A little over 25 years ago, a colleague told me how her employment at her church ended. I have worked with this colleague on many different projects over the years. We had chaperoned many youth events. We had traveled to church meetings together. We had been counselors at camp together. I knew her husband and her sons. I had been a guest in their home. I had visited her church and watched her at work. After college, she and her husband moved back to where she grew up. They both taught in public schools and became active in the church where she had belonged as a teen. Her parents were active in the same congregation. After several years, the church was looking to hire a Director of Christian Education, and after being urged to do so by the pastor, she applied for the job and was hired. The pay and benefits were less than she had been making as a school teacher, but the job offered flexibility, giving her more time with her young children. Her husband later switched careers and began working for a bank, which helped their family budget and supported her church work. Over the years, the program at the church grew, and her work there became full-time. She oversaw a thriving church school program and a very active youth ministry.

The senior pastor at the church changed from time to time as pastors moved on from that congregation. One or two retired at the end of their careers. I don’t know the whole story, but a new pastor was hired after she had worked at the church for more than 20 years. This pastor wanted to lead the congregation in new directions, including significant changes in education programs and staffing. My colleague was asked to submit her resignation. She did so without projecting the conflict into the congregation.

A few years afterward, I visited the town where my colleague lived. Her father was receiving hospice care, and I stayed with the family at the hospice house. When he died, I kept in touch with my colleague by telephone. I learned that she and her husband had visited several congregations after her employment at her home church had ended but had not found one that was a good match. They remained church members for a while but didn’t attend regularly. After her parents passed away, they quit going to church.

The tragedy of the situation has always struck me. The church lost a capable and vibrant educator, and my colleague lost her connection with the church. The pain of the way she was dismissed became a wound from which she could not recover.

I saw that scenario play out many times in my career. There used to be many dedicated and well-educated church educators in settings across the church. Educators served in local congregations, conference offices, and the national setting of the church. Most of those jobs have been eliminated. Some say this has occurred because fewer children and youth are in the church, which is true. However, the decrease might also be attributed to the lack of staff and support for children’s and youth ministries.

Organizations change, and their leadership changes. I understand that. However, the downsizing of church staff has been particularly painful. Dedicated employees deserve better treatment than has been the case in many of those situations.

This week, I will attend a virtual event marking the end of a long tenure of service for a colleague. This colleague has been serving as faith formation minister for a sizeable multi-staff conference in another region of the country. However, the conference has shown that it is moving to eliminate the position. Several staff members were dedicated to children’s and youth ministries not long ago. Now, the conference will move ahead without dedicated education staff.

I am aware of my bias. I have always prioritized ministry to and with children and youth in my church work, and I have always worked alongside talented and capable colleagues dedicated to faith formation work. I have also watched congregations slide into decline through the mistaken notion that the way to balance budgets is to cut staff. Since joining our church, we have made staff cuts to balance the budget at every annual meeting. They have gone from three full-time ministers to one and have also cut back on support staff. I am not in leadership, and I will not become involved in leadership, but I have serious questions about the direction in which the church is going. That experience might teach that cutting staff is not working to balance the budget. I haven’t seen any serious attempts at increasing income to support existing staff. I think some members have reacted to staff cuts by decreasing their giving.

Beyond my concerns for the church's future and its ministries with children and youth, I am saddened by how former employees have been treated. Professional ethics dictate that church leaders refrain from participating in leadership in congregations that once employed them. This boundary, however, often means that former church leaders not only lose their jobs, they lose their churches as well. After years of faithful service, these people find themselves without a church home. A few find new church homes, but many remain in their communities but no longer have a congregation to serve them.

Conferences and wider church agencies are not good at supporting former church employees. Too often former employees are left without support and nurture. They worked for years at low salaries with meager benefits and are left with retirement incomes that are much smaller than if they had worked in other vocations. Now, they struggle to make ends meet while they are left without a spiritual home and a worshipping community. Of course, this is not the case for every former church employee. Many of them have found new church homes and are supported by congregations. However, I know enough who feel that the church has thrown them away to be aware that the stories of my colleagues are not isolated. There are many other tragedies in the church.

We can and must do better. The alternative is the continuing decline of the institution we love and to which we have dedicated our careers and lives.