Hubby brought this New York Times article to my attention. Thought y’all’d be interested.
Students Flock to Seminaries, but Fewer See Pulpit in Future
Writing about Universalist Christianity and improving how churches work
Writing about Universalist Christianity and improving how churches work
Hubby brought this New York Times article to my attention. Thought y’all’d be interested.
Students Flock to Seminaries, but Fewer See Pulpit in Future
This is interesting to me, because in Britain you can’t go to ‘seminary/divinity school’ (not that we use either phrase) without going into ordination, it’s the same thing. If you didn’t want to be a minister/vicar, you’d go to a secular university and get a BA/MA/PhD in theology, but that’s got nothing to do with any church.
Fascinating article… Implications I see…
* the UUA and other denominations dodge some daunting structural problems via the churning of short-term ministry careers among those Youngers who quickly opt out of the parish, and those Olders who have short ministry careers before retirement.
* the UUA and other denominations are hurt by the derth of very experienced long term parish ministers
* I see a glut of hospital chaplains already in the works
* the market for Youngers in parish ministry is actually good (something that has worked in my favor, perhaps why I’ve stayed in parish ministry, if only by the skin of my teeth). Many churches still want younger parish ministers (or at least the option of interviewing one)
It will be interesting to see if the church can adjust its staff life to accommodate this new vision of ministry.
Many of the seminarians express a desire to work for the common good. I don’t know if you’ve seen this very interesting piece on the Christian Right from Protestants for the Common Good http://thecommongood.org/CGN/5_5/ChristianRight.pdf
It is worth a conversation I think.
Roger