G
Is There a Shortage of Ministers in America f
The Other Side of the Widely Discussed Question
By a Practical Minister Who Is Working at It
THE recent announcement by one of our w idely cir
culated reviews (Literary Pujcst. July 16, Pisje 30)
that "Ten thousand Protestant pulpits are expected
to be vacant new year because of the lack of students
for the ministry, as displayed by records of attendance
at the logical Stmmaries" is startling to church people
who arc satisfied with mere headlines for final authont
Before entering into the discussion, and giving pome
facts as they really are. it is well to remember :
(1) That church news is the most rrectly re
ported news in America. It is always bin news in
every way and too many reporters are like the blind
men who went to viit the elephant and each brought
back his own version of what an elephant was luce.
All denominations suffer greatly from badly reported
news by those who are too busy to get all the facts, or
who try to interpret the report through terms of their
own denominati-EvCII smOflg the leaders in the
Denominations wt still rind men who at times arc not
unlike Elijah under the jumper tree.
Jesus Chose Working men
2) In this particular case the secular journals were
partly excusable, for they got their information from
statistics of theological seminaries which are Specially
set aside for training of ministers. For the comfort
and consolation of the lean i professors in theological
schools, I refer them to their own historical depart
ments to find that theological schools have never been
a reliable thermometer or barometer oi religion! con
ditions or growth. What the theological schools have
really revealed is that they are failing to get the stu
dents, and instead of suspecting the students are at
fault, they might well look to their own work. They
should at least n nu mber that dod ra d up judges in
Krael from unexpected quarters; Jes d:d not elect
his disciples from either the schools .f the Pharisees
Of Sadducees, but plain everyday workingmen, and
many of our foremost bishops and leaders in all
churches never completed a theological course in a
high-grade seminary.
(31 Five years ago, after visiting several theo
logical schools, I wrote an article published in one of
the leading magazines. "Do Our The- -logical Seminaries
tt Modern Needs?" I found seminaries imp ;'ular
With many men even attending them. The complaints
I heard were uch as indicated restlesjsjsess among the
students, and chafing under old rules and standards
and regulations. They were splendid places to polish
fossils, but not suitable places to awaken and inspire
red-blooded men who had to meet real conditions as
they are jn real life today in the ministry. The schools
were a generation behind their times, as many stu
dentS looked at it. and men are going into the min
istry direct fi m colleges and secular universities with
out three additional years at a theological school. Sta
tistics will show that in the largest Protestant de
noatinattoe in America the Methodist Episcopal
more than 75 per cent of the minister I g directly into
the minitry without entering a theological school. I
am disposed to believ that similar conditions exist in
the next largest Protestant denomination the Baptists.
Many Never Graduated
SINCE the Methodist Episcopal church began work
in the United Nates it has elected and ordained 93
men to the high office of bishop. Foremost am ug the-
were men who were schooled for law. like Bishop
En - and Others, or medicine or educational work.
Probably half oi them never graduated from a sem
inary. I need not add that our foremost evangelists,
like Mr. Ifoody and Mr. Sunday, Devef graduated from
a theological school. I would not call attention t i
these tacts except that constantly in almost every alarm
sent ut about a shortage of ministers, theological
sch' are taken as barometers and thermometers of
religious conditions. Understand me, i cloe student
myself, I believe in theological school, although they
did not do God's work and were BO criterions in the
days if Jesus, Martin Luther, John Wesley or D. L.
Moody.
The real test of preacher shortage is the work
needed and men to do it. Times change Methods
ol irork change. Amount of wrk required changes
with generations, (iod does not need nor call men like
so many fossils to fill places others have rilled when
the work others did is finished
Church work, like all other work, is in a period of
readjustment. Where the minister was the sde re
ligious worker in the days of our grandfathers, we
have today a Young Men's Christ tan tsSOCfation with
several workers in almost every town. A single d
nomination has nearly 5'Hi.imm) trained Sund.i school
teachers and workers, giving each scholar as many
BJtjsMStei of religious instruction a week as the old
fashioned preacher once gave in a m-.nth t the entire
congregation. Almost every newspaper carries as mu
religious news and sermon matter m some form as a
minister once carried in a single church service.
The automobile and improved roads have made it
possible for one minister to do as much in many place
as two ministers could do 10 years ago. As it has
made possible the consolidation of schools, so it h is
done with churches. Quite a few small struggling
churches which never did more than maintain an e
istence have consolidated, or closed their churches en
tirely, and the congregation now goes to the town
church to the profit of all concerned. A still larger
number will do this within the next decade.
Tin automobile h is made it possible for one minister
to serve several weak country churches formerly re
quiring several ministers. The growing intelligence of
the congregations themselves helps to this. Almost any
congregation has siwral college graduates and school
teachers and persons who can hold a prayer meeting,
to the profit of themselves and others.
In still other cases where four preachers have been
quartered in a town of .M) persons to gratify denomina
tional pride, or the contrariness of local church of
hcu's. some of the preachers are having reJtgiotll sense
and judgment enough to go elsewhere, to fields which
need them more. Much of the constant cry about va
tant pulpits might he spent on churches which should
never have been built, or which have served their day.
Almost every little country town in America SO years
old has on or more inch churches Except where they
arc preserved for historic associations or social use,
liquidation should take place at once and we should
charge them oft the ledger.
Present-day economics and business will not much
longer run churches for the sake of running. They
must show- profit for God and His Kingdom or get
out of the way. The church is God's Factory, its mem
bers are tin workmen and the preacher is the foreman.
Kach factory must show profit for God or close its
'doors. The church as a whole is rising to this con
ception and individual congregations must do so. The
Protestant churches of America have done more for
world salvation in the last three years than in 10
previous years, shortage or no shortage of ministers.
Religious leaders of every denomination concede this.
This directs attention to the fact of efficiency of the
average preacher and that it is far greater than a dec
ade ago. That is. he is turning out more goods what
ever may be his preaching ability.
The reported causes offered for the shortage sur
prise me more than the alleged shortage of ministers.
I have preached for 20 years and in the last decade
have tried to keep close contact with church conditions
in the Hast. Five years ago I took a whole year to
study them in New York. Boston, Philadelphia. Balti
more. Washington and smaller cities. In 1919 I took
a trip through Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo. Detroit.
Chicago and other western towns and cities. I have
personally known more than 300 ministers since I be
gan preaching 20 years ago. With this knowledge I
confess nothing but surprise when some editors are
constantly assigning starvation pay as the cause of few
recruits. To this they add old age. poverty, hard times
for family, and lack of social prestige.
Not After Big Pay
IX ALL my life I have never known a recruit who
entered the ministry for big pay or was kept out of it
by poor pay. Xot a single case have I met. It is more
a matter of consecration than compensation. Big con
secration forgets compensation Xo compensation can
draw a man to the ministrv if he has no consecration.
Ma ny men have had to abandon the ministrv after en
tering it to support or educate large families, but this
did not affect new recruits of consecrated young men
It is almost a safe guess that 90 out of every 1 Of)
afethodisl or Baptist ministers who started to preach
10 years ago or more, did so on less salary than $5o
a year. Many of them have since become bishops and
church leaders The kingdom of Christ first, and the
Kingdom will support every worker who is worth it if
he is reallv needed
M oreover. the quality of preachers is more important
than the number. Quality is determined almost entirely
by consecration and common sense. Kleven disciples
not one of them a graduate of a theological seminary
of their da started out after the elimination of the
traitor among them, and the death of their Lord, and
they changed world conditions in government, living
conditions and religious life, because eleven of them
were willing to die for their faith and consecration to
Him "who had not where to lay His head." Nor do I
read that our Lord promised them anything except a
chance to work for Him and His Kingdom.
But where is the poor pay? A minister myself. I
have never served a congregation in my life which did
not give me a better home, better food, better clothing,
better opportunity for self-expression, better social
prestige than was enjoyed by one-half of the con
gN station that gave it to me. Lest I may be an ex
ception I chalk nge all the editors in America to show
me a preach r in good standing of any standard de
nomination who does not have a better home, better
food better clothing, better social surroundings than
half of the congregation he serves n that
more than their Lord had? Then why the crv ? What
more should a follower of Him "who had not where to
lay His lead" expect- Moreover, the experience I
have u d above is the experience of every preacher
to whom I have put the question
True enough, some preachers do not become mil
lionaires Neith.r do ...me of their flock. The fact is.
I have b ir led a few lawyers, doctors and hSJtttiefl men
who did not leave enough money to pay their debts,
which causes me to add that ministers should create
no debts but live on what they get if they have to wear
overalls and work with their hands at times as did
Paul a thing that few of us have to do.
There arc some real obstacles to obtaining recruits
for the ministry. Among them I have tounH k
following : a tn
1. (.rowing autocracy of government in rhiirrk
work in all denominations. cn
- Growing helplessness of the minister who I
becoming a cog in church machinery. 15
3. Kducational requirements some cannot meet
4. Kcclesiastical politics and politicians.
5. Favoritism in denominations, which claim to he
free of ecclesiastical politicians
6. Unsatisfactory lives of men higher up.
7. Selfish ambitions among men. where thev S
not expected. c
8. Constant money hunting required of ministers
9. Money drives, which. I am persuaded, caused
many efficient ministers to retire from the active work
because they were unable or Unwilling to stand the
pressure.
While the above list is long, it probably is no
greater than at any other time in the history of the
church Human nature is human nature everywhere
and in all times.
Minister Growing Helpless
THE growing helplessness of the minister because of
the growing autocracy above him which he dare not
displease, and the same in his Congregation which he
must consider lest he be ground between the upper
and under millstone, is quite serious to men who have
been in the work, but not considered by those who are
entering it. The chief damage it docs to recruiting min
isters is when it cools the enthusiasm of the old
preacher acting as enlistment officer.
However, the tide is turning. There can be no
denomination without the preacher in the pulpit. There
can be no bishops, church boards, church offerings,
church drives without him; and he RSJ it in his power
to correct every evil named above. The pendulum
seems ready to swing the other way and it may restore
the preacher in the pulpit to his former power and
glory.
Bttt why argue the case of "preacher shortage" be
fore the facts and evidence are submitted? Simply be
cause so much has been said by so many editors about
it from the Standpoint of theological seminaries, past
pay and either false viewpoints. In addition, readjust
ment in church work and church conditions may make
an apparent decrease within the next feneration. How
ever, that time is not yet. Let us look at the facts and
figures and evidence as given by statistical authorities
in all standard works.
In spite of the fact, that fewer ministers are needed
to do the same work as in former times;
That church membership is constantly growing;
That slavery and saloons have both been abolished:
That religious knowledge is disseminated through
newspapers, graphophones, summer schools, and books
as never before ; let us see if 10,000 pulpits will be
vacant next year or the year after.
Statistics show the following conditions in America
for 30 years :
1890 1900 1910 1919
Total number
of ministers.. 111,036 143,201 170,153 193.769
Total com
municants . .. 20.618,307 27,383,804 35.332.776 41.491.989
Total number (1W
population .... 62.947.307 75,994,575 91,97J..V 105,683.108
In 2 years the church communicants have more
than doubled.
In 29 years ministers have nearly doubled.
In 29 years the population far from it.
Where we had one minister for every 5o0 persons
in the United States in 1890 we now have one for
every 528 of the population.
Denies There Is a Shortage
THE average church membership for each minister
ha increased from 188 members to 205
The ministerial efficiency per minister has more
than doubled in 30 years.
Nearly $500,000 has been raised for world salvation
in the last three years. All this has been done in WorW
War conditions which took 4.000,000 young men from
home and home churches and left more than 5U,wv
dead in France. .
All this has been done in spite of the fact that thou
sands of ministers were taken out of pulpit- to sen
as chaplau and in V M. C. A work in the army
All this has been done in spite of the fact that in
former wars in our history there were terrible losse
for the churches. art
But is there a real shortage of ministers in any J
of the country which did not exist before i cn
lenge any editor in the United States to cx
munity of 200 persons which has been settled pc
manently for two years and is five miles wrn a m
ister of some kind. There probably are such, but s
there arc consecrated men who would like to
U the days of President Roosevelt he was i re
ported to have said that he could address a ' f
"The Methodist Minister" at any post ottos
United States and some Methodist minister wouw
ply And there arc good Baptist. Presbyterian
gregational and Lutheran ministers and minuw"
all kinds in addition to Methodist minister.