In many church's today, their would be no preacher if not for
women. Not over a man, but in place of one because a male
preacher is nonexistent.
Our church is part of a conference of small country churchs in
Pa, and Md. There are I believe 7 churches, with 3 preachers.
Can't hire anymore. Cumberland Md church, 20 miles away,
ran an add. Assistant youth pastor, parsonage health insurance,
$35k/yr to start. 50 applicants. None for country church's.
Women are stepping into the gap men are leaving, and picking
up the load men aren't.
Don't really like it myself, and don't want a woman preacher in my
church. My wife would hate it. She is a bigger chauvinist than me!
You've hit the nail on the head. As church membership shrinks, and in particular in the small rural churches, it becomes harder to fill the pastor positions. We attended a Methodist church for a long time, which shared a preacher with another small church about 5-6 miles away. Neither church wanted to merge with the other, and the UMC conference wanted to force them to, so they would get whatever was left over........meaning pastor that nobody else wanted.
Not saying the pastors they sent were no good, as some were. It got so bad at the end, right before we left, that the only preacher willing to take both churches was a Baptist pastor, who agreed to become a Methodist. After a year, the two churches went their separate ways, and our church found a retired pastor to take over.
Most people who attend the large churches simply have no idea how difficult it is to fill the pulpit in the small churches. Money, or the lack of it, is often a big problem, and just keeping the doors open is the priority. As the older members die off, there are fewer and fewer younger people stepping in to fill the gap. Often times these churches have to find whoever is willing to be their pastor, instead of having a lot of choices available.
As you have said, in many of these churches, if not for the women, there would be no church. That's just how it is, something that apparently some on here don't understand.
