8 FAITH focus B United Methodist clergy age trends still say ‘gray’


BY SAM HODGES Managing Editor


The United Methodist Church is


sipping at the fountain of youth, but needs to take a gulp, a new study on clergy age trends suggests. The Lewis Center for Church Lead-


ership study, released Sept. 21, found the denomination has more young elders,deacons and local pastors than 10 years ago, and the numbers and percentages of young elders and local pastors grew slightly in 2011. But elders between ages 55 and 72


have reached a record high 52 percent of all active elders. That group reached 50 percent for the first time in 2010. “The big thing that’s happened


since 2000 is this dramatic increase in the older group,” said the Rev. Lovett H. Weems Jr., director of the Lewis Center, a part of Wesley Theological Seminary, in Washington, D.C.“You’ve got this huge body of elders moving toward retirement.” Dr. Weems described as a “major


accomplishment” the modest rise in numbers and percentages of young elders.“That’s not happening across all denominations,” he said. But he noted that the UMC re-


mains an aging denomination with an aging clergy, one where the percentage


of elders aged 35 to 54 keeps declin- ing. In 2000, the middle age group constituted 65 percent of active elders, and now constitutes 43 percent. Dr. Weems noted that some people


argue the denomination won’t need as many elders, since it is shrinking overall in the United States, as is the number of UM churches able to afford a full-time pastor. But he foresees a struggle for bish-


ops trying to find enough experienced clergy to lead larger churches. He also believes that a denomination clearly in need of reaching younger people is at a disadvantage with a clergy corps dominated by those 55 or older. “You need people who are closer in


touch with that particular part of the culture,” he said. “There’s also a kind of passion and energy that comes with the younger clergy. Every age group brings its own strength, but you need a reasonable mix so you get the gifts and strengths of all of those. In the UMC, elders are persons au-


thorized to preach and teach God’s word, to administer the sacraments of baptism, and to order the life of the church for mission and ministry. Local pastors are authorized to per- form the duties of an ordained minis- ter, while assigned to a particular charge and working under supervi-


sion of a district superintendent. Deacons are ordained clergy called


to a life of service, and can assist eld- ers in administering the sacraments of Holy Communion and Holy Bap- tism.


Conferences vary widely in the


percentage of young elders, with Okla- homa on top this year at 9.84 percent. The Virginia Conference ranked


sixth highest in the percentage of young elders,but had the most such individuals, with 57. In several conferences, under 3


percent of active elders are age 35 or younger. Oklahoma Conference has long


pushed getting young people into ministry. “Ten or 11 years ago, we decided as


a conference that we needed to tend to the issue of raising up this new gener- ation of young clergy,” said the Rev. Craig Stinson,director of congrega- tional development and connectional ministries for the Oklahoma Confer- ence. He said pastors and other church


leaders in the conference know they’re expected to encourage young people to think about ministry, and hear reg- ularly from district superintendents that this is a priority. “We put it on the test,”he said.


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“When the teacher puts it on the test, it becomes important. . . . That’s where pastors come from, the local church.” In 1985, just over 15 percent of ac-


tive elders in the UMC were under 35. By 2005, the figure was just 4.69 per- cent. This year the percent is 5.61, up from 5.47 last year. Dr. Weems said the UMC’s mem-


bership in the United States was younger than the general population in the 1960s. It caught up in the mid ’70s, and since then has grown steadily older than the general popu- lation, while also declining. The rise in clergy age—and the


struggle to attract young people to the ministry—followed. “The church gets the leadership it


deserves,” Dr. Weems said. “As the church became less and less vital, it made a difference about who went into ministry.” The Lewis Center’s new study also


found that the proportion of young clergywomen is growing. A decade ago, men outnumbered women 2 to 1. Now women are nearly 40 percent of young elders. And the number of young local


pastors this year is 455, the largest in recent history, though the percentage of local pastors who are young has re- mained fairly stable since 1995.


The Lewis Center analyzes clergy


age data from the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. The study includes not only ordained eld- ers but also those commissioned on the elder track but not yet ordained.


shodges@umr.org Leaders in


young clergy The following conferences ranked highest for 2011 in percentage of elders under age 35.


• Oklahoma •Holston (#1 in 2005) • Mississippi (#1 in 2010) • North Alabama • Kansas West (new to top 10)


•Central Texas •Virginia •Texas (new to top 10) • North Carolina (new to top 10)


• Northwest Texas (new to top 10)


Source: Lewis Center for Church Leadership


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