Clergy and district involvement

[Hans Deventer]

I guess most churches will have problems finding people for their ministries (yes, I know it should be the other way around but as it stands today, we're not there yet), and it seems worse for districts. And the hardest is to find ordained ministers for District boards. Although the Manual prescribes it, we no longer have equal laity and clergy on district boards. We cannot find enough clergy! The DAB was the last hold out, but even that one has surrendered and we now have more laity than clergy there as well. Makes you wonder how long we'll have a DS who is clergy :cool:

Anyway, I wondered, and this is perhaps a question especially for you pastors, what is going on that makes it harder for pastors to find time to be part of a district board than it used to be? Or is this just a Dutch phenomenon?

[Mike Schutz]

Hans - Is it true that the majority of your pastors are bivocational? If that is the case, then it is understandable. Since obviously there are more laity then clergy, if there is the expectation of equal numerical representation, there is a need to draw a much higher percentage of clergy than laity. For many of us, there is not the excitement that district boards and committees are "where the action is."

[Shea Zellweger]

I know on our district, the number of bi-vo pastors is really high, which plays a part. There are also many people who feel that District boards are not really ministries, and that the local church is where the "real" ministry takes place.

[Hans Deventer]

Hans - Is it true that the majority of your pastors are bivocational? If that is the case, then it is understandable. Since obviously there are more laity then clergy, if there is the expectation of equal numerical representation, there is a need to draw a much higher percentage of clergy than laity. For many of us, there is not the excitement that district boards and committees are "where the action is."

Yes, I think quite a few are bivocational, but usually that is something like 80% ministry - 20% something else.

I guess you are right about "the action", though on the other hand we may have more action in our district than many care for, and I don't think this has changed a lot in say 20 years.

[Ryan Scott]

I think we extend the clergy requirements a bit too far at times. For more specific boards (say a camp board, for instance) does a 60-40 or a 75-25 split between clergy and laity matter? I know there are some districts where it's difficult to find laity willing and qualified to serve on boards. Perhaps its more of an issue of discerning who is right for the board.

We see the same sort of thing when electing delegates to General Assembly - most every district has the pastor for their largest or most influential congregation. I wonder if the specific requirements end up absolving us of genuine discernment about the mission and purpose of these assignments and who might be best served there.

Again, not to say this doesn't happen - most district assemblies seem able and willing to elect the "best qualified" at times, but, of course, not always.

[David Graham]

It's not just a Nazarene problem either. I used to be on our equivelent of the DAB, and the Ministerial Credentials/Studies Board, plus was chairperson of the Board responsibile for the continuing education for ministers. The commitments involved in the work of these boards (both preparitory and meetings etc) involved more time than I was happy to give to our Presbytery administration, and I found that it started eating into the time I would normally spend in Parish ministry and my family life. I've now cut back to just one of those boards.

Also, I found that the local church didn't appreciate the time I had to spend away from the parish on Presbytery business.

One thing I found though was this: I wasn't indespensible! Even though I felt the "guilts" at the time (ably assisted by some other people on the Presbytery) about giving up some of these roles, others eventually stepped up to take on these jobs...... and so its worked out better because the load is being shared more evenly.