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The Future's So Bright we've Gotta Wear Shades: My wife, "The Preacher", is not a fan of statistics. "What's the point?" she says. "Statistics are made to be broken."
She's right, of course, and she has perfected a lifetime of demonstrating that the variable that actually counts is always the individual in question, not the statistical trend.
Which is a really, really good thing. Because, according to a whole slew of professional, health, gender-related and actuarial statistics, by now my wife should be a divorced, depressed, dissatisfied former pastor who left the ministry after years of bumping against the glass ceiling and being stymied by the "good-ol'-boy" system. Oh, and she should also be dead.
But the numbers do interest me. So this week I took a look at some of the recent data (and "current data" is always a couple of years out of date ) for female pastors and churches in our denomination, the PC(USA).
So What! My point is that, while I wholeheartedly endorse my wife's insistence that her job is simply to follow Jesus, to articulate a vision for our local congregation, and to resource the ministries the people at fpcBrandon are called to engage, I also believe it is critically important that the "movers & shakers" in this world understand one very important fact. The important fact is: The reason my church (fpcBrandon) breaks every statistical number-cruncher stereotype that the number-crunchers can come up with, is that our church culture is NOT anywhere close to being business-as-usual!
Rebekah says the spotlight should be on Jesus, not her ministry. She insists it's our pastoral team (Rebekah, Tim Black and Earl Smith - plus the amazing team of elders) that makes all the difference. She says the fact that she is a female head of staff in a dynamic church is a non-issue. Fair enough... but I want to shine a spotlight on that!
I want to shine a spotlight on the fact that the gender of our senior pastor is a non-issue.
She can be "under the radar" all she wants, but I love the Presbyterian Church and I think there's a lot that our denomination can learn from vibrant, discipleship-oriented congregations like ours. Here's a sampling:
Peace - DEREK
- "The Preacher" with Graham, one of our most excellent youth. Looks a little bright - may need to wear shades.....
She's right, of course, and she has perfected a lifetime of demonstrating that the variable that actually counts is always the individual in question, not the statistical trend.
Which is a really, really good thing. Because, according to a whole slew of professional, health, gender-related and actuarial statistics, by now my wife should be a divorced, depressed, dissatisfied former pastor who left the ministry after years of bumping against the glass ceiling and being stymied by the "good-ol'-boy" system. Oh, and she should also be dead.
But the numbers do interest me. So this week I took a look at some of the recent data (and "current data" is always a couple of years out of date ) for female pastors and churches in our denomination, the PC(USA).
- There are, apparently, around 13,500 active pastors and 10,718 PC(USA) congregations. 31% of these pastors are women.
- 1,186 of Presbyterian congregations are served by a woman who is the solo pastor, co-pastor or senior pastor/head of staff (that's 11% of all churches).
- Of those 10,718 congregations, approximately 900 have a membership of over 500 people (that's 8.3% of churches).
- Of those 900 plus "large" churches, 61 are led by a women who is the solo pastor, co-pastor, or senior pastor (that adds up to 6.6% of the large churches).
- 28% of active female pastors are the "lead" pastor in a Presbyterian church. 1.4% of female pastors are the lead pastor in a church of over 500 members.
- Ergo, the larger the church, the less likely it is that a woman is serving as the lead pastor.
- One more interesting tidbit - the average congregation of over 500 in the PC(USA) reports weekly attendance at 43% of membership. Our congregation comes in at around 75%. That means our 525 member church sees more action on a Sunday morning than most 900 member churches!
- Church around here is vibrant
Rebekah says the spotlight should be on Jesus, not her ministry. She insists it's our pastoral team (Rebekah, Tim Black and Earl Smith - plus the amazing team of elders) that makes all the difference. She says the fact that she is a female head of staff in a dynamic church is a non-issue. Fair enough... but I want to shine a spotlight on that!
I want to shine a spotlight on the fact that the gender of our senior pastor is a non-issue.
- Are we having fun yet? Yes!
- This church belongs to Jesus.
- Ministry is about making disciples, not recruiting members.
- Worship Sunday morning means a lot more when there's mission during the week.
- The main thrust is how we can be the presence of Christ to the world in and through the work of the church.
- The Gospel is always transformational - politics and "issues" are not.
- Our most important, pervasive, and consistent creed is love.
- The way we are as a community - the quality of our koinonia - tells the truth about the Gospel we preach...
Peace - DEREK
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