Dale Meyer, President, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, writes a follow-up to his video on recruitment, saying “many who responded shared their concern about the shortage of calls in recent years, including this year. They also shared that it would be difficult to recruit when there is not an apparent need for pastors. We should have addressed this issue in the video. So thanks to you who have raised this important matter! You can access the video at this link:
http://cslmedia.org/recruitment_alumni
Concerning the shortage of calls: Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, now has only three M.Div. students awaiting a call. Each one of these three is still awaiting placement because of specific needs in the candidate’s personal situation. The other calls pending include one candidate in DELTO who is awaiting a call because he has not completed the requirements necessary for placement. Two Cross-Cultural Ministry candidates are serving and will receive their official placement upon successful completion of their internships. In addition, deaconess students are awaiting calls. To offer additional background, in 2008 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis had 25 pastoral candidates not placed on Call Day but they were placed by the end of the summer. In 2009 only 2 CSL students were not placed on Call Day and they were placed soon afterwards. Our Director of Placement tells us that he has already received 9 placement requests for 2011.
Concerning future needs for clergy within the LCMS: recent studies have shown that 300-350 seminary graduates would be needed annually in order to replace the number of pastors who are leaving the clergy roster annually due to retirement, death, or other personal reasons. Please refer to http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/pastoral%20education/case.pdf for further information. This projection does not take into account any new ministries that might be established. I relate personally to this paragraph, since my classmates are beginning to retire and my days are numbered!
The same study also illustrates that current supply will not meet the projected need. Future supply will be further impacted by a 50% drop of students in the pre-seminary programs of the Concordia University System. While programs such as SMP may generate additional clergy, the “What a Way” case document emphasizes the need for general pastors to supervise these graduates.
According to an article in the June 2010 “Christian Century,” the “glut” in pastoral supply at the present time will turn to a shortage of pastors in 5-7 years. The same article cites an official of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who suggests that an improvement in the economy may triple the number of retirements, thus increasing the need for pastors. The article may be found at http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=8469
Finally, something of the utmost importance to our future mission: meeting the need addressed above is ministry maintenance. Not only do we want to maintain congregations and ministries, we want our synod to move into a growth mode and with growth will come need for ever more pastors. I pray for the day when the field will be saying, ‘Give us more pastors!’”
http://cslmedia.org/recruitment_alumni
Concerning the shortage of calls: Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, now has only three M.Div. students awaiting a call. Each one of these three is still awaiting placement because of specific needs in the candidate’s personal situation. The other calls pending include one candidate in DELTO who is awaiting a call because he has not completed the requirements necessary for placement. Two Cross-Cultural Ministry candidates are serving and will receive their official placement upon successful completion of their internships. In addition, deaconess students are awaiting calls. To offer additional background, in 2008 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis had 25 pastoral candidates not placed on Call Day but they were placed by the end of the summer. In 2009 only 2 CSL students were not placed on Call Day and they were placed soon afterwards. Our Director of Placement tells us that he has already received 9 placement requests for 2011.
Concerning future needs for clergy within the LCMS: recent studies have shown that 300-350 seminary graduates would be needed annually in order to replace the number of pastors who are leaving the clergy roster annually due to retirement, death, or other personal reasons. Please refer to http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/pastoral%20education/case.pdf for further information. This projection does not take into account any new ministries that might be established. I relate personally to this paragraph, since my classmates are beginning to retire and my days are numbered!
The same study also illustrates that current supply will not meet the projected need. Future supply will be further impacted by a 50% drop of students in the pre-seminary programs of the Concordia University System. While programs such as SMP may generate additional clergy, the “What a Way” case document emphasizes the need for general pastors to supervise these graduates.
According to an article in the June 2010 “Christian Century,” the “glut” in pastoral supply at the present time will turn to a shortage of pastors in 5-7 years. The same article cites an official of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who suggests that an improvement in the economy may triple the number of retirements, thus increasing the need for pastors. The article may be found at http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=8469
Finally, something of the utmost importance to our future mission: meeting the need addressed above is ministry maintenance. Not only do we want to maintain congregations and ministries, we want our synod to move into a growth mode and with growth will come need for ever more pastors. I pray for the day when the field will be saying, ‘Give us more pastors!’”
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