Lay pastor Archie Fugate Jr. leads a Presbyterian service in Central City, Ky. Many smaller churches lack full-time ministers because they offer minimal pay and often are in areas with limited income options for spouses.LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While the worsening shortage of Catholic priests has been a matter of public concern for about three decades, Protestant leaders in the past five years have been anxiously discussing shortages in their own ranks. And in denominations that have enough newly ordained pastors, there is a fresh challenge: Increasingly, those called to be pastors are unwilling or unable to live on the smaller salaries paid by out-of-the-way churches — especially in smaller towns that lack career opportunities for spouses. “If we could distribute our clergy, we’d have enough,” said the Rev. James Stuck, bishop of the Indiana-Kentucky Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “But distribution is a problem because of where folks need to locate.” Some church leaders fear the caliber of today’s pastors is declining as well. While some church officials laud the influx of career changers bringing real-world experience to the pulpit, others say incoming seminarians have lower academic credentials than in the past. They often arrive “with low levels of religious literacy and with high personal and therapeutic needs,” according to a report by the Alban Institute, a religious research and consulting organization in Maryland. Despite those concerns, some Protestant leaders see signs of a turnaround, with early indications of more and younger people going to seminaries.
