In Douglas Adams “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series there is a device called a “Somebody Else’s Problem Field” which works like a cloaking device except that instead of making something invisible, it makes anyone who looks at it think that the object in question is Somebody Else’s Problem and thus they ignore it as if were actually invisible. This bit of humor contains a kernel of truth in that we often ignore people and things that we do not consider to be “our problem” and one of the oldest and most well-known examples of this tendency comes from the Parable of the Good Samaritan wherein a priest and a Levite both ignore the robbery victim because they do not perceive him as being “their problem”.
As much as we Christians like to think that we would be the Good Samaritan too, I have discovered that we have far more in common with the priest and the Levite than we like to think. I graduated from seminary in May of 2022 and I have been looking for a job ever since, but I have still not been able to get one because of what I am calling the "Somewhere Else Problem Field", aka the Experience Wall. I have an MDIV but no Ministry experience, and so I keep hearing the same thing over and over again:
“No, we cannot hire you because you don’t have any experience.”
“But how am I supposed to get experience?”
“Somewhere else.”
I’ve been looking for this mythical place called “Somewhere Else” for over six months now and I still haven’t found it. It seems like every job posting I see is asking for someone who already has experience while no one is willing to be the Good Samaritan of the job market and say “Here, we’ll hire you for a few years to give you some experience.”
And this got me thinking: how many of our Biblical heroes could have gotten a job in today’s market if they had to?
Jesus had no formal education, no degree, and by the time of the crucifixion, could have only claimed to have three years of ministry experience. Likewise John the Baptist, by the time of his execution, could have only claimed to have a few years ministry experience with no degree or formal education. Only one of the Apostles—namely Paul—was formally educated; most were simple fishermen who—like Jesus—were unschooled and lacking any ministry experience when Jesus called them. And what was Paul’s day job? Making tents.
I am not saying that experience isn’t valuable, because it is. But it seems to me that “experience” has become a wall that is—whether intentionally or not—blocking out the new blood, and at a time when new blood is desperately needed. The Church is in decline today, because we live now in a post-Christian world, with many similarities to the pre-Christian world of the Apostles and the Early Church. Experience is useful, but if we keep using it as a wall, then I fear that the Church will continue it’s slow and steady decline.
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