A growing concern

According to a study undertaken in Britain and published in the last 12 months 65% of free church pastors/ministers are 55 years old or over. Now that is quite a worrying statistic, even if most of those pastors delayed retiring until they were 68 or 70 that would mean that in 12-15 years time 65% of free churches would be pastor less. Now I know that there are those at the moment who are off and being trained to take on those roles, but that statistic is only for current pastors, not total number of churches. And there are a significant number of churches who are pastor-less at the moment and looking for a godly gifted man. The number being trained will not fill both gaps.

In short there is something of a leadership crisis looming in evangelical Britain. Now I am not saying that churches have to have a pastor - pastors are after all only servant leaders. Others can preach and teach better, often those within our own congregations. But I still think there are benefits of having a pastor who is set aside and provided for by the congregation so that he can devote himself to teaching God's word, pastor the people and leading the church. I know for myself I have benefited immensely from that privilege and I hope in turn my preaching of God's word has improved and been used by God for his glory in the lives of those who listen.

But the looming leadership crisis may not be just in terms of pastors. I wonder if a study on elders would yield similar results? Certainly from the churches I can think of with whom I have close contact there are not many elders under 50, and most are 60 or over. Now I am not saying we need young men instead and should oust the older leaders, we benefit greatly from the wisdom and godliness that these leaders have acquired over the course of their lives. But how do we train up young men to take their place of leadership?

Are these young men not present in our churches or is it that we do not give them enough opportunities to grow and develop? The Bible seems to teach that you will be able to recognise men already qualified and doing the work of an elder in your congregation (1 Tim 3:1-7, 5:24-25). Lifestyle and character are the key, passion, commitment and love for others and Christ are identifying marks.

Is the question where have all the young men gone? Or is it have we given young men godly examples to follow, have we sought to mould them by praying with them and studying the Bible with them?

God's word develops character as we see what the calling of discipleship truly is, as we see what the love Christ has done for us and as that knowledge compels us to live lives that glorify him and the God we serve. As we teach and preach the gospel to people and pray for their transformation through the spirit applying that word we will see evidence of those characteristics God says denotes a leader.

The statistics that worry us should cause us to fall back on our only recourse - God, his word and prayer.