There seems to be a shortage of men coming forward for pastoral ministry. Our seminaries are seeing fewer enrolments. Vacancies in our churches are becoming more numerous and tend to last longer. Our retired minsters and lay preachers are overworked in the absence of full-time pastors. Something appears to be amiss.
No doubt some will perceive this to be divine judgment. They will point to faults and flaws in the UK church and claim that God, in withholding gospel ministers, is chastising us. But that sombre diagnosis suffers from the same problem as every other attempt to discern the mind of God in contemporary events: it is speculative.
We have no apostles or prophets to explain to us God’s rationale for this shortage of pastors. The suggestion that he is disciplining us may be correct. Equally, however, it may be quite mistaken.
