The minister and his parish; a discussion of problems in church administration

Front matter

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Division

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Contents

CHAPTER

I The Call and Settlement of the Minister

The bond between minister and parish — Channels of communication between churches and ministers — The candidate for a pulpit — The church with a vacant pul¬ pit — Courtesy due the visiting minister — Courtesy due from the candidate to the church — Courtesy of church to church — Issuing a call — The contract between church and minister, as stated supply, as assistant min¬ ister, as associate minister, as settled minister — The minister’s tenure of office — The act of installation.

Chapter I The Call And Settlement Of The Minister

The bond between minister and parish.

It is the fashion in some circles today to criticize a phrase much used by earlier generations, “the sacred call¬ ing of the ministry.” The modern critic declares that the ministry is no more sacred than any other honorable occu¬ pation, and he is likely to go on to describe it in economic terms — the minister is a “salesman of religion,” whose business it is to stimulate a demand for his “goods.” It is, of course, quite true that all toil is hallowed, “the meanest work divine,” if performed as a service of God and in accordance with his laws. Nevertheless, the work of a minister in his parish, when ideally conceived and worthily fulfilled, must always be marked by a peculiar quality of devotion and intimacy which distinguish it from other professional and commercial pursuits. The lawyer’s confidential relation to his client, or the doctor’s to his patient, does, indeed, bear a certain resemblance to the minister ’s relation to his parishioner, but in either of these cases the relationship touches but a single phase of the life of the individual served. The true minister, however, enters into very close personal relations with his people — sharing their joys, comforting them in sorrow, strengthen¬ ing them in disappointment, failure and temptation, interpreting to them the ways of God and the laws of life.

The calling is sacred not because the minister as such is a sacrosanct person, set apart from the rest of men by a mystical rite and characterized by an unworldly holiness, but because he deals with the deepest problems of human life, the most far-reaching speculations of the mind, the highest aspirations of the soul. To the minister come the young lovers to plight their troth to one another; the happy parents carrying the newborn life to be received into the congregation of Christ’s flock; the mother asking help for her son who is daily sinking deeper into evil ways ; the business man puzzled over some problem of ethics; the man burdened with the sin from which he would fain be delivered; the woman groping in the night of despair. The minister goes as a reconciler into homes where a tragic break is threatened; or with cheer and courage to a bed¬ side of long-drawn-out pain; or with the great words of consolation and peace to the soul that is slipping off its garment of flesh and will see no more an earthly dawn. He stands before his people to lead them in worship; to help them uplift their hearts in aspiration; to put into words their deepest convictions; to set forth the way which leads to righteousness and joy and peace. These are the sanctities of the ministry. It deals with souls, and “the guidance of souls is the art of arts.” 1

The value of such a service cannot be measured in economic terms, nor paid for in dollars and cents. It is not given for a price, but for the love of souls. It is on an altogether different plane from the service rendered to the community by the business man. From a legal point of view the relationship between a minister and his parish is, indeed, a contractual one, necessarily based upon a mutual agreement as to service to be rendered and compensation to be received, as every human relationship must be which involves rights and duties between man and man. It in¬ evitably has an economic foundation, since the minister has a physical life to be sustained, and must pay, like other men, for the goods which he consumes. But these 1 Gregory the Great — 1 1 Regulse Pastoralis Liber, ' ’ Part I, Chap. I.

legal and economic relations, though the inevitable foun¬ dations of the minister’s work, are not of its essence. Its really valuable and significant aspects cannot be defined in any contract ; the influence of a good minister in the life of the community cannot be weighed in balances, nor paid for at so much per day. For the relationship of a minister to his parish is, above all, a spiritual bond, finding expres¬ sion through the medium of the flesh, as every spiritual bond must in this earthly life, but transcending the mate¬ rial basis which is its necessary incident.

Therefore such a relationship is not to be entered into lightly or unadvisedly, but reverently, discreetly, soberly and in the fear of God. Like marriage, it ought never to be regarded by either party merely as an arrangement of convenience, nor as a stipulated service for hire. So to mis¬ conceive it is to prostitute a spiritual relationship by turn¬ ing it into a business transaction, whereas its real purpose is the advancement of ideal ends and the upbuilding of human souls by a cooperative enterprise. Happiness in marriage, however, is most certainly secured by a clear recognition of mutual duties and obligations, and by a thorough understanding between husband and wife as to the economic basis of their common life. Such an under¬ standing promotes effective cooperation, and removes petty causes of friction and irritation which are liable to develop into sordid squabbles. Married life is most likely to be sus¬ tained on a high moral and spiritual level when husband and wife know themselves to be equal partners in a common enterprise, sharing alike its burdens and perplexities, its sorrows and triumphs. So likewise, the pastoral relation¬ ship is most likely to bear the fullest measure of spiritual fruit when it is based upon a clear understanding of the rights and the duties of both the minister and the parish; upon a full recognition of the inevitable economic basis of their common life ; and upon complete frankness and mutual confidence. The purpose of the discussion which follows is to make clear these underlying legal and economic conditions, which, when recognized and understood, give a firm foundation upon which the true work of the church can be carried forward.

The channels of communication between churches a/nd ministers.

The first problem to be considered is that of the estab¬ lishment of communication between the church seeking a minister and a minister desiring a settlement. A pulpit is vacant: how shall the church secure a suitable minister? A minister is looking for a church to serve ; how shall he find a pulpit which he is qualified to fill? The machinery for bringing the church and the minister together varies greatly in different branches of the Christian Church, but practically every denomination has some form of organiza¬ tion for meeting this need.

In those churches in which authority is most highly centralized the bishop in charge of a given diocese or dis¬ trict assigns to a vacant church such of the available priests or ministers as may seem to him best fitted for the position, often without much consultation with the congregation to be served. That is the autocratic or monarchical method. In the hands of a wise, impartial, spiritually-minded bishop, it may secure for a parish a minister better fitted to its needs than it could find by independent action, but it robs the parish of initiative ; diminishes its sense of respon¬ sibility ; encourages the minister to look primarily to his ecclesiastical superior for reward and promotion; and, in unwise or corrupt hands, leads to favoritism and unjust discrimination.

In those denominations, on the other hand, in which each congregation is an autonomous, self-governing body, fed¬ erated with other churches of the same order, the congre¬ gations themselves commonly select their own ministers. Sometimes such a church may make application to the denominational organization which has authority to rec¬ ommend names and to give information ; sometimes it may deal directly with possible candidates of whom it has heard. This method involves the dangers as well as the advantages of independence, for it weakens the bond which ought to bind the individual church to others of its own communion, it increases the risk that the churches will make their choice upon inadequate information, and it exposes them to a greater danger of exploitation by un¬ worthy candidates for the ministry. Nevertheless this is the method of democracy, dominant in Protestantism today. Even in those Protestant churches which are episcopally organized there appears to be a strong tendency towards the practice of the selection of a minister by the local parish, subject to the approval of the bishop. The prob¬ lem, therefore, is that of providing safeguards against the dangers and abuses of this system, so that it may be admin¬ istered with the maximum efficiency.

The candidate for a pulpit.

A man who desires settlement as the minister of a church, whether he be a theological student finishing his course but not yet ordained, or a man already in the min¬ istry desiring to find a new field of service, must establish connections with the responsible authorities of that branch of the Christian Church in which he wishes to work. If he be not yet on the ministerial list of his own communion, he must first of all fulfill the established requirements for obtaining recognition as a minister authorized to take charge of a pulpit. The hospitality of the pulpit can be offered only to men who thus fulfill the prescribed and legitimate requirements of their own denomination. Those requirements are usually the fruit of long experience, and are intended to protect both the churches and the min¬ isterial body from the intrusion of men not qualified by character or training for the office of the ministry, and from exploitation by pulpit adventurers and charlatans. Therefore no self-respecting man will try to take short cuts into the ministry. The shepherd goes in by the door. His denominational authorities rightly look with suspicion on one who tries to climb into the sheepfold by some other way.

The candidate for a pulpit, after securing the necessary status within his own denomination, should ask the official intermediary to present his name to such churches with vacant pulpits as offer opportunities of service for which he is reasonably well fitted. A man thoroughly trained and of good personal qualifications may fail in his ministry over one parish, where he does not fit, and yet be thoroughly successful in another. The problem is one of finding a church where his particular gifts and abilities may have the amplest opportunity for expression. The candidate should not, therefore, necessarily accept the first call which comes to him, nor be in too much of a hurry to be settled, but should look for the place which needs him and for which he is best adapted. He must not, of course, expect perfection, nor set too high an estimate on his own value, but he will do well to refuse a call unless he is reasonably convinced that he can fulfill, with a measurable degree of satisfaction, the obligations which he takes upon him¬ self.

The candidate must also consider the type of service which he wishes to undertake. Shall he serve for a time as an assistant in a large and well-established church, or shall he seek the pulpit of a smaller church of which he shall have sole charge? There is much to be said in favor of the young minister seeking service, for at least a year or two, as an assistant in a large and well-established parish, in which he may obtain practical training under the guidance of an experienced minister. That is the uni¬ versal practice in the Roman Church, in which the young priest serves as a curate for six or eight, or even as much as a dozen or fourteen years before being placed in charge of a parish. It is also a common practice in the Church of England and in the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country, although in those churches the term of a curate’s service is commonly not longer than two or three years. This practice is, unfortunately, much less common in churches of other Protestant denominations. The candi¬ date who wishes a church of his own must, of course, expect to begin with a rural church, or one in a small town or in a newer community of our country. He will do well not to settle in his own home town, but to go where the people have not known him from infancy. The home folks are likely to regard him as a boy long after he has attained maturity, and to ask the question of the Nazarenes of long ago, “Is not this the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?”

It is a common practice for a candidate, who desires to be heard in a given church, to ask his personal friends to recommend him to the church. This method is free from objection only when judiciously followed. Recommenda¬ tions, to have any value, must proceed from persons whose names will carry some weight with the church, and should be frank and accurate statements of the candidate’s qualifications and limitations, rather than undiscriminat¬ ing eulogies. The candidate should take care not to flood the committee with letters of recommendation. Two or three judicious letters may help to secure the candidate a hearing, whereas a large number of letters tends to put the committee on their guard against the man for whom his friends seem to be acting in concert. Furthermore, letters of recommendation are always more valued when they do not come unsolicited. Therefore the minister will often do wTell simply to ask the official denominational intermediary, in sending his name to the church, to add that they can secure information about him by writing to such and such persons.

The practice of the candidate’s writing directly to the church to solicit a hearing for himself is very objection¬ able ; yet not infrequently when the pulpit of a church be¬ comes vacant, the committee in charge will receive a con¬ siderable number of personal letters from ministers asking that they may be heard. This practice is to be condemned without qualification, and many parish committees are wise enough at once to mark off their list of candidates the min¬ isters from whom they may receive any such direct solicitation.

The practice has also arisen in recent times of min¬ isters advertising for churches in the denominational press. The practice is theoretically unobjectionable if it is done anonymously, and may, in rare instances, lead to a happy settlement, but such an advertisement almost of necessity involves the minister in a selflaudatory estimate of his own value in a form liable to sound boastful. Therefore the candidate’s best method of approach ought normally to be through the established intermediary.

The church with a vacant pulpit.

It is almost always a grave disadvantage to a church to be for any length of time without a pastor. Therefore, as soon as it is evident that the pulpit is to be vacated, the church should promptly appoint a Pulpit Supply Com¬ mittee. That committee should be thoroughly representa¬ tive of the various elements in the church. In particular those whose age is under forty-five or fifty should be more largely represented than those above that age, since upon them will chiefly devolve the responsibility for the church for the next quarter century. A minister ought not, that is, to be chosen primarily to please the old people who will in the course of a few years pass from this earthly scene. A thoroughly representative committee will necessarily be a rather large one. If it include more than ten or a dozen persons it should appoint an executive committee, consist¬ ing of the chairman, secretary and one other, authorized to conduct negotiations without being obliged to call the whole committee together for too frequent consultation.

Unless the committee is already thoroughly informed as to available possibilities for the vacant pulpit it should at once get into communication with the appropriate denomi¬ national officer and secure from him a list of possible can¬ didates, with such information about them as can be given. Generally the committee will find itself with a long list of names to be weeded out. All sorts of possible and impossible candidates will be suggested.

The committee may proceed by one of several methods. The worst possible method is for the committee to hear “the candidate whose name is legion,” that is, to hear through a long succession of Sundays all the men whose names have been proposed. This method involves a maxi¬ mum amount of competition between candidates, odious comparisons between this and that man, and results in confusing and often in splitting the congregation. A better method is to select not more than two or three names, after a careful study of each candidate’s character and qualifications, his record of professional service and his preaching ability.

Most Protestant churches lay too much stress upon the candidate’s preaching ability and give quite inadequate consideration to his training, experience, the quality of his pastoral and administrative work, and the place which he has made for himself in the community. They forget that the most taking candidate does not necessarily make the most satisfactory minister ; that solid and durable qualities of character are more important than ability to display all one’s goods in the shop window. This investigation of the several candidates is, of course, the first step, and should be made before, and not after, the men under con¬ sideration are invited to preach. It is, of course, a waste of time to consider men who cannot possibly be secured, yet sometimes a minister who has given no sign of wishing a change may have hidden reasons for being glad of an opportunity to move. Often the denominational inter¬ mediary can advise the committee as to whether a man whose name they are contemplating is possibly within their reach.

When the committee has made up its mind as to the two or three candidates of largest promise, who might also be willing to consider a call, they should arrange to have these men heard by several members of the committee, and on more than one occasion. It is not fair to judge any preacher on a single hearing. Every man has an off day now and then — he may have a bad cold, or be unusually fatigued, or on the other hand, the committee may happen to hear him when he is preaching in much better form than is usual. It is also wise for the committee to hear a man in his own pulpit rather than to have him preach in the church which is considering him. If he comes as a can¬ didate he is inevitably more or less self-conscious, and the congregation itself is in a critical mood. Whenever prac¬ ticable, therefore, the committee should send some of its members to hear the possible candidate in his own pulpit on at least two Sundays when he is not aware of their presence. This method, of course, is not possible where the candidate lives at a great distance from the church which desires to call him. In that case it will probably be necessary to ask him to come on, so that he can be heard by at least some members of the congregation. He may be invited to preach in the vacant pulpit as an avowed candidate, but, when practicable, it is often better to arrange an exchange for him with the minister of some near-by church which the committee can visit. The selfconsciousness of the candidate is thereby reduced to a minimum, his own congregation is less likely to be pre¬ maturely upset by the possibility of losing him, and the church which is considering him avoids the risk of finding itself in an equivocal relation to him.

The best method of all is for the committee to be given authority to select a single candidate, the best available man whom it can find, to be recommended to the church, wThich reserves only the right of a final vote to confirm or reject the committee’s recommendation. This means giving large powers and responsibility to the committee, in which the parish must have entire confidence, but the method is the one most likely to lead to satisfactory results. A variation of this method — which may be the only prac¬ ticable one in the case of an unattached candidate under consideration by a church so located that he must make a considerable journey to reach it — is to ask him to come as a supply for one, two or three months, that the can¬ didate and the church may make acquaintance, with the understanding that at the end of the stated period the connection may be made a permanent one if mutually agreeable, either party, however, being at liberty to with¬ draw if a definite settlement seems undesirable. Where this method is followed the church should pay the candi¬ date’s traveling expenses and its usual salary during the stipulated period.

Courtesy due the visiting minister.

The church which invites a minister to occupy its puJpit, whether a candidate or a supply, is under certain obligations of courtesy to him. It should always send him exact information as to the location of the church and the best route to reach it ; the hour of service ; the order of worship and hymn book used, unless the church uses some standard denominational form; and where the visitor is

CALL AND SETTLEMENT OP THE MINISTER 11 to find entertainment for the night or for necessary meals. If he be a stranger and the time of his arrival is known, he should be met at the railroad station. The fee for a single Sunday should generally be one per cent of the annual salary, plus the visitor’s expenses for travel. If the church has asked more than one man to come as candi¬ dates it should hear all before voting to call any, or, if it comes to a clear decision to call one, should inform the others and give them the choice of either canceling their appointments or of filling them as supplies. The church should be careful not to hold out false hopes of a call by complimentary phrases leading several men to imagine that they are about to be selected.

Courtesy due from the candidate to the church.

No minister should accept an invitation to preach as an avowed candidate in any church if he knows in advance that he would not consider a call thereto. A man may, of course, sometimes preach in a vacant pulpit to which he has been invited only as a supply, and create so favorable an impression that he is unexpectedly confronted with a call. But, as a general principle, a minister who has no intention of accepting a call is as much bound in honor not to encourage one as a high-minded woman is bound to head off an offer of marriage which she would not consider. If he be already settled it is unprofessional for him to en¬ courage calls to other pulpits merely for the sake of im¬ pressing his own congregation with his value, or as a means of securing a raise in his salary. After one or two such experiences his congregation is likely to be rather glad to let him go.

If the candidate, after making an appointment to preach in a given church, receives a call to another pulpit which he intends to accept, he should inform the church with which he has made the preaching appointment, giving it the opportunity of either canceling the appointment or of receiving him as a supply. If, however, he has not defi¬ nitely decided to accept the call in hand, he is at liberty to fill the appointment and take his choice between two calls, provided he is entirely frank with both churches and avoids any appearance of trying to make them bid against each other for his services.

Courtesy of church to church.

A church which has decided to call a minister already settled elsewhere is under obligation to deal fairly with its sister church. A church should not call a minister who has but recently settled over another parish, unless it is known that the arrangement has proved unsatisfactory, but should give the parish already in possession of the minister a fair chance to work out its plans with him. A large and rich church should not offer a minister a much larger salary than he is receiving on condition that he come to it immediately, but should remember that the minister is under obligations to his present parish ; that often the terms of his settlement require him to give three months’ notice ; and that in any case it is not fair for him to drop everything in midseason, but that he must be allowed time to bring his pastorate to a dignified conclusion. That will also allow the church from which he is resigning time to adjust itself and to make plans for calling another minister. Finally, no church should call a man from another pulpit without giving the church over which he is already settled full opportunity to retain him in its service if it wishes to do so and is in position to offer him satisfactory con¬ siderations. It is not well that a Christian church should follow the methods of the children of Dan in their seduc¬ tion of the priest of the house of Micah.

Issuing a call.

When the pulpit committee has found a candidate whom it is prepared to recommend to the parish, it should ask for a conference with him. The committee should not take this step unless it is reasonably certain that the parish will accept its recommendation, nor should it ever ask two men to allow their names to be submitted simultaneously, in competition. If the committee is undecided between two candidates it should first refer the matter to the parish and receive authority to proceed further with one or the other man. The committee should never require a candi-

CALL AND SETTLEMENT OP THE MINISTER 13 date to pledge himself in advance to accept a call should one be issued. It should be content with an assurance that he will “ seriously consider” a call, though, if the candidate himself volunteers the statement that he would give “favorable consideration” to a call, his words may be regarded as tantamount to an assurance that he will accept it.

In the conference or correspondence between the com¬ mittee and the candidate the latter is entitled to full and exact information as to the condition of the church and the character and prospects of the community in which it is located. The candidate should be informed as to the actual financial condition of the church; its membership and parish organizations ; its buildings and equipment ; its his¬ tory and its prospects. A parish committee should never conceal unpleasant facts or discouraging features from the candidate,2 though it is not necessary to go into details of old scandals or church squabbles, save as they affect the existing situation. The information should include a state¬ ment as to the salary; the parsonage (if any) ; the min¬ ister’s annual vacation; the number and type of paid assistants (stenographer, parish worker, assistant minister, if any) ; and also as to any unusual features in the church’s situation or plans for the future. If, after due conference, the candidate has given assurance of his willingness to consider a call upon the terms proposed, a meeting of the persons legally composing the church must be duly called, and a formal vote taken as to whether the candidate shall be invited to serve the church. It is essential that the state law governing church corporations should be duly observed in all particulars, as well as the canon law, or the constitution and by-laws of the individual church. In

3 A certain church called a minister to its pulpit. He refused to come unless an indebtedness of $10,000 was paid off. The parish committee sent him word that the debt had been taken care of, whereupon he accepted and was duly installed. Then he discovered that ten men in the church had each paid off at the bank $1,000 of the debt, themselves taking notes from the church, so that the church was still in debt, though to its own members instead of to a bank. It is unnecessary to point out that the proceeding was a thoroughly dishonorable deception of the candidate.

most states the law gives the power to call or to dismiss a minister, and to fix his salary, to the voting members of the church alone. Without their vote no governing board or committee can legally engage him, nor can he be in¬ stalled as settled minister of the church. The call and the minister’s acceptance should always be put into writing, and filed for reference, it being desirable that both minister and church should keep copies.

The contract between church and minister.

Any church which engages a minister to carry on its work thereby assumes certain obligations to him which it must fulfill so long as the relationship between the two par¬ ties endures. In the eye of the law the minister is a pro¬ fessional man employed to render services the general char¬ acter of which is a matter of common understanding even when a detailed agreement has not been entered into. He is not an employee working on wages. Sometimes a church speaks of “hiring a minister” — a detestable phrase which should never be used to describe the pastoral relationship. The minister is not a “hireling of the sheep” but a shep¬ herd of the flock; not a “hired man” on wages whose em¬ ployment may be terminated on brief notice, but a profes¬ sional man in a sacred calling of standing and dignity. A state does not “hire” a governor, nor a city a mayor, nor a university a professor. Neither should a church debase the ministry by attempting to “hire” a pastor.