Hayden Gregory’s journey to full-time ministry was the product of a lot of prayer—just not primarily his own. He felt a call to ministry in high school, but mental health and addiction struggles in his 20s set him on a different path. After teaching at a high school for several years, he felt the call to ministry reignited.
He quit his job and cold-called his former youth pastor, who answered the phone with, “You’re finally ready, aren’t you?”
As far back as Gregory can remember, that pastor had been planting the seed of future ministry in his mind. “This is a guy who every time I saw him, the first words out of his mouth were always, ‘Hey, you know you’re supposed to be in ministry.’”
The pastor ended up connecting Gregory with CenterPointe Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky, for a two-year ministry residency through Leadership Pathway. Today Gregory leads the church’s student ministry.
Gregory’s story shows what can happen when church leaders take the time to invest in identifying and raising up the next generation. Unfortunately, his experience is increasingly becoming one of the exceptions. As a result, the church at large is on the cusp of a growing leadership pipeline problem.
The Leadership Pipeline Problem
In 2022 Barna conducted a landmark study of 584 U.S. pastors as part of The Resilient Pastor Initiative. Their Leadership Transitions report uncovered some eye-opening data. Barna found that the median age of U.S. pastors is now 52 and that 84% of pastors are 41 years or older. Furthermore, the average pastor is about 17 years from their desired retirement age and about a quarter are hoping to retire in the next seven years.
Despite these looming realities, just 38% of senior pastors make developing a leadership pipeline at their church a top personal priority, and only 26% prioritize developing a succession plan for their own role. Less than half (45%) agree their church puts a significant priority on training and developing the next generation of leaders, and only 14% strongly agree.
It’s not that these pastors don’t care or haven’t thought about the need for a leadership pipeline. Oftentimes, it simply boils down to an issue of time, with 40% of pastors citing “too many other ministry concerns” and another 14% delegating the task to other staff/team members.