The median age for the clergy leaders of congregations of all faiths across the United States is 55. This may be one indicator of why all religions report that a major challenge is engaging young adults: the perspective of the professional leaders is likely to be middle-aged.
Overall one in eight congregations have a clergy leader who is a woman (12.1 percent of the total congregations of all faiths) although this varies significantly among religions. Some have no women who lead congregations, believing that only males should have this role, while others are seeking to greatly increase the percentage of women in this role.
The clergy leader is a solo role in nearly half of American congregations; 47.5 percent have no assistant or associate clergy person. About the same number (48.1 percent of congregations) have one or more assistants or associates, including 2.8 percent of congregations where there are two co-leaders of equal status. Another 3.5 percent of congregations report that they currently have no clergy leader and are in a time of transition between leaders.
These data are being published for the first time in this article. They are from the 2010 Faith Communities Today (FACT) survey of American congregations, a massive sample that represents almost all of the religious bodies in America. It was planned and coordinated by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership which includes more than 40 of the largest denominations and similar religious groups; Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Old Line and Evangelical Protestants, Baha'i, the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and others.
The median tenure of clergy leaders was five years. Which means of course, that half have served only five years or less in the congregation where they are. A total of 71 percent are full-time, paid professionals. Nearly one in five (18.7 percent) are part-time employees. One in ten are not paid for their role as a clergy leader in a congregation, including 3.9 percent who put full time into the role without remuneration and 6.4 percent are part time.
Nearly two-thirds of clergy leaders have completed graduate degrees; 45.2 percent have a master's degree and 17.6 percent have earned a doctoral degree. Another 21.5 percent have only a college degree, 12.1 percent have some college or technical school or an associate's degree, and 3.6 percent just a high school diploma.
Clearly the dominate pattern for clergy leaders of congregations in America is still a full-time, paid professional with advanced education. This was the primary pattern in 2010 despite the rise of informal religion (small groups meeting in homes and "third place" locations, etc.) and the financial pressures on religious organizations during the previous decade.