The PCA is facing a growing challenge: how will the denomination raise up enough pastors and church planters for the years ahead? Demographic changes, the cost of seminary, and the increasing difficulty of pastoral ministry have all contributed to concern about the future pastoral pipeline. In a recent AMR conversation with Tom Gibbs and Ligon Duncan, Derek Radney explored the scope of that problem. This interview turns to a more practical question: what can local churches actually do about it?

Jason Helopoulos, senior pastor of University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, describes how his congregation has built a ministry training program designed to identify, prepare, and send future leaders. The program includes internships for those considering seminary, residencies for men currently in seminary, and fellowships for post-seminary candidates who need further preparation before receiving a call.

The conversation also addresses some of the practical obstacles churches face when considering this kind of investment: funding, staff time, congregational support, recruiting candidates, and the reality that not every participant will ultimately enter PCA ministry. Helopoulos explains how URC has approached those challenges gradually, including through support raising and by connecting the training program directly to the church’s broader commitment to church planting.

At the heart of the interview is a relatively simple conviction: churches do not have to wait passively for future pastors to appear. They can intentionally identify people, invite them to consider ministry, give them meaningful experience, and invest in their preparation. Helopoulos’s encouragement to other PCA churches is to begin where they are, take appropriate risks, and see raising up future leaders as part of the church’s own participation in the Great Commission.