Pastors | Nazarene Presence in the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion (1898-2017)

There are a few datapoints that jump of the chart. 

I think it is important to remember that only half of the pastors have been assigned to their present assignment since only 2013. Almost one-third of them for less than three years. One wonders if this is enough time to get to know a some place in-depth. 

Half of the assigned pastors are serving churches that typically run less than 54 on a given Sunday.

Here is the most troubling data point, in my opinion: There are 58 churches without an assigned pastor at the time this demographic snapshot was taken. 438 churches are active, so that means about 13% of churches had no pastoral leadership. More than one out of ten churches were without a senior pastor. Questions come to mind: Are there not enough qualified pastors? Is it taking too long to replace vacant pulpits? Who is preaching in these pulpits in the gaps? Who will provide biblical literacy, theological coherency, and missional leadership? Is there a systemic malfunction in producing pastors that needs to be dealt with? So many questions.

Another sobering fact. There are 380 current pastors on this megaregion and 318 in the Texas Triangle even though they have similar membership numbers.

Texas Triangle = 51,107 members with 318 assigned pastors 
Piedmont Atlantic =  51,916 members with 380 assigned pastors

If that number does not do it, maybe the following ratios will do it,
the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion has
one senior assigned pastor per 46,315 inhabitants according to 2010 data.

If the Church of the Nazarene in this megaregion maintains this current number of pastors, this ratio will increase to:
1 senior pastor to 57,105 inhabitants by 2025
1 senior pastor to  82,368 inhabitants by 2050

The sobering fact is "if the COTN maintains this current number of pastors . . . ." There is not yet a provision for multiplying this number. 

Resources

• Church Closings | Piedmont Atlantic 
• Church Presence | Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion
• Other U.S. Megaregions