I found this stat while reading the Catalyst Blog today:
Ministers under 35 comprise 7% of mainline denominations’ supply of pastors. 52% of today’s pastors are 35-54. 41% of the active pastors are 55 and older.
Being the ripe ol’ age of33, I found this interesting. When I go to a conference and eyeball the crowd, one of the things I look for is demographic, ethnic, & gender representation as a sign of health. I find that although that stat is from America, and I live in Canada, I would think it would be pretty much the same here (plus or minus 2-3 percentage points).
One of the key challenges that I think the church has to tackle within the next decade is "How does the existing generation effectively mentor the emerging generation?" When I look at the church, I don’t think this is being done very well at the moment. There seems to be a lot of existing generation leaders feeling "put out to pasture" and emerging generation leaders "stifled by the misunderstanding of style".
This is one of the elements that we are pushing hard at Lifecentre. And I understand why it isn’t going well for the church, because it is equally hard on both generations. Yet one of the things we are attempting to remember is that The Great Commandment came before The Great Commission. That we are called to love one another, and that is inter-generational as well. One of the greatest ways we can show this world what a disciple of Christ looks like is how we treat and show respect to all generations. I actually believe that type of commitment to one another will be an evangelistic tool in the next ten years, if not sooner. After all, Jesus said it would didn’t he?
