Episode 267: The Numbers Nobody Wants to Talk About in the CRC — Denominational Structure Roundtable
“Christians in general hate to get rid of anything. One of the biggest things I had to do as a church revitalizer was to kill programs that were dead and nobody was willing to let them die…The CRC, as part of our own broader revitalization, needs to be able to have those kinds of conversations about churches…I would really encourage the CRC to focus on church planting AND renewal.” — Jason Ruis
Summary of This Episode
On this edition of the Messy Reformation Roundtables, Jason and Willy are joined by Rev. Dan De Graff and Rev. Matt Haan, pastor at First CRC of Rock Valley, for a conversation that seems like nobody wants to talk about—the realities behind the pastor shortage and declining membership in churches.
Dan kicks things off sharing from data he’s been tracking over the last decade. As of the recording, there are about 913 churches in the CRCNA (churches known to be well into a disaffiliation process are not part of that). Of those churches, 692 are in the United States and 221 in Canada—so, roughly 3:1 or 75% in the US and 25% in Canada. When it comes to sole or lead/senior pastor vacancies, there are 107-128. The low number is those that have become vacant in the last five calendar years and the higher number includes congregations that have been vacant even back into the 1990s. By percentage, 12-14% of our churches are vacant.
While not great—certainly showing a shortage—to break those down by country shows a bigger problem. 57-71 of the vacancies are in the U.S., meaning 8-10% of churches south of the border are looking for pastors. 50-57 of the vacancies are in Canada meaning 23-26% of churches north of the border are without a primary pastor.
Dan highlights Calvin Theological Seminary and Candidacy have been focused on raising up new leaders—the denomination is not ignorant of that, but how are we genuinely living into our binational identity when for such a significant portion of our denomination 1 in 4 churches remains without pastors? Both he and Matt believe, and Jason and Willy agree, classes and the denomination have a responsibility here.
Matt goes a step further and proposes when looking at the lifecycle of a church, churches need to consider not just how to find a pastor but are they in a place to find one. This spurs a discussion around churches with declining membership needing to consider a revitalization, replanting, or closing process. As the CRC has a revitalized passion for church planting, what about all these churches we already have?
Jason clarifies some of the terms. Planting a church typically means a new building, new location, and a new congregation (possibly with a core already established). Revitalization takes something that already is and seeks renewal. To replant is a hard work—to take an existing congregation, possibly close, and re-plant a church there. Matt builds on this saying closing is something more churches need to think about—not to disparage small churches or to communicate failure, but have circumstances or context so changed that their season is concluded? Connected to vacancies, it may be inappropriate to call a pastor.
Willy asks if we’re using numeric benchmarks, how long should a church be at a certain point to change statuses? The group agrees that’s difficult to pinpoint. Every church is different. Every setting is different. Rural churches in truly small towns are willing to stick it out for decades. Sometimes small numeric growth with some changes can yield a lot of life. Sometimes a fight will have such irreconcilable damage that a sizable congregation can be decimated fairly quickly. This is where classes can have such a strong impact. Especially through good church visitors, that’s where hard but caring conversations can happen.
Willy also asks what the benefits and negatives are if a church would come under care of another church and council. What he’s referencing is Church Order Article 38d and its supplement. A council and congregation can decide to revert to unorganized status (effectively, emerging—the same category of a church plant in the CRC), and a classis should help consider that if and when membership is below 45, unable to provide for leadership, or unable to meet financial obligations. Jason notes it can be really healthy to see a healthy church’s leadership and life. He truly sees it, not as a punishment, but to bring health, resources, and discernment.
Matt builds on that with the desire to develop and have clearer terminology and paths in the CRC. If churches can be categorized by “plant,” “emerging,” “organized,” “revitalization,” “replant,” and “closed,” it would help churches know where they are and what they should be doing. There could be a change of attitude from just thinking with self-pity about size or failure. Dan adds that we need to take this seriously. Church planting often gets deemed as the “sexy” work, but this is necessary work, too. Jason highlights there should be a focus on both church planting and church revitalization. He’s seen in Baptist circles the desire to “increase the number of planted churches and decrease the number of dying churches.” One of the ways you decrease the dying, though, is to end or kill things that are already dead—whether that’s in churches or denominational organizations. Willy concludes the conversation this time with a parting shot on the Dutch “don’t throw away” mentality—sometimes we need to throw away or end so we can focus elsewhere well.