America’s pastors are tired.
The decline of organized religion, the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, political polarization — and the burden of caring for their congregation’s soul — have left many clergy feeling burned out and wondering how long they can hang on.
The title of a 2024 report from the Hartford Institute for Research summed up what clergy are saying: “I’m Exhausted All the Time.” Small wonder that about half of clergy had thought about leaving their congregation — or the ministry altogether — in recent years.
“This is a challenging time for all congregations. They’re getting smaller, they’re getting older, they’re not as vital as they once were, and then the pandemic traumas of closing and opening,” said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute and leader of a five-year study of how COVID-19 affected congregations.
Racial divides and political issues have disrupted faith communities, said Thumma. All these factors have undermined the relationship between religious leaders and their congregations, leading to clergy burnout and discouragement.
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That has made it crucial for clergy to pay attention to their mental health, experts say.
While burnout and poor mental health for clergy may often be gradual, the recovery process requires a lot more intentionality, said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, director of the Duke Clergy Health Initiative at Duke University.
That’s why it’s important for clergy to monitor feelings of being overwhelmed so they can be addressed before becoming a larger issue, she said.
Making plans for incorporating intentional practices can help clergy decrease stress and regain spiritual well-being. During the pandemic, the Duke Clergy Health Initiative partnered with the United Methodist Church for a study on mindfulness practices.
Clergy took eight classes on mindfulness techniques. They participated, on average, for 28 minutes a day for six months. They saw a reduction in stress and an improvement in their heart rate variability — the heart’s ability to recover.
Proeschold-Bell recommended that clergy try a practice called the Daily Examen, which has been practiced by Catholics and other contemplative Christians.
“There’s a little bit of gratitude. And then review the last 24 hours of the day with gratitude, but also to notice what emotions came up for them during that review,” said Proeschold-Bell. “Pray on that with God, and if they felt like they needed forgiveness for anything, to ask for forgiveness from God. And if they needed guidance, pray for that guidance. And then they closed it out with, again, gratitude for the day.”
Other intentional practices include exercise, taking time to eat nourishing foods and getting enough sleep. The most important thing is taking time away from work and its stressors so clergy can connect and meet their physical and psychological need, experts say.
Therapy can also help, said Gary Gunderson, professor of faith and the health of the public at the Wake Forest School of Divinity. Therapists can be great resources for clergy to talk about the issues they are facing without judgment for struggling.
“Pastors and priests, people in ministry, people in caring professions, they carry a lot of suffering,” said Dr. Mary Beth Werdel, director of the Pastoral Mental Health Counseling program at Fordham University.
“It becomes heavy, and we can’t hold that alone. Having a person or community to talk to is really important,” said Werdel.
Thumma said that clergy who were experiencing poor mental health often overlooked spiritual practices such as making time for prayer.
“Rather than run to God or to spiritual practices, they retreated from them,” he said.
Having a clear plan for an intentional health or well-being practice can lead to flourishing when it comes to mental health for clergy. Clergy dealing with poor mental health may feel a lack of agency within their work life, said Gunderson. Engaging in these practices can bring back a sense of agency and the capacity to choose good things for themselves.
This includes making time for things that are fun. It’s easy to remove a movie night with a friend from your busy schedule, but to be proactive against burnout, it’s important to have time away from work and invite play into your life, said Werdel.
Conflict between clergy and their congregation can also lead to poor mental health.
“There’s a real strong relationship that, in some ways, is probably more than many other vocations, between what’s going on at work and how well the person feels,” said Thumma.
Having a space where the congregation and the clergy can be honest about their feelings and process issues together can help repair the relationship between them. Conflict around the pandemic in many congregations has not been resolved.
“I think there’s some compensatory grieving that needs to happen and rebuilding of people’s trust,” said Thumma.
This can be for other issues the congregation is facing as well.
“The most important thing a congregation can do is to create a safe culture,” said Gunderson. “The congregation should be healthy for everyone in the congregation, including clergy, to find a voice and to be able to talk about what’s actually going on in their life.”
It is particularly healthy for the clergy person to be able to voice doubts and stresses, instead of being viewed as the mascot. “What is healthy for the clergy is healthy for everyone else in the congregation,” concluded Gunderson.
Post-COVID, clergy and their congregations may need to reevaluate their relationships — and find better ways to collaborate. That might include a shift in expectations, said Werdel.
“There’s a sense that you are the one that’s going to fix everything, that you are the one… that you alone are essential in solving all the problems of the world,” said Werdel. That is too much pressure on one person.
“Have you lost the ability to delegate? Are you micromanaging? These experiences will lead to burnout because they have to do with the belief of control that is not healthy,” she said.
Therapy can help identify these expectations, and having a supportive team within the leadership of the ministry can also help remove some of those beliefs by sharing the load of the labor.
Werdel cautions clergy not to ignore their emotional well-being. “Our emotional worlds matter, they matter deeply, and they’re connected right to our spiritual experiences,” she said. Pushing through feelings of overwhelm and burnout will affect both your mental and spiritual health.
Genevieve Charles is a journalist and contributor to Religion News Service.
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10 Respuestas
In the letter we call Acts, the church is described as a group of believers with varying gifts: teaching, preaching, pastoring, etc., but it never said one man would do it all. While the pastor lead the congregation administratively (with the guidance of elders), others (plural) taught, preached, ministered, etc. We set the church up with one pastor figure who does it all (sometimes in a doctorial fadhion) and wonder why this fails. Read the Word!!
Lance Ford has discussed this on The Roys Report podcast: https://julieroys.com/podcast/were-pastors-meant-to-be-atlas/
Paul, who was called to minister to the Gentiles, so we get our ‘marching orders’ from him, said, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12,13) A pastor is a shepherd and not our Savior. I grew up in the church and there were weeks that turned into months when we were without a pastor. Supply pastors came in during the interim with the members praying and fasting for another full-time pastor to be called ‘by God.’ The church would pull together during these times and I remember some of the most Spirit-filled meetings as we gathered around the altar to pray! None of us can expect from man what we can only get from God! If every heart who calls themselves a Christ-follower would pray and seek God’s face for what truly pleases Him, then restoration can’t help but come at least to the individual who is seeking Him sincerely with a heart of faith. We all need Jesus Christ and He says ‘we have not because we ask not.’
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Revelation 3:20)
“Paul, who was called to minister to the Gentiles, so we get our ‘marching orders’ from him, ”
No, we do not, we are to follow Christs example, not a mans. I might be mistaken, but Peter was to be the one to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles:
Acts 15:7-8
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
Paul is speaking … “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. … But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, …” Galatians 1:10-12;15-16
Read Acts 9 regarding Paul’s road to Damascus experience and
1 Corinthians 15:1-5. What Paul preached was the gospel of Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Thank you for sharing your comments!
Respetuosamente,
If we are to take any of the Word of God to heart and apply it to our lives, the entire Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, of which the majority of the New Testament was written by Paul. He actually wrote Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon during his imprisonments; they are known as his Prison Epistles. When his life was transformed from persecutor of Christians to apostle of Jesus Christ, his zeal for the gospel of Christ was evident and he was attacked on all fronts.
Suffering burnout as a pastor … what did Jesus do for us? He wasn’t here for His own sake or to make a name for himself endowed with the riches of this world. He never did anything without the approval of His Father and yet the only way to the Father is through His Son!
“Study to show thyself approved [unto God], a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
If organised religion is declining, then, hopefully, churches will return to the Early Church model. Leadership was gift based, given by Christ to the Church. There was no such thing as clergy, only men full of the Holy Spirit, working out their particular gifts in the context of the unity of the body. It’s good that there are those who care enough to provide help but this kind if burnout is a modern invention. Paul, the apostle, provided us with the real answer when he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1Cor 15:10). Grace is much more than God cutting us some slack for our failings, it is His enabling for the task that He calls us to do.
What is the latest on the James MacDonald court case. Has it yet reached a disposition. Are there any suits arising from the case?
Asked about this, but never received a response.
“America’s pastors are tired.”
Why, they took a 3 year break?