How the Respect for the Office of the Pastorate has changed from the Days of the Founding Fathers of the US to Current Times
This paper discusses in detail the research proposal on how the congregations accepted and submitted to the authority of the local pastor from the colonial days to current times. In particular, the research will focus on the questions: “What are the related factors affecting the change of respect for the office of the pastorate from days of the founding fathers to current times?” In this research proposal, the background, context and theme of the study are presented; the objectives of the study and the research statements are formulated. Here, vital concepts, questions and assumptions are stated. Finally, the scope and limitation of the study, methodology to be used and the significance of the research are discussed. Further, this paper briefly reviews related literature.
PROBLEM TO BE INVESTIGATED
Purpose of the Study
Generally, the purpose of the research is to conduct an experimental study to determine the relationship of respect to the pastoral office from the days of the founding fathers of the US to current times. The research will specifically identify the different factors related to the vanishing respect to the office of the pastorate. Moreover, this proposed study would review relevant literature on the same topic. Based on the preliminary review of literature, the researcher assumed that there is a change of attitude toward the office of the pastor, such as religious scandals of past and recent times, misuse of pastors of their authority, the effects of education within the congregations opposed to the pastor, and other related variables.
Research Question and Null Hypothesis
The focus of this problem statement is to establish and determine the impact of fading respect to the office of the pastorate to Christian community. Currently, there are no studies that provide a definitive answer regarding the negative and positive influence of fading respect to the office of the pastorate. The researcher is hopeful that the proposed research will yield a significant result in terms of both positive and negative impact of respect to Christian community. Thus, the study will work on the following hypothesis: “There is a significant relationship between the respect to the pastoral office from the days of the founding fathers of the US and respect to the pastoral office to current times”
This study will attempt to answer the following questions:
1. What are the related factors affecting to the loss of credibility to the office of the pastorate?
2. What is the degree of impact of the losing respect to the office of the pastorate to Christian community?
3. What is the degree of relationship of respect to the pastoral office from the days of the founding fathers of the US and respect to the pastoral office to current times?
Definition of Terms
Brief Overview of the Study
The proposed study will attempt to prove that there is a significant relationship between respect to the pastoral office from the days of the founding fathers of the US and respect to the pastoral office to current times. A comparison of policies in the days of the founding fathers of the US and to current times, using experimental research method, will be made to the 15 pastors who have served more than 5 years to the ministry. The study will be divided into five sections. The first section will introduce the topic and the background and nature of the problem. The second section will present a review of literature. The third section will discuss the methodologies that will be used for the study. The forth chapter will be presenting the results and findings. And the final section will present the conclusion.
BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Over the past several decades American historians have emphasized the importance of New England ministers as town leaders during the colonial and Revolutionary eras. Recently, several scholars have examined changing roles of Congregational and Presbyterian pastors from the 1630s to the early nineteenth century. Kirisch G.B. (1980) Ministerial dismissals are an important aspect of this subject, yet historians have not given this topic the critical analysis it deserves. This study will discuss the nature of these dismissals and explain their significance in relation to several broad questions of social change in New England prior to 1790. Although New Hampshire’s experience with clerical removals was not necessarily representative of New England, that state merits special attention because it has been neglected in studies of this period.
New England clergy in the seventeenth century struggled with conflicting conceptions of the proper ministerial role. As David Hall has noted, one tendency in Puritanism was to stress a pastor’s dependency on an autonomous congregation. Here his primary responsibility was to foster conversions and serve the spiritual needs of his people. A second and opposite tendency was to emphasize the minister’s role as a representative of a higher order of God’s agents. According to this view, clergymen enjoyed a special status apart from their own congregations even as they administered sacraments and supervised the religious life of their communities. Hall concludes that the latter trend dominated New England religious life by the end of the seventeenth century. William Youngs sees this pattern continuing with the rise of “clericalism” in the first half of the next century. He argues that prior to the Great Awakening, Congregational clergymen were more concerned with the prestige and welfare of their profession than with the well-being of their people. Youngs concludes that the mid- eighteenth century revivals demonstrated the failure of Congregational clericalism and fostered a revised understanding of a minister’s role that stressed his dependency on his congregation and his responsibility as a pastoral guide. Since dismissals are a critical indicator of ministerial status, a study of their frequency and significance should help to test the findings of Hall and Youngs, at least for the case of the New Hampshire clergy.
Throughout the colonial period a Congregational minister held a kind of public office. As a town’s spiritual leader he was expected to promote homogeneity, uniformity, solidarity, peace and order. He guided his parishioners as a shepherd tended his flock, functioning as a symbol and focus of religious purpose within his community. The ideal was that his people should learn from him and try to resolve their spiritual and secular difficulties through his guidance. To achieve this ideal within the parish a clergyman preached the gospel, set a good example, catechized children, counseled people and enforced church discipline. From the record of local church and town histories, it is clear that many New Hampshire parishes enjoyed harmonious relationships with their pastors. Statistical evidence shows that the average term length for the sixty-six ministers who died in office from 1633 to 1790 was nearly twenty-five years. For the seventy-seven who were dismissed during this period the average term was still over ten years. Thus, many New Hampshire towns experienced long-term church stability through the lengthy tenure of their religious leaders.
Dismissals were thus major events in the social functioning of colonial New England towns. It seems logical to assume that any significant change in their numbers or nature would signify important changes in the status of the Congregational clergy. Dismissals may also provide clues to larger aspects of social change in colonial and Revolutionary New England. If in fact the Revolution did help to accelerate the crisis of the New England Way, dismissals may provide evidence of just how and why the changes occurred in church and town life.
Over four decades ago, Clifford Shipton studied parish turmoil and dismissal rates in New England from 1680 to 1740. 7He found that out of 400 ministers, 28 percent experienced serious problems with their people. Of his total sample, 8 percent were dismissed or forced to resign over conflicts century. The data also suggests that despite the traditional New England bias against dismissals, removal prior to death actually accounts for more than half of the terminated pastorates for Congregational and Presbyterian ministers before 1790. The incongruity between the ideal theory of the New England Way and the reality of the frequency of pastoral dismissals requires explanation.
It is first necessary to examine the short-term or immediate causes for the dismissals before considering the long-term, underlying reasons for the substantial increase in the rate of removals. For purposes of clarity, virtually all seventy-seven New Hampshire dismissals before 1790 may be placed in one of four broad categories: personal, religious, financial or political. Of course, in many instances a combination of factors contributed to the removal of the town pastor, and it is extremely difficult to determine which factor was most important. Despite this important qualification, these four classifications provide the best framework for an analysis of the immediate causes for the removals.
Most Congregationalists recognized that a church could rid itself of an ill, scandalous or incompetent pastor provided that the correct procedures were followed and the financial settlement was just. Within this personal category there were various cases covering a wide range of complaints. Dover removed Nicholas Sever in 1715 after he apparently lost his voice. Jacob Rice had a running battle with the people of Henniker in the 1770s over his health and his ability to continue as a full-time pastor. Moses Hale left Chester in 1735 over “great disorder of body and distraction of mind.” Joseph Farrar of Dublin experienced what appear to be sexual fantasies concerning the designs of several women on him. An ecclesiastical council decided that he was mentally sick but not immoral, and he was dismissed in 1776.
More serious and shocking to New Hampshire townspeople were cases that involved flagrant immorality, usually associated with intemperance or sexual misconduct. There were at least four instances during the Revolutionary period in which a minister lost his position because of excessive drinking. The most notorious case was that of John Morrison of Peterborough, who seems to have offended the townspeople on two accounts — liquor and sex. The outraged citizens charged him with profane swearing, drunkenness, immodest actions and conversations, and other lewd, wicked and disorderly behavior. Morrison left town in 1772, joined the American army in 1775, deserted to the British, then apparently became an atheist and drank himself into the grave in 1782. 10A few other ministers became implicated in sex scandals. The townspeople of Rye rid themselves of Nathaniel Morrill in 1733 after his affair with his servant girl resulted in her pregnancy. Robert Cutler of Epping lost his pulpit in 1755 over his apparent adultery. Nathaniel Merrill of Boscawen was dismissed in 1774 partly because of some scandalous conduct toward his own wife (whom he later accused of adultery) and toward other women. Some parishes removed their pastors for reasons more mundane, such as failure to fulfill professional obligations. Parishioners sometimes took issue with the preaching style of a minister, but in most cases the complaint was that the clergyman was simply not doing the job he was paid to do. Thus Joseph Cummings of Marlborough was charged by the town with not spending a reasonable time in his studies, not visiting the sick, not catechizing the children, not seeking after those who went astray and also (presumably for good measure) for being “unexemplary in walk, imprudent in conversation, unchristian in comparing, rash in judgment, slandering, profane, and deceitful.” An ecclesiastical council dismissed him in 1780. Jacob Emery of Pembroke shared a similar fate in March of 1775, when a church committee accused him of the neglect of catechism and visits, frequent absence on Sabbath, preaching old sermons from new texts, not studying hard enough, and generally for falling short of what they expected from their spiritual leader.
The second general class of dismissals of New Hampshire clergymen before 1790 includes religious controversies over matters of church polity, theology or both. Religious disputes involving pastors were extremely serious because they threatened the very foundation of church and town life by raising the possibility of schism for both the secular and religious communities. They date from New Hampshire’s earliest years. During the 1630s and 1640s, rival sects of Anglicans and Puritans in Dover rallied behind competing colleagues and, as a result, four of the town’s first five ministers lost their positions. The next phase of removals caused by religious quarrels occurred one hundred years later, during the aftermath of the Great Awakening. Josiah Swan’s opposition to revivals was apparently one major factor in his dismissal from the Nashua pulpit in 1746. Samuel Bird shared the same fate five years later in the same town. The settlement of Bird, who was a “New Light,” resulted in a division of the Nashua church. The New Hampshire legislature ruled that his original call to the Nashua pulpit was unenforceable. His inability to collect a salary led to dismissal in 1751.
From 1765 to 1789 New Hampshire witnessed two kinds of religious controversies. The first involved cases where minority factions or denominations such as Presbyterians, Baptists or evangelical Calvinist Congregationalists challenged a minister for the express purpose of separation. Paine Wingate was ordained at Hampton Falls in 1763, but soon faced opposition from a Presbyterian faction unhappy over his selection. In 1768 this group formed the First Presbyterian Church of Seabrook and obtained grudging recognition from the remaining members of the Hampton Falls congregation. As a result of the schism, the old meetinghouse became geographically inconvenient for many of the old parishioners, and a move to relocate and build a new church was begun. A new controversy then ensued which culminated in Wingate’s dismissal in 1776. Thus, although Wingate was not a direct casualty of the first Presbyterian separation, the schism disrupted the delicate balance of religion in town, thereby creating a secondary disturbance which forced his removal. The case of James Wellman of Cornish provides another example of this type. Ordained in 1768 after being dismissed from a church in Sutton, Massachusetts for being too liberal in theology, he encountered a similar charge at Cornish in the 1770s. A faction of strict Calvinists complained about his pastorate, demanding stricter doctrine, more evangelical preaching and a meetinghouse nearer the center of town. In 1781 an ecclesiastical council read Cornish out of the fellowship of churches. The Calvinists then separated and built their own meetinghouse. Wellman was unable to live on the support of his remaining people and initiated his own dismissal in 1785.
PROCEDURES
Description of the Research Design
There are three kinds of research methods, correlational, experimental and descriptive. (Walliman and Baiche, 2001) The correlational kind of research method is used due to ethical problems with experiments. It is also used due to practical problems with experiments. Moreover, inferring causality from correlation not actually impossible, but very difficult. This mode of study is widely applicable, cheap, and usually ethical. Nonetheless, there exist some “third variable” issues and measurement problems.
The correlational research refers to studies in which the purpose is to discover relationships between variables through the use of correlational statistics (r). The square of a correlation coefficient yields the explained variance (r-squared). A correlational relationship between two variables is occasionally the result of an outside source, so we have to be careful and remember that correlation does not necessarily tell us about cause and effect. If a strong relationship is found between two variables, using an experimental approach can test causality.
In the descriptive method, it is possible that the study will be cheap and quick. It can also suggest unanticipated hypotheses. Nonetheless, this method will be very hard to rule out alternative explanations and especially infer causations. This descriptive type of research utilizes observations in the study. To illustrate the descriptive type of research, Creswell (1994) states that the descriptive method of research is to gather information about the present existing condition.
In this study, the experimental method will be used; it is the only method that can be used to establish cause-and-effect relationships (Creswell, 1994). That is, it is the only one that can be used to explain the bases of behaviour and mental processes. In this method, the subjects are split into two (or more) groups. One group, called the experimental group gets the treatment that the researcher believes will cause something to happen (this treatment is formally called the independent variable). The experimental and control groups are compared on some variable that is presumed to reflect the effects of the treatment, or outcome. This is formally referred to as the dependent variable.
To come up with pertinent findings and to provide credible recommendations, this study will utilize two sources of research: primary and secondary. Primary research data will be obtained through this new research study. The secondary research data will be obtained from previous studies on the same topic.
This research will base its findings partially through quantitative research methods because this permits a flexible and iterative approach. During data gathering the choice and design of methods will be constantly modified, based on ongoing analysis. This will allow investigation of important new issues about single parenting and questions as they arise, and allow the researcher to drop unproductive areas of research from the original research plan.
This study will also employ qualitative research method because it intends to find and build theories that will explain the relationship of one variable with another variable through qualitative elements in research. Through this method, qualitative elements that do not have standard measures such as behavior, attitudes, opinions, and beliefs will be analysed.
Furthermore qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Accordingly, qualitative researchers deploy a wide range of interconnected methods, hoping always to get a better fix on the subject matter at hand.
For this research design, the researcher will gather data, collate published studies from different local and foreign universities and articles from books and journals; and will make a content analysis of the collected documentary and verbal material. Afterwards, the researcher will summarize all the information and make a conclusion based on the hypotheses posited.
Description of the Sample
The population for this study will be investors, business organization leaders and consumers. Samples will compose of 30 Christians who have served more than 5 years at their church. Stratified random sampling from Christian community will be used to ensure a sample representative of all socioeconomic levels in the community. Ten (10) samples will be randomly selected from each different organization/ministry.
Description of the Instruments
To determine what perception of the respondents pertaining the impact of losing respect to the office of the pastorate, the researcher will prepare a questionnaire and a set of guide questions for the interview that will be asked to the intended respondents. Questionnaires will be of a non-threatening nature that can be completed within 30 minutes. The respondents will grade each statement in the survey-questionnaire using a Likert scale with a five-response scale wherein respondents will be given five response choices. The equivalent weights for the answers will be:
Range Interpretation
4.50 – 5.00 Strongly Agree
3.50 – 4.00 Agree
2.50 – 3.49 Uncertain
1.50 – 2.49 Disagree
0.00 – 1.49 Strongly Disagree
Moreover, the researcher will also conduct interview with the respondents. The interview shall be using a semi-structured interview. It shall consist of a list of specific questions and the interviewer, at times, does deviate from the list or inject any extra remarks into the interview process. The interviewer may encourage the interviewee to clarify vague statements or to further elaborate on brief comments. Otherwise, the interviewer attempts to be objective and tries not to influence the interviewer’s statements. The interviewer does not share his/her own beliefs and opinions. The structured interview is mostly a “question and answer” session.
For validation purposes, the researcher will initially submit a sample of the set of survey questionnaires and after approval; the survey will be conducted to five respondents. After the questions were answered, the researcher will ask the respondents for any suggestions or any necessary corrections to ensure further improvement and validity of the instrument. The researcher will again examine the content of the interview questions to find out the reliability of the instrument. The researchers will exclude irrelevant questions and will change words that would be deemed difficult by the respondents, too much simpler terms. The researcher will exclude the five respondents who will be initially used for the validation of the instrument.
Explanation of Procedures
The project procedure will be broken down into five key stages; problem definition, research design, data collection, analysis of results and presentation findings and recommendations.
The project owner develops the original idea for the research project. The idea is discussed with the supervisor and other students. The project supervisor then provided guidance on developing the hypotheses and key reference material that would be needed for the project. After the approval of this research proposal, the researcher will review literature pertaining to the topic.
Afterwards, significant issues and problems will be identified. The researcher will then start determining the population for the study, following the sampling. For this study, the researcher will focus on Christian community of US, particularly to shepherd to Christ. The researcher will ask the consent of the Christians and Pastors. They will be ensured that their response to the survey and interview will be handled with high confidentiality. The procedures in data gathering will cover three months.
The researcher will collate, tally and tabulate the results. A preliminary analysis will be done before submitting the final draft to the supervisor.
Discussion of External Validity
The researcher will attempt to make the sample as representative to the population as possible. The population will be Christians, non-Christians and Pastors The study will only cover the city/state of ____. Different organizations will be selected through stratified random sampling so as to have a representative sample in relation to socioeconomic backgrounds. In each organization, ten respondents will be selected through a systematic random sampling.
Discussion of Internal Validity
The researcher will make sure to rule out any threats to the internal validity of the study. The researcher will consider events that occur during the course of the program that might impact the final outcome. In the testing part, the researcher will make sure that the content of the testing instrument used in pretest does not duplicate the posttest. Instead, the researcher will make the content of the posttest reflective of the pretest. Moreover, the researcher is hoping that participants will not drop out from the program. In presenting the findings of the study, the researcher will ask the help of a statistician in interpreting the results of survey and tests.
References:
Calhoun, Professional Lives, p. 93.
Cotton Mather, Ratio Disciplinae Fratum Nov-Anglorum (Boston, 1726 ), pp. 167-168.
Cotton Mather, Thirty Important Cases (Boston, 1699 ), pp. 27-30.
Mather, Ratio Disciplinae, pp. 163-168, 170-171. Presbyterian procedures were similar to those for Congregationalists, with the important exception of the appeal to a regional presbytery rather than an ecclesiastical council.
Henry Martyn Dexter, The Congregationalism of the Last Three Hundred Years (New York, 1880 ), p. 586.
Clifford K. Shipton, “The New England Clergy of the Glacial Age”,” Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts 32 ( 1937 ): 50-51.
Lawrence, NHC, p. 240; Jonathan Smith,
Lawrence, NHC, pp. 321, 387-388; Shipton, HG, 5: 91, 16: 208-210;
Leander W. Cogswell , History of the Town of Henniker, N.H., 1735-1880 (Concord, Mass., 1880 ), pp. 104-115. For Hale, see Lawrence, NCH, p. 28, and Shipton, HG, 7:77-78. For Farrar, see Lawrence, NHC, p. 255; Shipton, HG, 16: 463-465; and Charles Mason, History of Dublin, N.H. (Boston, 1855 ), pp. 156-162.
Shipton, HG, 7:242-243, 11:21-25 and 16:504-506; Lawrence, NHC, pp. 45, 348-
349; Charles C. Coffin, History of Boscawen and Webster from 1733 to
1878 (Concord, N.H., 1878 ), pp. 109-110;
Ebenezer A. M. Price, A Chronological Register of Boscawen (Concord, Mass.,
1823 ), pp. 61-62.
Lawrence, NHC, pp. 280-281; Charles A. Bemis, A History of the Town of
Marlborough, N.H. (Boston, 1881 ), pp. 100-109; “MS document,”
Miscellaneous Letters, Pembroke Congregational Church, Pembroke,
N.H.
George Wadleigh, Notable Events in the History of Dover, New Hampshire
(Dover, N.H., 1913 ), pp. 13-241; Lawrence, NHC, pp. 222, 318-319;
Shipton, HG, 9: 331-332, 11: 359-364.
Lawrence, NHC, pp. 78-79; Shipton, HG, 14: 533-458; Warren Brown, History of
the Town of Hampton Falls, New Hampshire, 1640-1900, 2 vols.
(Concord, N.H., 1918 ), 2: 28-37; New Hampshire State Papers, 9: 362-
375; Weare Family MSS, Folder E, New Hampshire Historical Society,
Concord, N.H.
Lawrence, NHC, pp. 436-440; Shipton, HG, 11: 487-494. Abraham Carpenter,
minister in nearby Plainfield, was dismissed in 1788, apparently
because of theological quarrels. See Lawrence, NHC, p. 471 and New
Hampshire State Papers, 13: 206.
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