Pastor Search Reality: According to Adair Lummis, with the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, church pastoral search committees today look for the following in a new pastor: male, married (to a woman), and under age 40. Committees may not say this overtly to candidates, but that’s what they desire, according to a Duke University study. He adds that top officials have said they want, “someone in the pastor’s family [meaning a wife] ‘who can help with small groups or children’s ministries.’ I look at them and say, ‘Well, do you know that a third of United Methodist Church pastors are single now, and 50% of the people in the seminary are female?’” (Current Thoughts & Trends 3/9/04)
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