Baptist leaders are exploring ways to encourage and increase the recruitment of church ministers, following a decline of nearly a quarter in the last decade.
The Baptist Union of Great Britain’s Ministries Team Co-Leaders, Tim Fergusson and Lee Johnson have led research into the issue and how it could be reversed.
Statistics published by the pair in the Baptist Times show that since 2014, the total number of accredited ministers available to pastor churches has fallen by 16 per cent, not including retirees. When factoring in 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 part of the reason 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 about the lack of clarity about the future of Baptism in Britain, as well as the cost and intensity of training to become a minister.
Fergusson and Johnson said that the denomination needs to embrace the challenge of properly identifying and raising the next generation of Baptist leadership, noting that the decline, if unchallenged, will grow worse in the next few years as more ministers retire.
They also argued that the process for reversing the current trends would have to be a largely bottom up process and that local parishes could not simply rely on the headquarters to solve it.
“Every church has a responsibility. Those being formed as ministers need both opportunities to lead (and fail, learn and improve) and funds to pay for their training – again, every church has a responsibility," they said.
"Existing ministers have a part to play too, for they are a key resource in identifying, accompanying and supervising those who 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.
