Leadership

My new class is starting off with a bang! 100 pages to read by tomorrow! The first article I am reading is about the decline in church leadership. It's good so far and I can say that this research has definitely hit the nail on the head. It was published in Sept. 2001.

From "The Leadership Situation Facing American Congregations: An Alban Institute Special Report" by James P. Wind and Gil Rendle

"A further clue to the state of leadership in congregations is to be found in
the presence and place of ordained women in congregations and systems that claim
to welcome them...Beginning with a couple of troubling denominational statistics
('nearly one-third of United Methodist clergywomen in full connection were not
serving local churches five years ago' and 'women are leaving local church
ministry at a ten percent higher rate than male clergy') the researchers set out
to discover why their colleagues were exiting parish ministry...The study
concluded with this single sentence: 'They leave the local church primarily due
to lack of support from teh hierarchical system, a difficulty to maintain their
integrity in the current system, family responsibilities, and rejection from
their congregations.' Through this project the 1388 women who completed the
survey and the 123 who agreed to be interviewed, sent out a strong message about
a system that they did not trust and that caused them pain. Most painful in the
report are the firsthand accounts of mistreatment--by congregations that cut
salaries, clergy colleagues who called the clergywomen 'little helpers,' bishops
who misrepresented congregations to the women clergy and the clergy to the
congregations they were called to serve...painful accounts of women who were
told by parishioners that going on the youth ski trip counted as personal
vacation time or whose personal lives were mercilessly scrutinized by church
members."

The article is about the decline in clergy numbers and about the retention of the clergy that churches have. Sadly, I am not even paid clergy yet and I have experienced at some level a lot of what is written above. Reading this in many ways made me feel better about my experiences. I am not alone! This is happening to women everywhere. And to be fair also to men. Something in our system is not right. It's hard to pinpoint the exacts but I can say that Satan is attacking the Church head on. He knows his days are numbered and he wants to take as many with him as possible.

Even with all of the disappointment I count it all joy to serve God and remember daily that this is not about me but about Him!