What do we expect from leaders?

Perhaps there was a time when religious leaders were presumed to be men of faith.  That time has passed, at least for Seven Sisters who were the mainstream of American churches. The denominations which comprised mainline Protestantism were the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church, American Baptist Churches, United Church of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  Until the mid-to-late twentieth century, the vast majority of Protestants in America belonged to one of the Seven Sisters of Mainline Protestantism.  That term is no longer used in the same way today.  It refers instead to an historic designation and the seven are in various states of decline and disrepair today.  We are not talking about problems here and there but the wholesale loss of members, influence, and, at least among their leaders, faith.

According to the National Survey of Religious Leaders this year, the clergy of what remains of the seven sisters are much more likely to have doubts about the existence of God, the veracity of Scripture, Jesus' bodily resurrection, the existence of heaven, the historicity of Adam and Eve, and a host of other benchmarks of Christian orthodoxy.  This doubt, skepticism, and denial stands in stark contrast to the beliefs of evangelicals, fundamentalists, and Roman Catholics.  Furthermore, these same clergy who are unsure about core Christian beliefs have also admitted not praying regularly, accepting cultural changes (especially in the area of sexuality and gender), to embrace the changing views of marriage and family expressed in society around them, to promote the end of life for people who suffer, and to see abortion in a positive light.  In short, clergy from these mainline churches have led the way in their denominations toward the uncertainty and even rejection of those things that once defined them as Christian.

Though many Americans were raised in these churches, they have left in droves leaving each of the seven a shell of their former selves.  They do not attract new people, lose the people they had, and are graying faster than any other churches in America.  The United Methodists divided and on top of that have lost a third of their members since 2000.  American Baptists have lost more than a quarter of their members, the Episcopal Church a third, the ELCA and UCC four out of ten, Presbyterians half, and the Christian Church 60%.  While there are many reasons for these losses, the distance between pew and pulpit in terms of what is believed, taught, and confessed is a prominent explanation for the exodus away from those groups that once defined Protestantism in America.

The least we should be able to expect of our clergy is that they are guardians of the faith once delivered to the saints and agents of preservation of the voice of the Word and the hope within us.  While some expect the clergy to be prophetic voices of change to lead the churches where they have not gone before, the effects of this distance between the people in the pew and the pulpits across Protestantism, in particular in the mainline denominations, has been to gut the faith and empty the congregations.  What is even more peculiar is that on the whole the clergy in the mainline churches in decline are paid more than the average for the rest of Christianity in America (mega churches excluded).  So the folks in those congregations which have watched so many leave and so few enter is to pay their clergy even more -- perhaps a reward for the doubts, skepticism, and denials of those same pastors.  It is indeed a strange day for Christianity in America.  

I wish this were merely about sex and gender problems but these reflect decay and corruption in the core of those who are supposed to be leaders and guardians of the faith in these denominations.  I wish this were merely about worship styles but this goes to the basic foundations of the faith itself.  I wish this were merely about translation and interpretation differences but this has at its heart doubts about the God and the creed that have been settled doctrines since the earliest of days.  I wish this were merely about the common challenges of churches facing the challenges of the culture, the world, and detractors outside but this is closer to home and in the studies and parsonages of those called to lead the church from within.  No one should be gloating at this turn of events for every parish and every pastor face the same challenges to maintain the faith once delivered and it is too easy for either to lose their way.  It is a warning call to the clergy and a call to be watchful of those whom the Spirit has placed among them as shepherds and leaders.