Network Blog

This is about as unscientific as it gets.  I can't stress that enough.  But I've noticed something in the last 2-3 months:

More churches seem to be hiring youth ministry leaders again.

The Network's placement page has become the de facto national clearinghouse for positions in ELCA congregations (and other settings).  Congregations list their position openings there and we keep the positions posted for 90 days, unless the fill us and ask us to remove it, or they ask us to extend it.  

Typically on our web site, there are anywhere from 35-45 positions all over the country that are posted there.  The positions are almost all lay staff positions, because pastors have a call process that they work through (though sometimes there are pastoral positions listed there as well.)  Other rostered leaders have a call process, though the effectiveness of those systems seem to vary from synod to synod or can make use of our placement page.

Occasionally I'll glance at the list and see what's there, just out of curiosity.

I remember being startled last fall, typically a time of high activity in the church-placement world, and found only 9 open positions.  9.  For the whole country.  9.  Interestingly, the highest concentration of those 9 was in region 5.  The other 6 were spread out over the other 8 regions of the country.  

I shouldn't have been surprised.  I knew things were bad.  And I knew of churches cutting positions all over the place.  But 9 still startled me.

I haven't really looked at it with intentionality since then.  But yesterday I received not one but two emails from congregations in different parts of the country asking me to take their listings down early because they had filled the positions.  I looked.  

Yesterday, there were 27 open positions listed.

Now let me say again, this is not scientific.  It may mean nothing.  But it also may.

Are we in recovery?  I don't know.  But we hear words from the rest of the world that the economy is in rebound mode.  And we know that rebound tends to come to the world of the church last.  We are usually at the tail end of the economic train.  

But maybe this means that things in congregations are starting to turn around.  Just maybe it means that congregations are saying "ok, we're able to bring staff back...or to add.  And tending the faith journey of the young is important."  

I'm going to keep watching the number of congregations searching.  And I am going to continue to hope.

Networked in Christ,
Todd.