or being redeveloped. Olson also said people often make
the decision to attend seminary sev- eral years before they actually enroll, so today’s market should not be taken as a sign of what things will be sev-
eral years from now. In the ELCA, however, new pastors may owe tens of thousands of dollars in college and seminary loans, which can’t be paid off with a small salary from a tiny congregation. To ease this situation, the ELCA is trying to establish an endowment of $200 mil- lion that could provide a full tuition scholarship for everyone studying for rostered ministry in the ELCA. Donald Hallberg, interim director of the Fund for Leaders In Mission (
www.elca.org/fundforleaders), said the fund is now at about $28 mil- lion. Last year, he said, 187 students at ELCA seminaries received about
Routes to pastoral ministry
•Traditional: A college degree, followed by three years of semi-
•Theological Education for Emerging Ministries: Assess-
nary leading to a master of divinity degree, plus a year of internship. Progress monitored by a synod’s candidacy committee, whose final approval for ordination is required.
•Licensing: Provisions for laypeo- ple licensed to preach and preside
ment by a bishop (or someone appointed by the bishop), the synod’s candidacy committee and a representative of the community from which the candidate comes. This is followed by a review from a TEEM panel. Then enrollment in a seminary’s TEEM program, at least 20 credit hours, and one year of residence at a seminary.
at the sacraments are determined by the synods and granted for special situations, or sometimes for seminarians not yet ordained. Synods oversee the requirements for those who are licensed on their territory. Licenses may be subject to regular review and renewal.
May 2011 23
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