Overseer Crisis

8 min read

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.

— 1 Timothy 3:1-4

I asked Google AI, “Are less young people becoming pastors?” And Google AI answered, “Yes, there is a trend indicating fewer younger individuals are pursuing careers as pastors.”

Of course, I expected that answer. It seems that our own (predominantly) Korean-American, Baptist context supports the semi-anecdotal evidence provided by Google AI.

When I was in seminary, there was a group of about 10-15 young (twenty something), Korean-Americans who were pursuing God’s calling to become next-generation pastors. And we were not a large seminary. Almost all of them served in youth ministry at their respective churches. Most of them are not in ministry any more. But we (meaning Canvas) have a personal relationship with three of them: Jae and Jamie H. (company friends in Central Asia), as well as our own Chul Kwon.

Obviously, I don’t know about the entire landscape of young (twenty-thirty something) Korean-Americans who are currently attending seminar, but our Korean-American Southern Baptist community is not large. And I get a very strong sense that there are only a few young Korean-Americans who are pursing God’s calling to become church pastors for the next generation.

What’s interesting (alarming?) is that two years ago, at our 2024 Korean Baptist English Ministers’ Fellowship in Cincinnati, OH, about eight young staff ministers drove up from ONE church—the largest Korean-American church in Dallas. Only one of them was culturally American and perfectly fluent in English, and she leads the youth ministry. The rest of them were wonderful, faithful young-ish ministers, but they were all linguistically and culturally Korean.

In fact, there was no adult English-speaking ministry (EM) to speak of at that church, because the part-time EM pastor of that church had recently left. Furthermore, the demographic make-up of that group that visited KBEMF is not unique in large Korean-American churches—nor is the fate of EM ministries and ministers in large Korean-American churches.

In fact, among Korean-American Baptist churches, Canvas is probably the largest EM in the US. As far as I am aware, the only other church that is on par with us is a church in NorCal. And I don’t say that boastfully.

Of course, the issue of the downward trend of young ministers is very complicated. But I wonder if part of the problem is the general obsession that many people have with numbers.

People often ask me how many people attend Canvas, and when I tell them, they are amazed at how “huge” we are. And I don’t like to turn people off, so I just smile and say something like, “Yeah, God has been gracious to us.” But in the back of my mind, I think of all the brothers and sisters who have left, and it breaks my heart.

Of course, God HAS been gracious to us. But not because of numbers.

And it may seem counterintuitive that an obsession with numbers would lead to less young people going into seminary. But in my mind, this obsession with numbers is what gives young people a completely wrong idea about what ministry is about and what it takes to be a pastor.

The qualifications for an overseer in this text (that is a lead pastor) say nothing about the ability to attract large crowds. Nor do the qualifications for a deacon that follow.

I’m convinced that more young people would enter vocational ministry (at least, more qualified young people would) if churches would stop obsessing over numbers and start obsessing more about the things that truly matter: to be above reproach, to be faithful to one another, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, teachable and able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

The goal is love, not numbers. I wonder if the church in the US and S. Korea has been faltering because of it’s obsession over numbers.

Father, You know my heart. You have been gracious, and you have filled this community with broken sheep, all of us, who need Christ. Forgive me, Lord, for not doing a better job of pointing people to Christ as an overseer. Have I just been concerned about numbers so that I can point to myself? May it never be so. Forgive me if I have. Let me be less, Lord. But YOU be greater. YOU be greater, Lord. In Jesus’s name. Amen.