Baptist leaders are exploring ways to encourage and increase the recruitment of church ministers, following a decline of nearly 1 / 4 within the last decade.
The Baptist Union of Great Britain’s Ministries Team Co-Leaders, Tim Fergusson and Lee Johnson have led research into the problem and the way it may very well be reversed.
Statistics published by the pair within the Baptist Times show that since 2014, the full variety of accredited ministers available to pastor churches has fallen by 16 per cent, not including retirees. When factoring within the increased popularity of ministers serving as frontline missionaries, the number available to minister in churches has actually dropped by 24 per cent.
They said the BUGB was faced with “a sobering reality”, and while a part of the explanation for the decline is the calling of God leading in a direction different to pastoral ministry, other causes are more prosaic and deep rooted.
Research by Fergusson suggested that younger Baptists had a weaker understanding of discipleship, and that church ministry was seen as unattractive. Concerns have also been raised in regards to the lack of clarity in regards to the way forward for Baptism in Britain, in addition to the associated fee and intensity of coaching to change into a minister.
Fergusson and Johnson said that the denomination must embrace the challenge of properly identifying and raising the following generation of Baptist leadership, noting that the decline, if unchallenged, will grow worse in the following few years as more ministers retire.
They also argued that the method for reversing the present trends would should be a largely bottom up process and that local parishes couldn’t simply depend on the headquarters to resolve it.
“Every church has a responsibility. Those being formed as ministers need each opportunities to steer (and fail, learn and improve) and funds to pay for his or her training – again, every church has a responsibility,” they said.
“Existing ministers have an element to play too, for they’re a key resource in identifying, accompanying and supervising those that go onto train.”
The pair added that their Ministries Team had formed a working group to facilitate and promote pathways to leadership across the Baptist community.
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