As a female minister in her first call to a rural congregation (the nearest large city is 2.5 hours away), where I am their first female pastor, I feel qualified to comment.
With regard to the "first-call shortage," I believe it would help to amend the PIF and CIF to include the additional category of "First-call/Second Career." Those 174 churches unwilling to consider a first-call candidate may actually be uncertain about calling a very young, inexperienced candidate. Nearly half my seminary (classmates) were second-career candidates who had been bankers, financial planners, social workers, attorneys, judges, pharmacists, corporate executives … with advanced degrees. Several of us had been elders for 25 years or more and two of us had already served as CLPs. It is wrong-headed to exclude such exceptional candidates simply because a PNC decides to use this arbitrary limit. …
With regard to the 93% of candidates unwilling to serve in a rural area, or who restrict their search to "one or two particular states," my husband and I decided at the outset of our search that we would put no limits on God's call. We had phone interviews with churches from coast-to-coast, both urban and rural, and interviewed in three states before accepting a call to a rural, county seat congregation with more than 130 members. We left our home of 30 years in a major city, brought my 95-year-old mother along, and are having the adventure of our lives in the midst of a welcoming and vibrant church community.
I don't believe we are "exceptions to the rule." I think God will honor both churches and candidates who are willing to remove false limits and let God initiate their calls.
Deborah Hollifield, pastor
First Church
Guymon, Okla.
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