Despite the overall lack of pastors, many churches are reluctant to hire women, Stoltzfus continued. Some positions remain unfilled for this reason, he said. Further, a growing number of potential pastors do not want to be on the MBCM lists, due to reservations about supporting the Mennonite Confession of Faith or unwillingness to meet other denominational requirements, Stoltzfus noted. Pastoral dropout also plays a role in the leadership shortage, he said. Too often, Mennonites blame one another for the lack of pastors and for a perceived decline in the quality of leaders, Stoltzfus said.
Churches say that seminaries don t make pastors like they used to.
Seminaries respond that we train the people you send us. Wiese, who is professor of marketing at Anderson University in Indiana, echoed the point. The youth and young adults in his survey show high commitment to Christian faith and to being Mennonite, he said. They respect pastors and say that congregational leaders are treated well. But they are not being encouraged to consider pastoral ministry themselves.