Retiring ministers

What is there about the Church in Wales? They've made the headlines in every news bulletin today (May 16th) because they've asked their congregations to pray for more priests - on the grounds, we are told, that 25% of them are retiring in the next ten years.

I'm not sure that maths is my strong point, but I'm thinking it out like this. Get a young man or woman trained as quick as the system allows, and ordain them straight out of college, and what is the most you get out of them? Surely a ministry of just about 40 years? (All right, increased retirement ages will add a little bit there.) But most of our entrants are well on in years - they're second career people. I can't believe it's any different for Anglicans in Wales. Say you were getting an average of 25 years service per ordinand (an optimistic statistic), this means you have a complete turn over every 25 years and so expect to lose a quarter of your clergy every six or seven years. If it takes ten years as the Welsh are claiming for a quarter to see retirement, the parishes are more likely to be praying for them to go.

Compare and contrast with the URC - and I think the Methodists are in much the same situation. I can promise you things are very much worse. And so far as our synod is concerned, of the 28 fulltime stipendiary ministers (not CRCWs) currently deployed among us, I think exactly half of us are coming up to retirement age in the next five years.

Does anyone know how to get on the news next Sunday?