The End of Search and Call as We Know It

TL;DR

The church hiring system is broken. We keep moving pastors across the country for unstable, low-paying jobs that destroy families and drain souls. Instead, churches should hire local, know who they are, and train from within. The future of ministry depends less on finding perfect pastors and more on forming faithful leaders right where we already are.

Imagine this:

You’ve just moved across the country to pastor a mainline church in an expensive city—only to learn a few months in that the church is staring down a $60,000 budget deficit for the coming year.

Or this:

You’ve moved your family—spouse, kids, and all—across the country to serve at a large evangelical church. But after a few months, things aren’t working out, and the church decides to let you go.

Or this:

You’re young, newly married, fresh out of seminary, and serving at a modest, conservative congregation. Things seem fine until the church announces a $30,000 shortfall. Their solution? Cut your salary by two-thirds.

These are real stories that have happened to real people. One of them is mine.

The church hiring process is broken—across denominations and traditions—and the biggest culprit is this: moving people across the country for jobs that are anything but guaranteed.

Why This Hurts So Deeply

Most people outside church work don’t understand that finding another ministry position isn’t like walking down the street and getting a new job. In most professions, a plumber, nurse, or sales rep can usually find another employer in the same town if things don’t work out—skills transfer, credentials are standard, and businesses are interchangeable. Ministry doesn’t work that way. Because of denominational systems, doctrinal differences, and networks that are often thin or fractured, pastors can find themselves quietly shut out of nearby opportunities after one failed call. Even if there are churches of the same denomination just down the road, it’s rarely as simple as applying to the next one—relationships, politics, and institutional memory often make that impossible. Especially in smaller communities, there might not be another church of your denomination—or even one open to hiring you.

When my new church start ended, for example, there were other congregations nearby in the same denomination, but I found myself with few realistic local options. Despite proximity, those churches weren’t truly available to me. In ministry, reputation, relationships, and internal dynamics often carry more weight than proximity or competence, meaning that “nearby” doesn’t necessarily mean “possible.” To stay in ministry would have meant uprooting my family and leaving behind my wife’s job, our kids’ schools, and our extended family. That wasn’t realistic.

This is not just an individual challenge; it’s a systemic one rooted in how denominations are structured and how they perpetuate outdated expectations for mobility and loyalty. The entire ecosystem—from seminaries to search committees—still operates on assumptions from a bygone era of abundant clergy and stable institutions.

And that’s the emotional cost that rarely gets counted: when things go wrong, clergy find themselves jobless, isolated, and far from home. The contrast is stark—where other professionals can lean on local opportunities and networks to rebuild, pastors often face the prospect of uprooting their entire lives just to stay in their calling. It’s not only a career disruption but a profound personal dislocation that reverberates through families, finances, and faith.

Before we can fix this, churches and denominational leaders must acknowledge how deeply structural this problem is and take responsibility for rethinking the system itself. The good news is there are simple steps any church can begin to take toward healthier, more sustainable models of calling and leadership.

What Churches Can Do

1. Hire Local

Churches need to stop scouring the country for the “perfect” candidate and start hiring local leaders. These people already know the community, already have roots and support systems, and are less likely to experience total upheaval if things don’t work out.

That means being willing to hire “good enough” rather than ideal. For Mainline churches, this might mean looking outside strict denominational search processes—considering leaders from other backgrounds or networks who can align on essentials but bring fresh perspective. Ironically, Evangelical churches often do this better.

2. Know Your Role

At my first church out of seminary, I had three in-person interviews before they offered me the job. I almost walked away before they did. It paid $48,000 total—hardly lavish—and I knew the church was struggling. But they didn’t seem to know who they were.

Like many declining congregations, they wanted a savior, not a pastor—and when the rescue didn’t come quickly enough, they turned the same person into the scapegoat. This savior-to-scapegoat cycle isn’t just a personality issue; it’s a symptom of a deeper, systemic misunderstanding of what pastoral leadership is supposed to be. Churches need to recognize this pattern, understand who they are, and see where they fit in the larger story of God’s work—every call is about growth and revival, but that growth isn’t solely dependent on the pastor or paid leader. True renewal comes from the shared faithfulness of the whole congregation working together with God.

3. Train From Within

Especially for smaller churches, promoting from within is often the most faithful—and sustainable—option. I recently saw a local church offer a half-time position for $25,000. That’s an unrealistic salary and expectation, but someone will take it because they need a job. As Fr. Cathie Caimano has noted, when pastors undervalue themselves, the whole system suffers. Sometimes an outside, unqualified person takes the job simply because they want their shot at being a pastor—or worse, they may have ulterior motives, like pulling the church from its denomination. Likewise, pastors who are willing to work for paltry sums often struggle with boundaries and identity, unable to separate their personal worth from their ministry role. When this dynamic plays out, everyone loses. In other words, churches offering inadequate pay aren’t just underfunding a position; they’re creating the conditions for instability, burnout, and sometimes even harm.

By contrast, one Colorado church I’ve followed couldn’t hire from the outside, so they raised up a leader from within. From what I can tell, it’s nothing miraculous—but they’re still there and serving their community.

The System Assumes a World That No Longer Exists

Our current “search and call” model assumes Christendom still exists—that there’s a steady stream of trained pastors eager to move anywhere for a full-time job and a supportive congregation waiting. That world is gone.

In this new reality, congregations can no longer afford to be picky or perfectionist. They need to hire people who can do the job well, not just those who check every denominational or theological box. The mindset of waiting for the “ideal candidate” must give way to a more realistic, flexible, and missional approach to leadership.

In this new world, it will increasingly fall on churches themselves—not just pastors—to embody and uphold their denominational values and traditions. In the Christendom model, clergy often carried that entire identity on their shoulders, functioning as the guarantors of a church’s theological or cultural brand. But in this new era, shared ministry will need to take that mantle instead. It’s a harder, more faithful model—one that calls congregations to take ownership of their faith, tradition, and witness together, rather than outsourcing it to a single leader.

If I was in charge…

If I were running my denominational office, my first stop would be to go visit Denver Seminary and Colorado Christian University.¹

I’d tell students: “We’re looking for leaders willing to revitalize dying churches.”
And I’d make it sound like that (possibly apocryphal) Ernest Shackleton ad:

“Men wanted for hazardous journey.
Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness.
Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in event of success.”—

Then I’d deliver my own version to the next generation of pastors and leaders:

“Leaders wanted for sacred but uncertain work.
Long hours, modest pay, limited resources.
Congregations anxious, systems outdated, hopelessness pervasive.
Success in the short-term unlikely, but faithfulness matters forever.
Companionship of the saints guaranteed. Glory only if God wills it.”²

Because the truth of that myth still holds: renewal is hard, lonely, and holy work.

More practically speaking, if I ever did get that denominational job, I’d tell prospective leaders three things:

1. Don’t pull the church from the denomination!

2. Be theologically humble & respect the tradition.

3. Be open to ongoing conversation about how we welcome and include all people.

And frankly, that’s probably why I’d never get the job.

1. I mean nothing against my own alma mater, Phillips Seminary, rather I’m trying to be on-theme and think local.

2. I brainstormed with ChatGPT a Shackelton-inspired ad—I’m fired up just reading myself!

LET’S GO!!