North American denominations will need tens of thousands of pastors to fill new, part-time clergy positions in churches that can no longer afford to pay full-time salaries. But they’re facing stiff headwinds from a common, false narrative that says part-time clergy are undervalued, overworked and unhappy.
The truth, backed up by hard data, is that part-time clergy are some of the happiest, healthiest people on Earth. They’re more committed to ministry than their full-time peers.
We need to know how they’re making it work so that thousands more can confidently join them while keeping part-time clergy wellbeing at a high level. If part-time ministry only works for certain types of people, we need to understand which ones and why… and how that pool of part-time flourishers can be expanded.
I’ll find out how they do it by using research skills honed over a quarter century of religion reporting. I’ll conduct 30 to 40 in-depth interviews with part-time pastors who’ve been pre-vetted as flourishers, meaning they regard their lives as good in every area. How do they make ends meet financially? How do they manage competing pressures, share ministry with laypeople and understand their identities and callings?
What I learn will lead to a book that shatters unfounded, negative preconceptions of part-time ministry. It will help legions of prospective and current pastors, as well as laypeople, judicatories and professors. It’ll give them conceptual tools to envision what’s possible and to create favorable conditions for this unsung, urgently needed type of flourishing to proliferate.