wfn.org | Going to bat for small churches

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Note #7090 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

15-March-2002
02103

Going to bat for small churches

BOP's McLachlan champions the PC(USA)'s little guys 

by Jerry L. Van Marter

PHILADELPHIA - The Rev. Alexander "Sandy" McLachlan is at heart a small church pastor. It was as a small church pastor that he joined the Presbyterian Church (USA) Board of Pensions (BOP)several years ago, arguing tirelessly that more attention needed to be paid to the needs of small churches and their pastors.

The Board of Pensions took him up on it. 

McLachlan, his term on the board expired, now serves as a special assistant to BOP president Rob Maggs. His is a ministry of listening to small church pastors throughout the PC(USA), advocating for their concerns at the board and sharing ideas with the BOP regarding problems they and their churches face.

Borrowing a line from the devil as its recorded in the Book of Job, McLachlan calls his ministry "going to and fro about the land" On March 9, he told the board what he's learned so far.

"There's a feeling out there that the church doesn't care about them, except maybe for the Board of Pensions," McLachlan said.

McLachlan said "we cannot look realistically at the Presbyterian Church" without realizing that 58 percent of all PC(USA) congregations are less than 150 members, 67 percent are less than 200 members and 79 percent are less than 300 members. Eighty percent of parish pastors in the denomination serve churches of 300 members or less.

And yet, he said, "too many of our programs and resources are simply not designed for the vast majority of our churches."

McLachlan said "nearly all" of the PC(USA)'s empty pulpits are in small churches. He said he's found that small churches near cities have a reasonably good chance of finding pastors, "but the farther away from cities you go, the harder it is for churches to attract pastors."

He also described the "culture shock" many pastors, particularly second-career pastors, experience in going to small churches in depopulated rural areas or transitional neighborhoods in urban areas. "Nothing has prepared them to go into those worlds," McLachlan said. "To the best of my knowledge, only two of our seminaries even specifically prepare students for small-church ministry, even though that's where the job market is."

The PC(USA)'s compensation system - with congregations entirely responsible for the financial support of their minister - only exacerbates the problems of small churches and their pastors, he said. "Compensation of small church pastors is shameful," McLachlan said. "It's not the Board of Pensions' problem, but we surely should be part of the discussions."

For instance, he said, "dues increases and reduced benefits affect those at the lower end disproportionately - they come straight of the pastor's pocket one way or the other."

McLachlan praised the board's recently-instituted seminary debt reduction program - the board gives grants to help pay off the seminary debt of new pastors who agree to serve small churches - as one constructive step.

Financial counseling is essential, he added, so that small church pastors can maximize the benefits of the compensation they do receive.
Perhaps the most important service the BOP can provide, McLachlan said, is to devise ways to "protect" the pensions of pastors in their late 50s and early 60s who are willing to accept calls to small churches so they can continue to accrue pension credits on their former higher salaries."

That would make for "a win-win-win," McLachlan said, "providing good leadership to churches, good retirement income to pastors, while those strengthened churches to contribute dues."
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