"Part-Time is Plenty" (G. Jeffrey MacDonald)

TITLE: Part-Time is Plenty: Thriving without Full-Time Clergy
AUTHOR: G. Jeffrey MacDonald
PUBLISHER: Louisville, LY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020, (180 pages).

For many churches, pastors are hard to find. More specifically, finding the right fit between pastor and church is even more difficult, if not impossible. The need will always be there, but pastors will come and go. If one casually checks the websites of various churches, one would quickly realize how many churches need to hire clergy for their various ministries. The signs are not encouraging. With more seminaries shutting down or downsizing due to declining student enrollment, this impacts the pool of new qualified graduates available for churches. Financial challenges are plenty as well. Many churches with aging members experience sharp declines in revenue. With full-time clergy hard to find, financial resources being stretched, and the difficulty of fitting together different expectations, finding a pastor might very well be close to impossible. Churches' budgets are squeezed. Candidates' expectations continue to rise. Demands on sacrificial service are made on a decreasing pool of willing people. In a climate where the demands are so high and the supply so low, we need to do something about it. There needs to be a new model to ensure that churches are still able to function in an environment where full-time clergy are hard, if not impossible to find. What if we lower our search toward part-timers? What if we learn to see opportunities instead of problems? What if we modify the current ways of doing Church to fit the new reality? This would require a paradigm shift. For some, it might mean changing expectations of seismic proportions. Before that could happen, perhaps re-education is required. This book shows the way to prepare our hearts for a new reality. Realizing the potential of part-timers, author G. Jeffrey MacDonald was awarded a grant by BTS Center nonprofit to visit congregations with part-time clergy in ten states in the US. Fair to say, there are some churches where membership dropped when they switched to part-time clergy. Yet, there are also others whose membership stayed strong, even thrived. 

MacDonald gives us some context for his research. The definition of "part-time" refers to those churches having pastors serving fewer than 35 hours per week; retired pastors serving part-time; and churches where pastors split their times with. He chose congregations from mainline Protestant backgrounds, conservative theological orientations, from the years 2016-2017. In Chapter One, the author describes the reasons for advocating part-time clergy. In Chapter Two, he shows us that it is do-able. Knowing the huge gap that exists in the absence of a full-time clergy, MacDonald leads us with step by step alternatives. The key player would be the laypeople who have to step up. Congregants share the pulpit supply. Members take care of the physical structures of the facilities. Share the ministry workload. This however requires strong leadership and planning at the laity level. If necessary, incorporate training. Chapter Three then flips to the clergy perspective, that for the part-time strategy to work, they will need to adapt to new roles. They will have to accept that they will no longer play a leading role but a supporting one. That means being an equipper more than a doer; an ambassador instead of the leader; and a member of a team instead of the head honcho. Chapter Four shows us that the paradigm change cannot be limited to laypersons or clergy. The entire Church congregation needs to be on board with this. That means any clergy who plans to join this Church needs to be prepared for change themselves. Chapter Five extends this paradigm shift beyond the church. Theological schools and seminaries will need to incorporate some teaching and to adapt their programs to make room for such a growing need. Part-timers can no longer be seen as a supplement. They are here to stay. 

My Thoughts
This book makes an important contribution to the importance of sustaining Church ministry in the absence of a full-time clergy. The reality is that churches are constantly hiring. Those that are not will eventually have to hire when their pastors retire or resign. It is a difficult decision for church leaders. On the one hand, if they were to hire a qualified and experienced pastor, that person would typically retire much earlier than someone younger. If the Church hires someone young but inexperienced, there is a likelihood that expectations be unmet and the pastor would then be asked to leave. These are real challenges which bring to the fore: What if the Church could not find the "perfect" pastor that they want? Truth is, no one is perfect, even though many churches have sky-high expectations of the candidates. While searching for one, ministry cannot be left unattended. That is where this book could be helpful. It is easier to find people willing to work part-time, compared to full-time. If for example, two churches could hire the same person part-time, it might work. The pastor gets a full-time compensation while the individual churches get their part-time pastor. Unfortunately, our world is imperfect and often, part-time positions creep into full-time work. That is one of the biggest problems when dealing with part-time plans. I have spoken to several pastors and they tend to shun part-time positions for this reason: Even if they were promised part-time, there is that infamous ministry creep where the work would stretch into full-time. When that happens, the part-time pastor works full-time but receives part-time pay! 

In order for the book's strategy to work, a re-education program needs to be conducted for the Church leaders, for congregation, and the candidates. Perhaps, easing into this format might be a practical solution. Have a retired pastor to show the way, to train the congregation members with regard to part-time work. Gradually introduce the part-time position to prospective candidates. In order to ensure no unnecessary abuse of pastoral time, structure into the compensation an overtime element once the part-time pastor works beyond his agreed hours. This calls for bi-directional trust.

Part-timers may not be for everyone, but in a changing environment where supply is low and the demands high, churches might have to re-think their hiring strategy. This book might very well be a crystal ball into the future of Church work. However, before that could happen, much need to be done with regard to changing people's expectations, pastoral aspirations, and church directions.
G. Jeffrey MacDonald is a journalist focusing on religion, ethics and social responsibility. His stories have appeared in TIME magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Boston Globe and The Christian Science Monitor, among other outlets. He is the author of "Thieves in the Temple: The Christian Church and the Selling of the American Soul. " A former newspaper reporter, MacDonald earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

---

This book has been provided courtesy of Westminster John Knox Press and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.