Prep 4 Min
About this blog
The Rev. Timothy Cargal, Ph.D., serves as the Interim Associate for Preparation for Ministry/Exams in the PC(USA)’s Office of Vocation.
“... the Land that I Will Show You” is the blog of the of the Office of Preparation for Ministry/Examinations of the Presbyterian Church (USA). This blog is designed to serve as a resource for those discerning and preparing for a call to the ministry of Word and Sacrament as ordained teaching elders of the church. It will also provide a place for reflecting on and dialoging about the changing context of pastoral ministry in the early 21st century.
For quick announcements about changes or developments in the preparation process, dates related to exams or other key events, discussion boards, surveys, etc., you can follow us on Facebook at “Preparing for Presbyterian Ministry.”
Recent posts
- The Church Isn't Recession-Proof
- (Post[?]-)Denominational Ministry
- A Digital Handbook for Digital Exams
- Who is the Client?
- The End of an Era
Categories
- Ministry Context (13)
- Ordination Process (10)
- Ordination Exams (7)
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The Church Isn't Recession-Proof
A primary interest of this blog is the changing social context of ministry in the 21st century. A facet of that social context that has been “front and center” for the past several years has been the economy. As we think about the realities of moving into professional church leadership ministries, it is important to remember that while the need for ministry only increases during periods of economic hardship and displacement the church as an institution is subject to the same economic pressures as the rest of society. The church, after all, is the community of God’s people, and so the church’s economic reality is the economic reality of its people.
One part of the broader economic picture that has received attention during this year’s commencements season has been the rate of unemployment and underemployment (those in part-time positions or employed outside their educational specialization) among recent graduates. A paper by the Economic Policy Institute on this topic has been widely reported in the media. The researchers found:
- “For young high school graduates, the unemployment rate was 32.7 percent in 2010 and 31.1 percent over the last year (April 2011–March 2012), while the underemployment rate was 55.9 percent in 2010 and 54.0 percent over the last year.
- “For young college graduates, the unemployment rate was 10.4 percent in 2010 and 9.4 percent over the last year, while the underemployment rate was 19.8 percent in 2010 and 19.1 percent over the last year.”
With overall rates so high, the fact that the numbers today are slightly better than a year ago is little comfort.
Another trend that hasn’t received quite as much attention is that the overall American labor force rate has been declining since 2000 (years before the “Great Recession” began in 2007) because of Baby Boomer retirements. For this reason, “the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago expects the labor force participation rate to be lower in 2020 than it is today, regardless of how well the economy does” (cited from a blog post by Ezra Klein). Recalling the lectures from your Econ 101 class, absent dramatic gains in productivity decreasing workforce participation means a smaller economy than would otherwise be the case.
Tougher employment prospects for younger adults, overall decreasing workforce participation, increasing percentage of the population in retirement—these factors alone mean that any institution dependent upon charitable contributions is going to be facing economic challenges for the foreseeable future.
But if this means that those who are entering ministry today are more likely to have to accept part-time or tent-making calls, then they are sharing in the lived-experience of those whom they are called to serve. Graduates in many fields are piecing together part-time work both within and outside their training. Many are taking internships either as volunteers or with salaries below their professional colleagues. These are some of the realities of the current social context in which ministry takes place.
These experiences are not universal either in the broader society or in the church. If roughly 30% of recent college graduates are un/underemployed, then some 70% are fully employed. Both young women who have served as pastoral interns the past two years in the congregation where my family are members have full-time calls awaiting them after their seminary graduation this weekend. It is hard to say for sure, as some have remarked, “Yeah, they beat the odds.” What can be said for certain is that the institution of the church isn’t recession-proof because its people are not recession-proof.
April 25, 2012
(Post[?]-)Denominational Ministry
As I have over the last three weeks been meeting with ecumenical colleagues, seminarians, and presbytery staff and volunteers around topics related to preparing for ministry in the 21st century, one topic that has emerged repeatedly has been the challenge of preparing folks for denominational ministry in what is an increasingly post-denominational age.
April 16, 2012
A Digital Handbook for Digital Exams
This fall, the standard ordination examinations will have a whole new "look and feel" as all five areas will be administered online for the first time. So that everyone from inquirers and candidates, to their presbytery committees, to the proctors at the testing sites can prepare for the changes, we are releasing a new edition of the "Handbook on Standard Ordination Examinations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)."
March 27, 2012
Who is the Client?
Today I joined with a number of colleagues who serve the Presbyterian Church (USA) at the national level for presentations by and conversations with Gil Rendle about cultural forces in which denominations are currently going about their work. (I’ve discussed some aspects of his book, Journey in the Wilderness, in a previous post.) There was one question he posed to the group specifically with reference to those who are preparing for ordained ministry that I would like to pose to those who follow this blog.
First though, let me summarize the background against which he posed the question. In ...
March 23, 2012
The End of an Era
Across the church this week those who wrote standard ordination examinations last January have been receiving their examination books and readers’ evaluations back from their proctors. What as been a twice-yearly ritual for more than four decades was being performed for the last time. When the “ords” are next taken in August of this year, they will be a paperless process.
The first steps toward online ordination exams were actually taken back in October 2009. On the first Friday of that month, a “pilot test” of Internet-based administration of the Bible Content Examination (BCE) was conducted. A total of 138 ...
February 28, 2012
Considering Our--and Others'--Call
I’m currently on the road visiting a couple of seminary campuses to meet with Presbyterian students, the faculties, and administrative support staff. As always these visits have included many stimulating discussions. But as I was reading through the passages for this morning in the Daily Lectionary, one of those conversations immediately came to mind.
The observation was made that any process that requires a person to demonstrate God’s call on her or his life to others runs the very real risk of excluding some who are genuinely called but simply cannot provide the particular “evidence” (see G-2.0607 ...
February 15, 2012
"The Job Isn't Finished..."
There is an old saying (well, not “old” as in “ancient,” but old nonetheless) that goes: “The job isn’t finished until the paperwork is done.” I’m remembering that aphorism because today we have released on our website updates of the standard forms for the preparation for ministry process (click here to go to the website). Normally we would just announce the updates and I wouldn’t blog about the subject, but I want to take advantage of this opportunity to reflect a bit on why such paperwork is important to the “job” of preparing for ministry.
First, here ...
January 27, 2012
Interpreting Ord Results
Over the next eight days, almost 600 inquirers and candidates will write a just over 1,000 total ordination examinations. Roughly 20% of those will be Bible Content Examinations (BCE), and the remainder are fairly evenly divided across the Theology, Worship & Sacraments, Polity, and Exegesis exams. Those taking the BCE on February 3 will receive their results immediately upon completion (since it is a multiple choice exam taken online), while those taking the other “ords” will anxiously be waiting to receive their results about a week after the Reading Groups meet on March 5-7.
For many of both those under ...
January 10, 2012
It's Not Just a Presbyterian Thing
Two pieces have come across my computer screen in recent days that particularly caught my attention. Both relate to topics I have addressed before in this blog, but they also help to broaden the scope of vision. They remind us that issues within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) reflect a sea change affecting the whole of the church in American society.
One of the pieces is a story from the Columbus Dispatch about someone ordained to ministry by an association of independent Christian community churches (click here to read the story). The person focused on in the story is ...
December 19, 2011
Changing Face(s) of Teaching Elders
As a new year approaches, it is customary to look back as we also look toward the future. It is in that spirit that I share in this post some statistics I compiled recently looking at trends among current teaching elders and those in the process of preparation for ministry.
First, a brief description of the overall context. There are currently just over 21,000 teaching elders in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and about 2,300 inquirers and candidates, for a ratio of roughly 1 person in preparation for every 9 current teaching elders. However, 37% of current teaching elders ...