The Minister at Work

Out of U.S. Protestant seminaries each spring the fledgling ministers come, eager for service and responsibility as God's men in the world. What happens then? An explicit answer came last week from Sociologist Samuel W. Blizzard Jr. of Pennsylvania State University, who gave the Greater Pittsburgh Ministerial Union a preliminary report on a 2 1/2-year, $40,-000 survey, financed from the Russell Sage Foundation. Subject of the survey: the requirements of the modern ministry.

With an eleven-page questionnaire, Professor Blizzard examined 346 ministers, balanced as to location, education and denomination. Their average age was 46.8; their average term with their parish was almost eight years. Some of his findings:

P:The average minister apportions 38% of his time to administration, 26% to pastoral duties, 19% as a preacher and priest, 12% as organizer, 5% as teacher.

P:Most ministers had what Sociologist Blizzard calls a "theological concept" of the church. Of these, 37% were "individualistic" ("The church is the place where an individual has a personal experience with God"), and 33% were "sacramental" ("The church is the mediator of God's grace"). Thirty percent held a "communal" view of the church ("We are a fellowship of believers").

P:Most frequent theme for sermons (60%) was man's spiritual obligation to God: 51% cited sermons devoted to "the works of the Deity." 44% to the value of religion to society, 23% to the value of religion to the individual.

P:Thirty-six percent feel that they need more time for reading, study and private devotions (the daily average: an hour and 38 minutes). But almost 28% feel that a minister should be an "outer-directed person" or "radiant personality." Most galling problem of ministers (29%) was a sense of not living up "to the calling." Eleven percent were bothered by conflicts -"study v. out-with-the-people," "oiling machinery v. essential work."

P:Despite their avowed desire to know all kinds of people, ministers tend to associate with leaders of the community. Their effectiveness as churchmen is impaired, more than a third of them reported, by this failure "to maintain fellowship with all groups" and by the difficulty of "loving people . . ."

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