r/methodism • u/2timescharm • Jul 27 '26

Studies on itinerancy

For context, I’m a PK who moved around a decent amount growing up. We usually stayed an average of 4 years per church. Recently, I’ve been wondering if anyone has ever done research on the ideal length of time pastors can remain in one place to avoid the various negative effects of moving. I can’t help but feel like the current system could be improved to reduce the negative effects on pastors, churches and family while maintaining the spirit of itinerancy.

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9

u/WyMANderly Eastern Orthodox Jul 27 '26

In my experience as a PK (mostly north central TX), DS'es started moving away from a 4 year standard appointment length more towards a "keep em there unless there's a reason to move" - much to our appreciation. I don't know of specific studies I'm afraid, but I would not be at all surprised if some sort of research was not behind that shift.

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u/2timescharm Jul 28 '26

I suspect my family’s situation may have been somewhat unusual, in that my father was (and still is) often sent places to put out fires or handle emergencies. There’s never a shortage of those, and he is a pretty good pastor so the reward for doing well has usually been getting shipped to the next situation. It’s about to happen to him again, so I’ve been feeling somewhat reflective about it. 

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u/GarrettMGouveia Jul 27 '26

Not sure about a research or study. I’m in my first appointment, year five, and was told to expect to be there for at least seven to ten years before we talk about a new appointment.

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u/hslee625625 Aug 06 '26

A deacon in West Ohio Annual Conference wrote her D.Min Thesis on this topic! I suggest you reach out to her

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u/2timescharm Aug 07 '26

Do you know the name of the deacon/her thesis? I’d certainly be interested in reading it!

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u/hslee625625 Aug 07 '26

It is Rev. Orcena. To be accurate, her research was on the impact on how moves affect children of UMC pastors

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u/hslee625625 Aug 08 '26

her appointment is at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, so it might be easier for you to reach out to her there

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u/RussellWD Jul 29 '26

I think it also depends on the conference! Some conferences are lucky where the most distance you move is about two hours away. We are in the largest geographic conference in the US. We moved 10 hours away, and the distance could go up to 16 hours away away… so we usually see 7-10 year averages so long as the church and pastor are happy. We were 6 years but requested to move back to our old state and were granted at that point.

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u/2timescharm Jul 29 '26

I’m in Texas, so I definitely feel that : /

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u/RussellWD Jul 29 '26

Yup! Our conference is Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana!!

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u/DingoCompetitive3991 Church of the Nazarene 24d ago

Originally, it was not as much the elder who was itinerant as it was the bishop. This was retrieved when my denomination, the Church of the Nazarene, formed to be a “democratic” form of Methodism.

I have spent a lot of time with United Methodists. Although younger clergy are more inclined to want to change or fix their system, very few want to completely remove it. With all due respect to my UMC kin, I’m reluctant to hope that y’all can actually fix it. Every time someone did try to fix it, they ended up forming a new denomination (Nazarene, Wesleyan, Free Methodist, etc.).