One of the more interesting trends in The United Methodist Church is the explosion of local pastors. Since 1985 the number of local pastors has almost doubled from 3,804 to 7,464 while the number of elders has decreased about 30 percent from 21,378 to 15,019. The number of local pastors includes both full and part-time with part-time local pastors comprising slightly over 60 percent of the local pastors. So the national average in the UM Church is two elders for every one local pastor. In 1990 there were five elders for every one local pastor.