My grandfather was a Methodist minister in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He fulfilled many of the tropes of former generations of US pastors: a pillar in a small neighborhood who overworked, knew everyone’s name, always seemed to be making a hospital visit, and didn’t necessarily have much energy left over for his family.
Times have changed, and so have the challenges facing pastors—who are increasingly part-time and bivocational, and who often lead congregations on the brink of closing their churches’ doors. These and other difficulties came to a head at the peak of the Covid pandemic, causing what felt at times like a mass exodus from the pulpits (and other ministry settings). Three brand new articles all address the situation of ministers in 2024:
“Many pastoral challenges are not distinct from those faced by anyone working with people in a caring or service profession. Feeling unappreciated and unsupported is a symptom of a larger sickness: the fracturing of our social spaces in real time.”
