Lean Years and God's Grace

I am so very glad I am at this place in life rather than starting life and ministry with a young family. Everything seems very expensive and young families seem to be in deep educational and living debt. I wonder how young families make it, especially in small towns or rural areas where secondary or spousal jobs are so very hard to find.

I have to remind myself I have been there. My wife, Nancy, and I got married between our freshman and sophomore years in college. Yeah, probably not the smartest thing, but we were in love. We were not pregnant. There were some, shall I say, family issues which seemed to have forced our decision. We were both committed to completing our college education. Thanks be to God and to some very caring people, we both were able to  graduate on time with very little educational debt. I am still amazed that we did it and how we did it.

By God’s grace we were off to Louisville Presbyterian Seminary. I was blessed to be able to begin a field education assignment, with a small stipend and an apartment, immediately upon college graduation and before seminary classes began. It was a position I was able to stay in for two years. Once again, we were blessed with Nancy getting a teaching position in Louisville to begin in the fall. Thanks to Nancy getting her PHT (putting hubby through), my field work, me driving a school bus for two years, and a benevolent Dean of Students, I graduated from seminary with no financial debt. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not bragging, but basking in awestruck wonder at God’s providential grace.

After seminary life began to get real. We had left the womb of college and seminary. We arrived at my first call with an infant son. I think the terms of my first call were in the neighborhood of $9,000. Yes, gasoline was about 40 cent/gallon, but milk was about $1.15/gallon. Nancy was not working. Reality could no longer be avoided.

As the years went on bills began to accumulate. We had a second child, a daughter. There was a time when we kept transferring credit card debt from one card to another just to keep from defaulting. Even though Nancy had a teaching job at various stages in my second, third and fourth calls we were barely keeping our heads above water. During those times we did not feel we could save any money. We cashed out the small retirement accounts Nancy earned from her teaching with each move to a new call. Thankfully, each call included a manse. However, we discovered each move had hidden costs to us in the neighborhood of a couple thousand dollars.

I wish we would have had the opportunity to have taken one of the Board of Pensions financial fitness workshops and would have had the courage to follow their advice. In our younger days we gave no thought to such things as long term care insurance. Now, the sticker shock of its cost is stunning, if we can even get it. To have purchased LTC when we were in our thirties would have been so much more affordable. To have put a small amount into a retirement saving account would have added up to a nice supplement to pension and social security income.

Yes, I worry about young couples just starting in ministry with massive educational debt. I worry as I see churches selling their manse, especially in small towns and rural areas. If a house can be found to purchase, the question is will it be possible to sell it after a few years? I worry as I see fewer and fewer positions available for first call pastors. Associate positions are being eliminated and fewer congregations can afford a full-time pastor.

I pray God’s providence will be poured out in abundance on those just entering ministry. Even though we went through lean years, it was by God’s grace we have reached this point in life. Thanks be to God!